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Booneytunes Revue

By Jim Wachtendonk

It's VVAW's 20th year as a national veteran's organization. Throughout those years musicians have given of their time and talents to help us along. In the late '60's, veterans used guerrilla theatre to show the people at home what was going on in Vietnam.

Joan Baez once loaned VVAW her farm in the hills near Palo Alto for a national meeting. She, along with Pete Seeger, Holly Near and Country Joe McDonald sang at demo's and benefits for Vietnam vets. In 1971 Country Joe wrote "Kiss My Ass" for VVAW. It came out on a 45 with the flip side being "Tricky Dick"—anybody out there still have a copy of that? In 1971 there was a travelling band of performers doing the FTA (Fuck The Army) shows: Holly Near is remembered by one brother as singing GI movement songs. She and Pete Seeger sang benefits for the Karl Armstrong Defense Committee. Pete Seeger would surface again during the Gainesville conspiracy trial adding his wit and wisdom to entertain an audience of VVAW members and supporters. 1971 was also the year that VVAW launched "Operation Dewey Canyon III" and, according to my sources, the cast of "Hair" did their thing on the Mall in DC.

Joe McDonald was one of the first vets to sing and talk about Vietnam. The peace movement had some questions about Vietnam vets but the force behind us was great enough to overcome their suspicions. The bond that held us together was Vietnam and around that, a culture started to grow. One of the first Vietnam vets to write, produce and perform his songs was Billy Homans from Oklahoma. In 1973 he released "Merry Airbreaks" which circulated well inside VVAW but did not do so well in the civilian world: like much of what we had to say. America wasn't ready for it yet. Bill's "Quang Tri City" was a hallmark in veteran music, 10 years ahead of its time. The songs were spilling out of us slow but sure.

Jimmy Hendricks' version of the "Star Spangled Banner" is a classic. Was he trying to tell us something? It's a psychedelic symphony of patriotism slung out on a six-string Fender wight he volume soaring like the 101st Airborne unite Hendrix served with.

Boonie Tune's East coast ears tell me that David Crosby and Graham Nashe played a series of concerts for VVAW's "Winter Soldier" campaign. The East Coast band responsible for the longest-lasting support from the early '70's on is Bev Grant and The Human Condition. This R&B band did much for VVAW through the years.

By the middle and late '70's Vietnam vets began recording their own music. John Prine's "Sam Stone" showed heroin addiction brought home from 'Nam. Harry Chapin's "Shooting Star" spoke of post traumatic stress long before the mainstream picked up on it. Guys like Billy Homans and Joe McDonald were well into singing their own songs about the war in Vietnam.

It was around the issue of Agent Orange that I became active. The members of the veterans' community encouraged me and my music and I thank them for it. It was around this time that I heard Rick Duvall's "SGT Willy." Last issue of THE VETERAN I showcased Rick in Boonie Tunes. He and Joe McDonald were instrumental in my recording "Incoming."

I recall an action in Washington DC at the American University in 1981. 'Nam vets had gathered to discuss Agent Orange. Two busloads of vets left Milwaukee for DC to attend the Conference. The evening of the second night was my birthday, May 23rd. That evening we partied at the dorm we were housed in. I sang my songs that night and was presented with a birthday card from everyone in the room. In it was $62.90 "toward my first album." Together, nobody there had a pot to piss in, yet $62.90 was raised toward my first recording. Thanks to everybody who was there: "Incoming" is for all of you.

There are those of us who chronicle the past and present through music. Muriel Hogan's "Agent Orange Song," Chip Duvall's "Back on the Block," Doc Knapp's "Stay Pure Stay Gold," Brad Smith's "Missing," Martin and Holiday's "Who Are the Names on the Wall?"—it's an endless list and still growing. The music and lyrics came from the experience of one year spent in Vietnam. Those who take the chance and sing the stories of that experience walk point for their audiences.

The lessons Vietnam taught America are already eroding with time. The music and musicians of the Vietnam era can be congratulated for telling the story in a poetic and straightforward way. Stark, realistic, locked and loaded, political for itself. IT's up to us to encourage its growth throughout the '80's and beyond. My thanks and appreciation goes out to those musicians who've helped Vietnam vets throughout the war years. Our history has been rich in music. The stories told through tales of song keep the memory alive.

That's all for now!

—Jim Wachtendonk
Madison VVAW