He came from outer space...

For all the old new wavers on TC:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/the_nomi_song.html

More:
http://www.thenomisong.com/

From the Web site:
...everything was a huge movement against slickness of the 70s in rock and roll. There was this siege mentality artistically, it was as if this f**king Disco music is taking us over, it was just sucking the oxygen out of the world and there was this mentality like we’ve got to do something - anything! ...and so everybody did do anything and everything was ok and everything was possible and...the more wacky it was, the better it was.

• Interview with Alan Platt

We need this to happen again before Britney Spears sucks the oxygen out of this world too.

[ Edited by: vintagegirl on 2005-02-04 16:17 ]

I loved that Bowie SNL performance with Nomi on bg vocals. Does anyone know where I can see downloadable movies of the 2 songs he performed (Ashes to Ashes & TVC-15)?

Read the review in LA Weekly jus' today.

http://www.laweekly.com/film/newfilmresults.php

I'm still blown away by his performance in "URRRGH, A Music War" (damn hard to find a decent copy of that too!)

[ Edited by: Shipwreckjoey on 2005-02-04 17:53 ]

His gig in Urrrgh! is great, I love the jumpsuit-wearin' guitar player with the mostache blowin' "Kansas" style leads while this "Vampire Opera Mime" with Mickey Mouse gloves does the robot. Definately the ying to Klaus's yang (pardon the expression). And what were those dancers doing?

Oh, poor man.

I must admit, I always thought his output was utter bell-banging shite and his influence a perennial misfortune upon easily-led bisexual 17 year olds.

Still, I've always a soft spot for the true one-offs. He was certainly that, at least.

Trader Woody

Tiki-bot, they did show most of those 2 songs in the film. I ended up going to see it last night in Santa Monica (it's only showing for one week at art house theaters, so if you want to see it, go soon.) Aside from the subject matter, it was also a pretty well made documentary. Truly a fascinating portrait of that particular musical/cultural era in NYC. It's a shame that most of the theatrical concept of the original Nomi show was lost when the record label threw out his original band and replaced them with generic musicians. They had some great footage of the early shows. So unless you got to see him live in NYC, you probably didn't get the full effect of what they were trying to do. The record label totally watered him down once they signed him.

We need this to happen again before Britney Spears sucks the oxygen out of this world too.

Well said. The terrain of pop culture is ripe for another revolution that will blow people's minds. The unfortunate part of that is a) I have no faith in the youth of today. Frankly, they're too stupid to do anything on par with the punk movement or the hippie movement., and b) Madison Ave. is so hyper-aware of the so-called underground or anything artisitic, that revolutions last for about one minute, and the next thing you know Ashlee Simpson is hijacking it. We're all doomed. If you got to grow up in the forty or so year window of 1956 to 1996 you got to see, first hand, some cool stuff. That kind of thing won't be happening again. Maybe....but I doubt it.

On 2005-02-07 22:17, donhonyc wrote:
The unfortunate part of that is a) I have no faith in the youth of today. Frankly, they're too stupid to do anything on par with the punk movement or the hippie movement..

When I see these "Hot Topic" type T-shirt stores with all black Ts and all kinds of subculture paraphenalia, their kid clients seem like "Underground" posers. There is nothing innovative, revolutionairy left in there, it's not Subculture, it's White Trash culture.

Where is the youth generation that demonstrates against what the politicians are doing today? Are WE the establishment, and the anti-stance of the new young generation consists in stating that the media has too much freedom?

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-02-09 16:50 ]

Where is the youth generation that demonstrates against what the politicians are doing today? Are WE the establishment, and the anti-stance of the new young generation consists in stating that the media has too much freedom?

I don't know what the youth now stands for. As far as I can see...nothing! At least the white middle class youth. If the draft is re-instated, maybe you'll see your Josh Grobans & Carson Dalys speak up...that would be something, eh? There does seem to be some political disscussion among young Latinos and Blacks, but white kids.....can't be bothered. Here in Gotham observing the youth I see droves of young men and women flocking to clubs and standing in line behind velvet ropes to get into establishments that offer nothing but over-priced cocktails and lame dance music. I have seen substantial velvet rope lines outside a club in literally 10 degree or colder weather. This is what they enjoy. There is no thought or substance. Their role models are Paris Hilton, Eminem, The Strokes, and the Bush Twins. It reminds me alot of the materialistic kids in the 80s, but back then there was a choice to be part of an anti-culture. If you hated the Less Than Zero crowd, there was always people who were into Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Ramones, etc. That seems to be painfully absent today. ALL of these kids are drinking the same kool-aid spiked with some kinda 'stupid powder'. They just seemed to be completely dissconected and blindly buy into, or just plain ignore what is happening in the world around them. It's super annoying, because this type of youth has completely taken over the nightlife in New York City. Posuers indeed! What do you expect from a generation born in the 80s. That decade was the gateway to all things sub-mental.

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2005-02-09 22:24 ]

Nomi was definately a f#%kin trip.

On 2005-02-04 17:07, Tiki-bot wrote:
I loved that Bowie SNL performance with Nomi on bg vocals. Does anyone know where I can see downloadable movies of the 2 songs he performed (Ashes to Ashes & TVC-15)?

TVC15
Large file, it takes a while to buffer.
I don't think you can download them.

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2005-02-11 13:28 ]

When I see these "Hot Topic" type T-shirt stores with all black Ts and all kinds of subculture paraphenalia, their kid clients seem like "Underground" posers. There is nothing innovative, revolutionairy left in there, it's not Subculture, it's White Trash culture.

Thats just it; you can't buy 'soul' in a store, no matter what the marketers tell you.

Where did all the thinkers go?!? Where is art for art's sake?!?

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. - Socrates

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

"What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They
ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions.
Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" - Plato

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress." - Peter the Hermit, AD 1274

Arrrgh! Those damn kids!

:tiki:

Great quotes, TikiFish! The more things change, the more they stay the same :)

Thanks for the link UB. Great to see that again. And that's one smart skirt!

My friend and I were discussing this exact subject last night at the Mallard while a VU song played. We were lamenting that there was no bold, underground art movement anymore and the days of rock stars hanging out with pop art icons was a thing of the past. Every ounce of burgeoning creativity (or rebellion) is immediately seized upon and before you can blink, there are plush toys.

Perhaps we are at a true crossroads where the dissemination of all ideas is so immediate, there is no time to apply value or judgement. I wouldn't necessarily say that kids are worse today than in the past, just that we have found newer, faster, and louder ways in which to shocwcase their "worseness".