It only happened once. 24 years ago Kinky Friedman came out to WYSO to do a live interview. The "Kinkster" was a double threat, a musician and a novelist. That evening he was doing a book signing at the old Books & Co. store in Kettering then he was heading straight over to play a concert at the Canal Street Tavern. The late Mojo Nixon was coming up from Cincinnati to open for him.
I hadn't even been aware this musician I had been familiar with during
the 1970s had segued into writing fiction. Then his publisher sent me a copy of "The Mile High Club" and I finally knew. When his music career had started to lag during the 1980s he had decided to try his hand at writing fiction and by the time of this interview he had already amassed a substantial body of work.
After reading the book I was slightly nervous; it was raunchy and
irreverent and quite humorous. But then so was the author. He arrived
wearing a ten gallon cowboy hat and had an unlit cigar hanging from his mouth. That stogie was massive and I kept worrying he might light it up. The only thing that got lit up that day were the station air waves
because Friedman was in fine form, as we skated through a conversation that was just barely acceptable. Since it was a a live interview and we had no 5 second delays in place what came out of his mouth was what we had and oh my, that man had me slightly terrified. At least when he didn't have me guffawing at his witticisms.
Kinky Friedman died in June. He was 79.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public.
