9/5/06: The Captain Howdy: Tattoo of Blood (1996)

We’ve been watching the college kids load in from Princeton to NYU, and it looks like another good year to invest in Noam Chomsky. A fortunate few, however, may enjoy education instead of indoctrination. In that spirit, we’ll spend this week celebrating right-wing rock by artists who have actually been played on college radio—and not just by the fluke of a conservative DJ.

The Captain Howdy was a typically quirky band of the ’90s, especially since one of the members was the singularly-named Kramer. Before there was Seinfeld, there was this veteran NYC music figure who spent every waking hour producing or composing music. After a partnership with Ann Magnuson went bad, Kramer joined up with Penn Jillette—then best known as half of the magic act Penn & Teller.

Jillette’s earned a reputation as one of the few showbiz types with unrepentant conservative/Libertarian views. (Hear it on his radio show and watch it on Penn & Teller: Bullshit!) In the mid-90s, though, Jillette seemed like another moonlighting magician. Tattoo of Blood made for a surprisingly strong debut on Kramer’s Shimmy Disc label. The title track is probably the most coherent thing Lou Reed wrote in the ’90s, and “Dino’s Head” and “Rosabelle” remain neat tributes to America’s pop-culture past.

But nothing tops the opener of “We Want Our Vietnam,” where Jillette whispers a litany of hipster complaints amongst catchy sinister strumming. It’s also an indictment of idiocy to come. Here’s a truncated look at the lyrics:

        Little people in the jungle shooting our men
        We all knew the enemy was us
        Nixon in the White House shaking his jowls
        They loved that face they couldn’t trust
        TV’s telling me everything’s from Mother Earth
        Stop the Africans from having Freon gas
        The environment’s the issue on CNN
        Just blowing second hand smoke right up my ass
        We got our own insane music
        It’s sampled in every jam
        "Revolution" is for sneakers
        We got our MTV
        We want our Vietnam

He may debunk the supernatural, but Jillette sure could tell the future. Or maybe he was talking about the journalism students who’d go on to cover today’s conflicts. In any case, “We Want Our Vietnam” is more relevant than ever. What else can explain young feminists and gays routinely defending an Islamo-fascist culture that would (at best) subjugate them? Maybe we should take our UN funding and spend it on a Chicago ’68 theme park. That might shut them up.

Make it your own: Typically enough, the beleaguered Kramer wrapped up the ’90s fighting lawsuits filed by his artistic associates. (Some of those troubles are addressed on the Captain Howdy albums.) Those would ultimately cost Kramer his label. Fortunately, Tattoo of Blood can still be found at a reasonable price.

Captain Howdy followed up with Money Feeds My Music Machine in 1998, where the best political commentary is the lite-psych tribute of the album title. Also, their take on “Always Something There To Remind Me” remains the second best version after Sandie Shaw’s. Completists, of course, will want to track down Jillette’s 1988 recording debut as a member of Bongos, Bass, & Bob!

 

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