Archive - March 27, 2011

He’s back! After running unsuccessfully several times for governor of Texas (not teabagger enough), Kinky Friedman (Borneo 1967-69) is being ‘written about’ in a new musical based on his life. The second act of this new musical is “Kinky in the Peace Corps” –see, Fitzgerald was wrong: there are second lives in a man’s life. The ‘world premiere of Becoming Kinky…The World According to Kinky Friedman, written by Ted Swindley, who also wrote the international hit, Always….Patsy Cline, features three actors, including recording artist Jesse Dayton, portraying Kinky at different stages of his life. Little Jewford will play the role he was born to play–himself. Kinky Friedman himself will not appear in the play, but he will attend the world premiere and be available for pictures and autographs after the show. The world primiere is Monday night, March 28, at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck. It will benefit Kinky’s  Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. Benefit tickets cost . . .

Christopher Beale (Eastern Caribbean 2005-07 ) has done an amazing thing for RPCV writers. He had built a book publishing company–Other Places Publishing–located in North Carolina that publishes travel guides written by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who, as he says, “Few travelers (or travel guides) have the experience and local knowledge that an RPCV has about his or her country.” Chris started in early 2009 to develop his travel guides written and researched by RPCVs. To date, they had published eight book with another 10 coming out within the next few months. With a few exceptions, everyone who works with Chris, from editors, writers, researchers andphotographers, are RPCVs. Today, Other Places Publishing has guide books for Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Pacific. The newest publication is Making Peace with the World Photographs of Peace Corps Volunteers by Richard Sitler (Jamaica 2000-02). Sitler, who worked at newspapers in Ohio, Indiana, New Hampshire . . .