November 9, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malaysia: Writing - Malaysia: Humor: Election2006 - Friedman: Fox News: 'Go Kinky' TV Reality Show Follows Texas Campaign
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Malaysia:
Special Report: Author, Humorist and Malaysia RPCV Kinky Friedman:
February 9, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Kinky Friedman (Malaysia) :
November 9, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malaysia: Writing - Malaysia: Humor: Election2006 - Friedman: Fox News: 'Go Kinky' TV Reality Show Follows Texas Campaign
'Go Kinky' TV Reality Show Follows Texas Campaign
"Go Kinky," airing on Country Music Television, follows Friedman, an independent candidate, on the campaign trail in the Lone Star State.
“Every crazy redneck in Texas is for Kinky,” Friedman told FOXNews.com from his ranch in Medina, Texas. Author, Musician, and candidate for Governor of Texas, Kinky Friedman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia in the 1960's.
'Go Kinky' TV Reality Show Follows Texas Campaign
'Go Kinky' TV Reality Show Follows Texas Campaign
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
By Melissa Drosjack
WASHINGTON — Want to get Kinky? Just turn on the TV.
Author, entertainer and Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, complete with cigar, black cowboy hat and Southern drawl, is about to star in his own reality show.
"Go Kinky," airing on Country Music Television, follows Friedman, an independent candidate, on the campaign trail in the Lone Star State.
“Every crazy redneck in Texas is for Kinky,” Friedman told FOXNews.com from his ranch in Medina, Texas.
A successful mystery novelist, Friedman led a band called Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys, founded in 1971. He penned songs like “Ride ‘Em, Jewboy” about the Holocaust and “Wild Man From Borneo” about a person in a cage as part of a circus.
CMT will air a sneak preview that shows Friedman eating hot chili on a warm Texas day at a campaign event, shaking hands with voters and going to the barber.
The preview debuts Thursday at 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. EST, and the show may go full throttle if CMT decides to extend the two pilot episodes into a fall 2006 series that coincides with the prime political season.
Friedman faces fierce competition in the race for governor, to be decided on Nov. 7, 2006.
Incumbent Republican Rick Perry is seeking re-election. Other candidates include state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is challenging Perry in the GOP primary, and Democratic candidate Chris Bell, a former congressman from Houston.
Friedman will need up to $5 million just to get his name on next year's ballot, managers say.
Texas election law says Friedman will also have to collect 45,540 signatures to get on the 2006 ballot. He will not be able to start gathering signatures until March 8, the day after the state party primary elections, and can only collect signatures from registered Texans who did not vote in any primary. Friedman will have until May 11 to turn the signatures in and qualify for the ballot.
The last independent gubernatorial candidate to win office in Texas was Sam Houston in 1859.
Texas election law does not directly address the question of whether a candidate can have a reality TV show, said Tim Sorrells, deputy general counsel for the Texas Ethics Commission, which oversees elections and political contributions.
As long as CMT doesn't support Friedman's candidacy for governor or does not intend to do so, the show wouldn't fall under Texas law as a political contribution, Sorrells said.
Friedman is not profiting from the show, said Laura Stromberg, a spokeswoman for the campaign.
His campaign platform — its slogan is "Why the hell not?" — calls for legalizing casino gambling to fund education, reviewing death row inmates and outlawing the de-clawing of cats. Some of his strongest backers are country music star and longtime friend Willie Nelson and wrestler-turned-Minnesota-governor-turned-talk-radio-host Jesse Ventura.
Last month, Nelson hosted a fundraiser at his central Texas ranch and private golf course that raised $170,000 for Friedman's campaign.
CMT chose to follow Kinky because of his country music career, said network spokeswoman Amanda Murphy. CMT carries other reality shows such as "Cowboy U" and "Popularity Contest."
David Steinberg of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” directed the pilot episodes, which Friedman said helped tell stories from his campaign in a funny way through the perspective of the director's first visit to Texas.
“It gives you his take on Texas as a big, strange, magical place,” Friedman said.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
| Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Fox News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Malaysia; Writing - Malaysia; Humor; Election2006 - Friedman
PCOL23993
32