Log In | Register
Like many, I find Kinky Friedman fascinating. So it was with great pleasure that I was able to land an interview with him last year.
As with the late great columnist and activist Molly Ivins, Kinky is compelling, rude but honest, sincere and charismatic.
Unlike Molly, Kinky took the unusual step of running for governor of Texas. An odd move for a guy who as leader of Kinky Friedman and The Jewboys in the 1970s sang off-beat songs like "I'm Proud to Be An @!$%# From El Paso" and "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore."
Personally I'd gotten to know Kinky through his mystery novels, which are hilarious provided you don't mind lots of drug jokes .
Either way, Kinky was written off by many but ended up doing better than some expected. He wrote a memoir about the experience and that book was the subject of our interview.
As I said there
For some, Friedman first came across their radar when he ran for governor in 2006, marking the first time an independent candidate got on the ballot since Sam Houston in 1859. Running as a third-party candidate was not easy, but we'll get to that in a minute. He was friends with the late great Texas Governor Ann Richards and one of my favorite columnists, Molly Ivins, as well as more Texas and country singers and musicians than I could possibly list. Ivins, in fact, provided him with his campaign slogan: "Why The Hell Not?"
As I moved from Maryland to Texas the thought occured to me that it would be great to meet Kinky in person.
I arrived less than two weeks ago, just in time for South by Southwest. When I noticed that one of documentaries debuting during the film festival is one called "Along Comes Kinky" about his race for governor, I decided this was my chance. I fired off emails and while I was unable to get Kinky this time I was able to get the director of the documentary, David Hartstein
My interview with him follows.
Thursday night I will wait for hours if need be to get into the premiere of the movie and will post something Fiday on the movie and any comments before or after the film (I'm hoping Kinky will be there and make a few comments.)
Scott: What was your goal with this documentary?
David: Well, this is my first feature film as a director or producer so up until this point my goal has been just to finish it. It looks like that'll happen in time for our screening now, which is nice. The next goal is to try to fill the Paramount. That's a big room! After that, of course, I'd like to make the film available to a wider audience, outside of Texas here in the States and in Europe. Kinky has a good following over there so I'd like to try to get it to them. Whether that means a traditional broadcast method, DVD or a VOD delivery is the next question to address I suppose.
What was your relationship with Kinky before you began making the movie and how has it changed? Put another way when you two are at the movie premiere - you are both going to be there, right? - how amicable do you think he will be?
Well, what it sounds like you're getting at is how does Kinky like the movie. The movie does a good job of showing how smart and sincere he is but it also doesn't shy away from some of his rougher aspects. And I think he respects that. He's seen it and I know he likes it and is excited about it. We really didn't have much of a relationship before making the movie. I knew who he was, but that was pretty much the extent of it. At this point though we have a good relationship I think (as I do with many others featured in the film). I adopted two dogs from his rescue ranch and we play some competitive games of pool when I'm out at his ranch.
What do you think it is about Kinky that makes him so compelling? I've been hearing and reading about him for more than a decade before he even did this election bid and I lived (until a week ago) in Maryland!
That's a great question. I don't know. The man is super smart and funny and not afraid to say what he thinks. He's an amazing song writer and performer and then there's the outfit. All that is pretty compelling. But I think in terms of him running for governor he was able to inspire people all over the state and I think it was partly his own charisma but also the fact that he was tapping into the idea of "change" that you saw really peak with Obama last year.
Let me put on the devil's advocate hat: Some Texans' reaction to this documentary may be "Why would I go see this when I lived through it?" Sort of the reaction some liberals had toward the movie Recount, i.e. why go through it again? How would you answer that? Put another way, what will they see in this movie they didn't see by following the campaign?
Well, that's easy. I think you get a look a the campaign that goes waaaay beyond what the print and TV journalists got. I spend a ton of time with campaign staff and volunteers and I think the aforementioned media was a bit too enamored with just Kinky and didn't really see the potential for what he was into as a "movement." Also, the film gets a great inside look at Chris Bell's campaign as well. Towards the end the two campaigns had a good back and forth and the movie gets an inside look at each which feels pretty special. And I'll take Kinky over Katherine Harris any day.
Was there anything you cut from the movie which you wish you didn't cut or vice versa?
You know, I'm really, really happy with the cut of the movie. There's a bit more I wish I could have gotten into with campaign ads and we had a great interview with Kinky's ad guy, Bill Hillsman,that I wish were in there in some form. But I think the ads and interview will make a great DVD extra so I'm not too concerned about it. The movie is about 88 minutes and it's really tight and moves so well that I wouldn't want to upset that balance by making significant changes. We took about a year to edit so we could find that balance.
Was Kinky involved at all in the editing? Has he seen it?
Kinky was not involved in the film making process at all. This production was entirely independent of him - he doesn't have a piece of the movie and he didn't have any editorial control. He agreed to participate entirely out of the goodness of his heart and that's a testament to him because it certainly isn't just a fluff piece. He's in there warts and all. As I alluded to earlier, he has seen it and he seems quite excited by it. Justifiably so, I might add.
What happens next? Will this movie get national or international distribution?
Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I'm trying to cultivate those relationships here at the festival, though it's hard because I'm spending all my time in the online suite and mix studio trying to finish!
