 "Photo: Greg Elliott")
Though he's loyal to only one kind of hat, cowboy Kinky Friedman is a jack of all trades: musician, mystery writer, salsa-maker, animal rights activist and now a 2006 gubernatorial candidate. With his new book, "Texas Hold 'Em," a collection of nonfiction and autobiographical pieces on Texas, he shares his expertise on the state he soon hopes to work for.
About 60 people attended a book signing for Friedman's new book at BookPeople on Friday.
"He's like a Texas icon," said Adam Rice, events coordinator at the bookstore. "It's good to have him here."
Friedman, armed with clever quips, offered the crowd rare, unsigned versions of the book if they wished, and said, "I'll sign anything except bad legislation."
He wrote the book to explain Texas to outsiders and to share his take on the state with everybody, Friedman said.
"Texas is a big, beautiful, independent-thinking state," he said. "It shouldn't be run by empty suits and empty dresses."
"The office should not be overrated," Friedman said. "The governor should be able to inspire the people."
Friedman plans to redefine the job and be more available to the constituents by having a listed phone number, he said. Education, energy, animal rights, criminal justice and border issues are among his concerns, along with the end of political correctness, or the "de-wussification" of Texas. He wants to end teaching to standardized tests in schools, outlaw the de-clawing of cats and instate life-without-parole as a possible alternative to the death penalty in order to cut down on executions of innocent people. Friedman also expressed his view on gay marriage.
"They have every right to be just as miserable as the rest of us," he said. "On a serious note, I believe love is bigger than government."
Before he can do any of that, Friedman will have to jump through a few hoops to get his name on the ballot. Within two months after the March 2006 primaries, Friedman must collect almost 50,000 signatures, or 1 percent of last election's voter turnout, from eligible voters who didn't vote in either primary.
"Save yourself for Kinky," Friedman told his audience, commenting on the perverseness of having to ask people not to vote and referring to the petition drive as a "circus with a purpose."
As governor, Friedman would also like to restore the name of the cowboy, which has come to mean "loose cannon" or "bully" in other parts of the country, he said.
Being a cowboy is about desiring spiritual, physical and political elbow room, he said.
"Anybody with a cowboy spirit doesn't like to be fenced in," he said. "You long for freedom and wide, open spaces, which hopefully are not between your ears."
Friedman plans to lead by example: by standing up for the little people and by giving Texans a cowboy they love, he said.
"Only two kinds of people wear cowboy hats: cowboys and assholes," he said. "I hope I'm the former."
Those lined up to get their books signed ranged from political supporters to mystery book fanatics.
"I think I'm going to vote for him," said high school teacher Joy Giles. "I'm jaded by what the Legislature doesn't do. He couldn't do any worse."
Todd Ruge, an operator at Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., reads all of Friedman's books.
"He says things that most people only wish they could say," Ruge said.
Though Friedman ended his 17-book-long mystery series by killing off the main character - Kinky Friedman - in the last book, Ruge is hopeful the author will pick the series back up at some point, since no body was ever recovered.
"If I hear the literary community of the world clamoring for his return, I suppose you could always figure out a way to bring him back," Friedman said. "But it won't be in a dream sequence. I think I'll be working for the people of Texas, so I won't have time."
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