Down the Rabbit Hole with Klaus Nomi

I don't really remember how I became familiar with Klaus Nomi. I know he was in Urgh: A Music War but I don't think that was it. I guess it was just the magic of Record Service c. 1981. Remember when you'd buy an album just by how it looked? There wasn't necessarily a way to look it up and read a million reviews ahead of time...so you went by feel....sometimes you were right, sometimes you weren't. This time I was right though.  I fell madly in love with the record, as well as the follow up album, Simple Man, the following year. I've got a couple of 12 inches too...somewhere...no doubt in the basement...I should set Owen on a mission to find them. There's humor and fashion and art...but when it comes right down to it, his singing can break your heart...and that of course is what touches me.

Some ten years ago, not long  after I started this blog (ahem) I went on a Klaus Nomi kick and ordered the 2004 documentary, The Nomi Song, which I really enjoyed. Every so often I find some new nugget of footage on Youtube and it always makes me happy.

One of the first sightings of Klaus Nomi for many was when he appeared with Bowie on Saturday Night Live in 1979, with he and Joey Arias carrying to and from the microphone for Man Sold the World...and then singing background again on other songs, wearing their Thierry Mugler dresses.... Bowie is of course flooding my facebook feed but I find it almost hard to listen to so upon seeing this video...I happily went down the Klaus Nomi rabbit hole....

Here's some different footage from that show: