The Nomi Song (2004) Great New Wave Doc
THE NOMI SONG (2004) this documentary (out on DVD & avaialble from
Netflix) really hit home for me. It's about a very minor musical figure during a very brief period of time (1979-1983) in a very small section of NYC (the East Village). For me it was bittersweet & felt like watching old home movies. Klaus Nomi was an "almost famous" figure in the NYC New/No Wave movement. He appeared in kabuki makeup & wore demented alien superhero costumes & sang in a perfect operatic falsetto to new wave music. Imagine Gary Newman & The Cars' music with vocals by Maria Callas & you'll get the picture. Nomi's biggest claims to fame stateside were performing with David Bowie on SNL (the great MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD performance where Bowie wore a dress) & performing in the film URRG! A MUSIC WAR. Although he made his name & music on the NYC scene his albums were only released in Europe where they hit #1. Nomi was in the middle of a successful European tour when he fell ill from a disease that was then known as "gay cancer", later more widely known as AIDS, bestowing on Nomi the dubious distinction of being the first rock star to die of the disease.
The film focuses not just on the German born Nomi but the East Village scene & the excitment that surrounded such places & events like The No Wave Vaudeville, Max's, the Peppermint Lounge, CBGB's etc. It caputres the sense of aristic wonder that everything was possible & anything new & different was immediatly embraced, even things that in retrospect turned out to be crap (i.e the bands The Sick Fucks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Nick Zedd).
Nomi defintley had "it". When he hit the stage people gasped in astonishment. He REALLY looked that odd & truly seemed like an alien. Words cannot really do him justice; either check out the film's
official site at http://thenomisong.com to see photos or better yet go
to http://www.imdb.com, type "Nomi Song" into search & follow the
links & watch the trailer. Even the trailer is fun. He was enough to make even jaded NY No Wave scenesters shut up & take notice, mainly because he had an amazing talent to back up his freakish appearence. I showed a few of my co-worker the trailer this morning & they were taken aback & intrigued enough to put the film on their Netflix que.
Director Andrew Horn really captures the time & place with LOADS of excellent quality footage shot during the era along with the requisite talking heads & official promotional materials. THE NOMI song is
perfectly suited for DVD as the "Extras" are what make the experience
complete & include full Nomi performances, a slideshow of the old East
Village (which literally brought tears to my smiling eyes) & a GREAT
extra detailing how a dollhouse set was made (too long to explain, you
just gotta see it). Yes its a minor documentary about a relatively
minor figure & perhaps it hit me more than it will you as it's
basically a chunk of my formative years but still its an entertaining
look at something cool that happened once upon a time.
THE NOMI SONG (2004) this documentary (out on DVD & avaialble from
Netflix) really hit home for me. It's about a very minor musical figure during a very brief period of time (1979-1983) in a very small section of NYC (the East Village). For me it was bittersweet & felt like watching old home movies. Klaus Nomi was an "almost famous" figure in the NYC New/No Wave movement. He appeared in kabuki makeup & wore demented alien superhero costumes & sang in a perfect operatic falsetto to new wave music. Imagine Gary Newman & The Cars' music with vocals by Maria Callas & you'll get the picture. Nomi's biggest claims to fame stateside were performing with David Bowie on SNL (the great MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD performance where Bowie wore a dress) & performing in the film URRG! A MUSIC WAR. Although he made his name & music on the NYC scene his albums were only released in Europe where they hit #1. Nomi was in the middle of a successful European tour when he fell ill from a disease that was then known as "gay cancer", later more widely known as AIDS, bestowing on Nomi the dubious distinction of being the first rock star to die of the disease.
The film focuses not just on the German born Nomi but the East Village scene & the excitment that surrounded such places & events like The No Wave Vaudeville, Max's, the Peppermint Lounge, CBGB's etc. It caputres the sense of aristic wonder that everything was possible & anything new & different was immediatly embraced, even things that in retrospect turned out to be crap (i.e the bands The Sick Fucks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Nick Zedd).
Nomi defintley had "it". When he hit the stage people gasped in astonishment. He REALLY looked that odd & truly seemed like an alien. Words cannot really do him justice; either check out the film's
official site at http://thenomisong.com to see photos or better yet go
to http://www.imdb.com, type "Nomi Song" into search & follow the
links & watch the trailer. Even the trailer is fun. He was enough to make even jaded NY No Wave scenesters shut up & take notice, mainly because he had an amazing talent to back up his freakish appearence. I showed a few of my co-worker the trailer this morning & they were taken aback & intrigued enough to put the film on their Netflix que.
Director Andrew Horn really captures the time & place with LOADS of excellent quality footage shot during the era along with the requisite talking heads & official promotional materials. THE NOMI song is
perfectly suited for DVD as the "Extras" are what make the experience
complete & include full Nomi performances, a slideshow of the old East
Village (which literally brought tears to my smiling eyes) & a GREAT
extra detailing how a dollhouse set was made (too long to explain, you
just gotta see it). Yes its a minor documentary about a relatively
minor figure & perhaps it hit me more than it will you as it's
basically a chunk of my formative years but still its an entertaining
look at something cool that happened once upon a time.