Kinky Friedman

 

Here's a memorial to Kinky Friedman, who died in late June. There are several things I liked about him:

He turned his parents' ranch into a no-kill shelter for animals, the first in that part of Texas, and this made all his shows benefits, as he would be paid by the shelter out of the proceeds. He didn't need the money that much. He wasn't a fantastic musician but it didn't matter because he was funny as a performer and everyone knew and loved him.

He included all his friends and acquaintances in his books; this took a lot of moxie I thought but it's one way of memorializing all those friends as well as the general feeling of those friends in Austin in his era. The people who knew him thought it was a riot though they were somewhat traumatized by the possibility of his misrepresenting them.

When he ran for governor and other offices, he was entirely an independent. He didn't just take the liberal view. he often used humor so you weren't always sure he was serious. So for example on gay marriage, he said they have as much right to be miserable as any of us.

His band name and his songs made fun of racism. The Texas Jewboys? I was curious about that from the first time I saw the name. But parody was the currency he dealt in. Lots of times people didn't get it. Didn't matter. It's a crazy twisted world and he was just having fun.

He once said that when you get to the afterlife every pet you ever had will be there to greet you. This won't be good for everyone I think. But it will be great for him; he saved a lot of lives. RIP Kinky.