Kinky Friedman Dies at 79

The Texas Jewboy: By now, Abq Jew is sure that you, his loyal readers, have heard the sad, sad news: Kinky Friedman has died. 

Abq Jew is taking Kinky's death personally, although he followed neither Kinky's life nor his lifestyle closely.

And Abq Jew must admit that he only met The Kinkster once - see November 2014's An Evening with Kinky Friedman, announcing and providing background for Kinky's visit to the Alberquerque JCC that December.

Nevertheless, Abq Jew has tried hard, over the years, to emulate Kinky's reverent-but-irreverent Jewish spirit.

Wikipedia (of course) outlines Kinky's life story. Rolling Stone, The New York Times, the New York Post, and countless others have provided obituaries and reminicences. 

However. Here is the beginning of Andrew Silow-Carroll's, writing for the JTA. Abq Jew urges you, his loyal readers, to click here and read the whole thing. It's a great story.

Kinky Friedman, singer and novelist who fronted The Texas Jewboys, dies at 79

Kinky Friedman, the cigar-chomping, mustachioed Texan country singer and mystery novelist whose body of work often seemed like the un-kosher marriage of the Borscht Belt and the Bible Belt, died June 27 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 79.

As frontman for the flamboyant 1970s country group Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, he was notorious for satirical songs such as “They [Ain't Makin'] Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” a raucous sendup of racism,

and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed,” which poked fun at feminism.

He could also turn serious, with songs dealing with social issues such as abortion and commercialism. His 1973 song “Ride ’em Jewboy” is a haunting elegy on the Holocaust, recorded by Willie Nelson and sung in concert by Bob Dylan. The lyrics transform cowboy cliches into a rumination on Hitler’s victims:

Now the smoke from camps a-rising

See the helpless creatures on their way

Hey, old pal, ain’t it surprising

How far you can go before you stay?