Thor Kah Hoong writes "Meet Kinky Friedman" for the Malaysia Star



"He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sarawak in the late 1960s. By one account I read, he was intelligent enough to realise that he had nothing to teach Sarawakians about agriculture and how to live off the land, and just laid back so that they could show him how to live life. If he were to become Governor, we could twin Houston and Dallas with Miri and Bintulu, send our cultural troupes dancing there, and have our councillors come back loaded with Stetsons and snakeskin boots. What cool-looking dudes they’ll be in council chambers."

Thor Kah Hoong writes "Meet Kinky Friedman" for the Malaysia Star

Meet Kinky Friedman

By Thor Kah Hoong

I have been wordless for several weeks, partly because I’ve been working my way through a dozen works of Kinky Friedman. For someone who is usually reading nine books in rotation, this single-minded focus on one author is unusual.

It was prompted by a news item on the Internet – Kinky Friedman, the ex-country-western star turned thriller writer, who has just had his 17th book published, was tired of writing about Kinky Friedman, the ex-country-western star turned laid-back detective, protected by a world-weary attitude and an arsenal of hilarious one-lines snapped out in rapid fire, sharp and accurate.

Yuuup, that’s his signature on the books – Kinky is the main man, the wisecracking philosophical voice in the books and his friends have roles in the tales of murder and mayhem. A passionate fan, Bill Clinton, has pleaded for a cameo appearance in one of the books. (I must soon have his last five books. Then I’ll know if Kinky was as accommodating as Monica Lewinsky.)

Friedman named Van Gogh, Allan Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski as artists who lived their work. And just when you, the reader, feel suitably reverential in front of such august names, Kinky, in his usual fashion, tops the solemnity stakes and gets a guilty laugh: “Anne Frank, of necessity, did it.”

Now he has become Kinky Friedman, independent candidate for Governor of Texas. There are shades of Hunter S. Thompson campaigning for control of Aspen, except that Friedman survived the manic years of coke and speed, and wrote addictive novels. There was little biting writing from Thompson after the acidic high of Fear and Loathing, just a mess of wild semi-coherent abuse and vitriol. And Aspen, for all its rich snow-bunnies and celebrity ski-bums, is a hamlet in influence and power compared to the vast spread of the Texas Bushland.

A quixotic crusade? The answer can be found on his campaign T-shirts: Kinky 2006: Why the Hell Not? He’s conquered greater odds. Think of the original mix – a Jewish Texan cowboy who grows up to play in the Grand Ole Opry with a band defiantly named Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. Not singing songs about an aching, breaking heart or the wailing song playing on the jukebox while he’s on a rig white-lining for the coast, but satirical songs with titles like They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore, goading some of the audiences to turn apoplectic red in the neck and chase them off-stage.

I listened to Kinky Friedman before I read him. At the very real risk of inviting abusive e-mails from Hank Williams fans, I must confess that country-and-western music, with its basic sentiments, twanging nasals and screeching sincerity, is one of the few genres of music I cannot stand. But in my long-haired phase in the 1970s, I had time for a band whose repertoire included Proud to be an A.. From El Paso. A band that had no groupies, but only “Jewish sociology professors taking notes,” was the complaint of one of the groups.

All the pictures I have seen of him show shades, a black leather coat, black shirt and jeans, a black Stetson, bushy moustache and a cigar. What a cool-looking Governor he would make. A Governor who has toured with Bob Dylan, partied with Led Zeppelin, performed with Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Joel. Any cooler and Texas will be whipped by blizzards, not tornadoes.

An honest, straight-talking candidate who has said: “If I win, the first thing I’ll do is demand a recount.” A candidate who says he has promised the job of warden of women’s prisons to eight different guys. It’s all a joke? My vote (in a manner of speaking) is on Kinky. A joke will not have attracted 30,000 campaign volunteers. That’s a lot of jokers.

He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sarawak in the late 1960s. By one account I read, he was intelligent enough to realise that he had nothing to teach Sarawakians about agriculture and how to live off the land, and just laid back so that they could show him how to live life.

If he were to become Governor, we could twin Houston and Dallas with Miri and Bintulu, send our cultural troupes dancing there, and have our councillors come back loaded with Stetsons and snakeskin boots. What cool-looking dudes they’ll be in council chambers.

This has been a campaign plug for Kinky Friedman. My thoughts on him as a writer will have to spill over into next week.



Please send all missives to khthor@streamyx.com

When this story was posted in September 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Meet Ron Tschetter - Our Next Director Read our story about Ron Tschetter's confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was carried on C-Span. It was very different from the Vasquez hearings in 2001, very cut and dried with low attendance by the public. Among the highlights, Tschetter intends to make recruitment of baby boomers a priority, there are 20 countries under consideration for future programs, Senator Dodd intends to re-introduce his third goal Peace Corps legislation this session, Tschetter is a great admirer of Senator Coleman's quest for accountability, Dodd thinks management at PC may not put volunteers first, Dodd wants Tschetter to look into problems in medical selection, and Tschetter is not a blogger and knows little about the internet or guidelines for volunteer blogs. Read our recap of the hearings as well as Senator Coleman's statement and Tschetter's statement.

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The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. FAQ: Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.

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Chris Shays Shifts to Favor an Iraq Timetable In a policy shift, RPCV Congressman Chris Shays, long a staunch advocate of the Bush administration's position in Iraq, is now proposing a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops. How Mr. Shays came to this change of heart is, he says, a matter of a newfound substantive belief that Iraqis need to be prodded into taking greater control of their own destiny under the country’s newly formed government. As Chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, he plans to draft a timetable for a phased withdrawal and then push for its adoption. A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War who said that if drafted he would not serve, Chris Shays has made 14 trips to Iraq and was the first Congressman to enter the country after the war - against the wishes of the Department of Defense.

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Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

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Chris Dodd considers run for the White House Senator Chris Dodd plans to spend the next six to eight months raising money and reaching out to Democrats around the country to gauge his viability as a candidate. Just how far Dodd can go depends largely on his ability to reach Democrats looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton. PCOL Comment: Dodd served as a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps in Congress.

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Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA request The Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security.

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PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

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History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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