Kinky Friedman at Woodlands Tavern, Grandview Heights, Ohio, Nov. 2, 2015
Kinky Friedman can’t really sing.
And he’s not much of a guitarist.
But he’s one hell of an entertainer.
On Monday night before an enthusiastic crowd at Woodlands Tavern, Friedman, the 2005 gubernatorial candidate; current governor of the heart of Texas; former leader of the Texas Jewboys; mystery-novel author; comedian; and the man who’ll sign anything but a piece of bad legislation, promoted The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, his first album in more than three decades.
Friedman’s baritone makes him sound like Bob Dylan with a chest cold. He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, playing nary a riff and sticking with basic open chords as he covered Woody Guthrie (“Pretty Boy Floyd”), Tom Waits (“Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis”) and Warren Zevon (“My Shit’s Fucked Up”). He also tipped his cowboy hat to Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.
Along the way, Friedman revisited many of his Jewboys classics, offering up much-loved, equal-opportunity offenders such as “Asshole from El Paso,” “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed,” “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Waitret, Please Waitret,” which Friedman introduced as Bill Clinton’s favorite Jewboys track.
Waitret, please waitret/come sit on my face/eatin’ ain’t cheatin’/lord it ain’t no disgrace Friedman warbled to raucous laughter and applause.
The smell of stale cigar smoke followed Friedman, one day removed from his 71st birthday, as he took the stage just before 9 p.m. He dressed head-to-toe in black, and sported a Texas-sized, silver belt buckle. Between songs, he sipped from a super-sized tumbler of tequila and used an unlit stogie as a prop. His name, emblazoned in silver sequins on his black guitar strap, sparkled under the house lights.
Friedman often tossed his guitar over right shoulder and told stories and jokes. He took good-natured jabs, in both song and spoken word, at blacks, whites, lesbians, feminists, Jews, Native Americans and others. He’s one of a very few entertainers who can toss around otherwise-taboo epithets and get away with it.
There were gags galore. Friedman regaled concertgoers with stories about his Yom Kippur Clipper - a Jewish Cadillac that’ll “stop on a dime and pick it up.” He talked about Indian Thanksgiving - “thanks for nothing!” He relayed a story about a woman, who after golfing with Willie Nelson, complained of being stung by a bee between the first and second hole.
“Clearly, your stance is too wide,” was Nelson’s quick retort.
Friedman also poked fun at his own aging body, and took a couple of shots at the audience, with whom he spent a good deal of pre- and post-concert time gladhanding and making nice.
Toward the end of his 75-minute performance, Friedman read a touching excerpt from his 2009 book, “Heroes of a Texas Childhood.” The tale focused on his late father, Tom. The son relayed the story in the present tense because “you should keep people you love in the present tense for as long as you can.”
Guitarists Brian Molnar and Joe Cirotti, who respectively produced and played guitar on Friedman’s new album, joined him for the last few tunes as Friedman, sans guitar, played the role of crooner.
Molnar and Cirotti warmed up the crowd with a warmly received, 40-minute set of originals and covers such as Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train.” Cirotti was the star of this segment, standing stoically, looking hungover and peeling off acoustic-guitar solos that contained elements of Nelson, Jerry Garcia and Joni Mitchell. His understated, yet emphatic playing rendered even Molnar’s most mediocre songs exciting.
Grade card: Kinky Friedman at Woodlands Tavern - 11/2/15 - B+
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