The Nomi Song - The Klaus Nomi Odyssey

The Nomi Song is a wonderful documentary of a bizarre New Wave performer who may be more known for how he died than his musical innovations. Klaus Nomi (Klaus Sperber) was a German-born countertenor who, after working as an usher for the Berlin opera house, came to New York City in 1974 in the hopes of finding fame. He stunned the audience of the 1978 New Wave Vaudeville Show with his beautiful rendition of the aria "Mon caeur s'ouvre à ta voix" ("My heart opens to your voice"). In the next few years he developed an act combining opera with electronic pop while presenting a mysterious, otherworldly persona. Fans called his music "future wave" though he preferred the term "now wave". He was quite the phenomenon in New York and Europe but died before his career could really take off. This DVD includes footage from his New Wave Vaudeville performance as well as many other vintage clips. Those interviewed include songwriter Kristian Hoffman, manager/producer Ron Johnsen, art director Page Wood, photographers Anthony Scibelli and Michael Halsband, Ann Magnuson (who got him the New Wave Vaudeville gig), writer and original performer of "Lightning Strikes" Lou Christie (in the Extras), painter Kenny Scharf, friend Gabriele La Fari among others.The documentary follows Nomi's brief career and also the New Wave scene in New York, particularly East Village. Clips of some of his performances include the "Fiorucci Celebrates the New Wave" show and he and Joey Arias's appearance with David Bowie on Saturday Night Live. The props used in his shows are described and Page Wood even has miniature cardboard cut-outs. Many people were involved in helping Klaus Nomi develop his image although, in interviews found elsewhere, he liked to take sole credit. In a French television interview, he claimed to be the designer of the Nomi badge and tuxedo outfit. This documentary credits others with helping to create those visuals. One contributor admitted Nomi had a powerful ego. Unfortunately, impatient for fame, Nomi would abandon some of those who helped him from the beginning, although their touching work in creating this film demonstrates they never lost their admiration for him. There is a brief discussion of Nomi's promiscuous lifestyle which lead to him contracting AIDS. His aunt shares a story of a rather, in retrospect, sad reunion with her nephew before he returned to New York for the last time.Among the extras, it is learned that photos were taken of him in the hospital during the advanced stage of his illness (though they are not shown in this film). Also in the extras are full length performances, audio remixes, a slide show of childhood photos of Klaus, commentary by director Andrew Horn, trailers, etc. This reviewer would have liked an image gallery of Nomi as the case lists one among the special features but was not able to locate it (there is a brief film and slide show of East Village), the complete 10 O'clock News segment, and perhaps the TV Party appearance (the latter two are available elsewhere, though). If the viewer clicks on the pie icon on the Extras "Additional Footage" page, it opens up Klaus's lime tart recipe. Information on The Long Island Four would have been a welcomed addition to the extras as clips from that film were used in the documentary with no mention of the source save for the credits.It is obvious that much effort, creativity and care went into this documentary. It begins and ends with scenes from the 1953 science fiction film It Came From Outer Space with Nomi superimposed in the footage. There is a shirtless man holding a white ball in the background of the Ira Siff's interview clips lending them some strange, artistic effect. The TV Party segment where Klaus gives his lime tarts lesson was damaged so, during the missing footage, it switches to two people adjusting the antenna of an old television set. Klaus's aunt was too shy to be shown in the film, so the creators went to great lengths creating a miniature dollhouse of her living room including the pictures she had on her walls with her as a cardboard doll that they also placed in a makeshift miniature garden which represented a favorite childhood spot for Klaus. One of the extras shows an amazing mechanical doll of Nomi built by a fan. He was and is definitely admired by his loyal friends and followers. Hopefully, he realized their devotion during his lifetime.

A movie about Nomi seemed like an impossible idea that only occurred during one of my daydreaming sessions. But yeah, here it is, called The Nomi Song, and neatly packed with an incredible amount of footage and home videos of Nomi which certainly satisfy my increasing frustration of the lack of video materials of Nomi available to the public. The story of Nomi is about extremity - a man who tries too hard to make his ideas come true, that he burns out so bright and fast before we are able to perceive what just happens. His life and music serve a strong influence to who I am today, and Nomi's firm desire and determination to exploit his creativity and become famous, that eventually led him to a situation where few people are willing to be in, always fascinates me that I ponder if I should burn my creativity like he did and if I have the gut to go to where he once had been.

Klaus Nomi was an enigma. On the outside a Bowie influenced "Spaceman" who sang in in one of the clearest most amazing Falsetto voices ever to appear on a recording. Inside he was a lonely outsider with a seemingly desperate craving for attention. Nomi was also one of the earliest celebrities to die of the AIDS virus. Nomi Song was full of information I wasn't aware of about this fascinating individual and interviews with a diverse group of people from Nomi's life. The interview segments with Kristian Hoffman, Nomi's musical director during his earliest breakthrough in New York and principal songwriter, were particularly interesting and insightful. The story told in "The Nomi Song" isn't a happy one, but Nomi was such an interesting personality that Nomi Song is well worth the time to watch for anyone with an interest in the New York scene during the late '70s and early '80s. Nomi's great quest was to be a megastar, and he ALMOST succeeded. His art was so innovative that it deserves to be remembered.

I had the opportunity to catch clips of Klaus Nomi (or "Nomi") in online video footage, and was immediately mesmerized. This man had the voice of an extraterrestrial angel, the swagger of a B-Movie space alien and costuming by way of a Fred Astaire film (black jacket, pants, vest), infused with plenty of helium. How can one really describe this truly one-of-a-kind artist who died, when he was on the brink of stardom, as an early fatality of AIDS, in 1983?This documentary takes an in depth look at the man behind the music, fancy costuming and elaborate scenery. A German pastry chef, Klaus Nomi arrived in New York, in the 1970s, as one of a trail of artistic misfits searching for his niche. He had enjoyed singing since he was a small boy in Germany, as his auntie recalls (her likeness depicted in a dollhouse, with cut out head, pasted on to dress with generous hoop skirt, her sweet voice recalling Nomi's early childhood passages. We see early film clips, interviews and performances).This film is engaging, eye-opening and completely one-of-a-kind.Don't miss out!

Interesting documentary though most of the archival sequences are from very poor quality sources, this is a GERMAN made film so GERMAN subtitles are shown throughout the 80% English soundtrack, the 20% that’s in German has no English subtitles (mainly when his aunt talks (they have no actually film of her so use a cardboard cutout instead... seriously).It would have been nice to have more full Klaus songs (there are three full songs as extras two of which he performs on).Even the famous Bowie on US TV is YouTube quality. The story is interesting but there’s a full proper documentary waiting to be made on this fascinating high octave singer, but in the meantime this is interesting enough, perhaps it some kind RECORD COMPANY could Reissue remastered Deluxe editions of the few albums this documentary could be a bonus, with contributions from Morrissey and other admirers?There’s quite a lot of bonus stuff, mainly extended interviews with journalist/DJ’s giving ‘overview’ and a behind the scenes on how they made the sets for the Auntie Cardboard cutout... do I hear a barrel being scrapped?

A wonderful documentary about the late, incredible Klaus Nomi.It's not a slick studio production, but a 'cinema verite' style series of clips and interviews, which seems totally appropriate for the subject. The film tells Klaus' story from his childhood in Germany, early fascination with opera, and move to the US in the 70s (an American boyfriend, apparently). New York in that period, alongside Warhol and other familiar art and music names, seemed to catalyse his unusual talents. Nomi's performances are stunning (many more can be found on Youtube - this film is about his life and work but not a music video).Klaus Nomi is such an original performer, with his beautiful other-worldly stage character and exquisite tenor/counter-tenor voice. People found him very polite and sweet-natured, which makes his struggle to achieve stardom, to make ends meet, and his loneliness and and early death all the more poignant.For info: this film is a German edition, so it is mostly in English with German subtitles, although some is in spoken German with no subtitles.

I am afraid that I have a dark sense of the absurd, and I loved this film on the art of Klaus Nomi from several angles.Unintentionally funny asides, through to some introspective and insightful and sometimes seeringly honest commentary, creatively mixed with footage of the man himself, and good mileage made of very little- this is a really well made documentary, and I shall be buying more copies as gifts for friends who are fans, and who will become so after watching this tender little film which portrays Klaus Nomi as a human,as an icon and lingers in my mind as an odd kind of vibrant echo, such was the impact of the man and his stylings. I really enjoyed this film.

Andrew Horn's 'Nomi Song' is not a 'film' as such, but rather an extended television documentary shot on videotape. The archive footage is a treat and includes unseen home video, rare performance footage and obscure TV appearances. It's fascinating to see videotape as the primary archive source in a documentary of this kind - so crude, so unstable, so immediate. The sourcing of this material is Andrew Horn's principle achievement. But 'Nomi Song' is crude in other less interesting ways - as though a few more days in the edit might have helped. The interviews are unimaginatively staged and shot and some of the junctions between scenes jar. The first hand accounts are illuminating, but sometimes petty and it would have been useful to hear some contemporary artists and more objective commentators weigh Nomi's achievement and influence to provide some perspective. That said, this the only Nomi documentary available and we should be grateful for it. If you're curious to know more about this wonderful artist, this is a good place to start...

Klaus Nomi was an amazing Artist.Very interesting DVD.I’m so proud to own it.