okay show of hands errr comments how many people
remember Klaus Nomi?
Miike R...I'm thinking you may be my only regular who remembers him?
I was in New Jersey when Nomi made his debut at a new wave festival in the east village..in the late 70's..
and even though i lived only an hour and fifteen minutes from Manhattan
one could be beaten with bottles for daring to embrace anything punk or outwardly gay or new wavish
by 1979 I'd joined in with a group of renegade bi-sexual and gay
and straight theatre folks.. our scene centered around a very inspirational character a handsome young gay man named Matthew Kasten..
Matthew and his friends Lauren and Magdelana formed the punk light opera
and lipsinked dressed in futuristic space like clothing to everything from opera to david bowie to the B52's
as it turns out Klaus was one of Matthew's major inspirations
by the time i moved to Brooklyn in 1981
i was too poor to go to the downtown punk clubs Klaus performed at
places like The Mudd Club
and Irving Plaza
but knowing who Klaus was
and admiring his work
seemed to put me into a special group
of rare affectionados
I remember the day Klaus stepped out on stage
on Saturday Night Live
to back up David Bowie
it was one of those rare moments
when i knew i was watching the most orginal thing
to hit the music scene
in years
by the time i could afford the admission to places like
Max's Kansas City
Nomi was dead
one of the first to die
of what they then called "The Gay Cancer"
a few years later I discovered that my roomate Janus
had been part of the Nomi show
as had her pals Joey and Tony
half of Klaus Nomi's band had been sitting in my living room all along
its been years since i thought of Klaus Nomi
and years since i bumped into anyone who'd heard of him
so i was almost felled
when i saw his face on a movie poster
under which read
THE NOMI SONG
well i just got back from watching
THE NOMI SONG
and i am sitting here
as amazed
and saddened
as i expected to be
it was like he emerged from outer space
part man
part woman
part alien
he would walk out onto the stage
of dingy dank punk clubs
and then came this voice
falsetto
amazing
haunting
it was hard to believe it was really coming out of him
no one knew where to put Klaus
was he punk
was he classical opera
was he pop
was he new wave
he was a non-human entity
all to himself
but in the end
he died mostly alone
a stigma
of the disease no one knew about
20 years later
he resonates still
i was so happy to see him preserved
brought back to life
in this documentary
a fleeting star
from mars
we come from outer space
to save the human race
NOMI
