BIRMINGHAM WEEKLY
October 19-26, 2006

Can you imagine a New Yorker Cartoonist growling drunk and singing? Even if you can, Andy Friedman will transcend your imaginings. The Brooklyn-based artist-turned-haggard-singer-songwriter is a self- proclaimed iconoclast specializing in what he calls "Art Country." He used to tour with a slide projector and show pictures during his songs, but now relies on his own reveries and wordplay. And no wonder, song titles such as "I Don't Want to Die Like Andy Kaufman" and "Guys Like Me Don't Get Grants" should tell you all you need to know. When Friedman and his band The Other Failures play The Nick on Tuesday, it could well be the biggest literary event of the week in Birmingham.