Mandy and the Great Food Experiment 08/30/2010
 It is going great! Mandy (in the white coat with clipboard) is very attentive and most helpful at recording when I am hungry. So far she has logged every time I need food and made her own categories to determine how my cravings are sequenced. For instance, she noted that at 16:37 yesterday (May 3rd) I ate a bowl of 'large grade muesli' and appeared 'peckish'. Fantastic! This will be so much help to me for creating a definitive database of feeding times complete with suggestions of what I must eat and even where! Pupu says this is crazy. She prophesizes that I will discover that I should eat only three meals a day like anyone else but, Pupu... no. Sorry baby. This is my science and I can not be deterred from this path up 'self discovery street'. Now I know I must apply this same rational, scientific approach to my sleeping. I can, with the help of Mandy (God willing) make a way of determining when I am tired and should sleep, nap or rest. But, again, she will create categories and for this I am most excited! I must contain my lust for knowledge. Pupu watches as I type and she says I must contain my lust for Mandy. Pah.  It seems that the Funky Porn Disco compilation by Streef la Belle is already out on release at certain e-stores and I am most unhappy with this. We thought we may be coming toward an understanding. But I think not. Already this is on TuneTribe and Napster. Soon it will be at iTunes. This is not right but, as I have said, Streef la Belle has connections with James Last and the Mafia and I could not be head to head with them! I feel as though I may have a blackcurrant Club biscuit. I should text Mandy this. Peace, Jan Sink The Wives of Klaus Harmony 08/27/2010
One thing that people do make a mistake of is to think that Klaus was at all like a porn star. He was a lovely man and not like a lothario. Having said this, he did at all times have an eye for ladies and was drawn to them as they were drawn to him. But rather than just being sexy with any ladies, he was also so romantic and wished to marry any woman who caught his eyes. So first was his wife Nerys Stokes. Nerys was a dancer at the Soho nightspot, Club Nefertiti (owned by Hans Orff, assumed by many to be Klaus's real father). Godfrey Gilliam writes: "He worried his friends by becoming embroiled in a passionate affair with Nerys Stokes, one of the club's dancers. Nerys's weak grip on reality made it difficult to have any form of relationship with her. Klaus was not, however, in a stable state of mind himself. Nerys egged Klaus on, pushing him to throw inappropriate songs and jokes into the club's stage act. Orff was eventually forced to dismiss Klaus after he refused to sing Edelweiss to Harry 'Mad Hat' Hurley of Bethnal Green, one of London's most notorious suppliers of meat and fish." This was ill fated, however, and the rock'n'roll lifestyle took its toll on this union as Klaus's band, Kinky Roosevelt, hit stratospheric heights and the group's lead guitarist Dave Partridge stole Nerys from him: "Dave Partridge had slipped into the abyss of the fantastical and made the public announcement that he was in fact King Herod. Added to this, he had for months been having an affair with Klaus's much oft-neglected bride, Nerys (now known as Salome)." We are not surewhat happened with this marriage - maybe they did become divorced because Klaus fell in love and married again during the making of Die Grosse Brustwarze Karnival in 1970.  "It was on the set of Wundercrotchen that Klaus met Claudia Piffenhole, a sweet-hearted nineteen-year-old former fashion model and one-time lesbian call girl. Klaus would visit the shoots daily to absorb the action and admire Claudia's acrobatic, contortionistic performances. Soon they were in love and a little later, on 21st January 1971, Klaus's thirtieth birthday, they were married. A month later Helmut, Klaus's first son was, born." This too did not last forever. Klaus had his head turned by big time success and was living it up in his 'lost fortnight' with James Last and Brian Eno. This had bad affects on this marriage. "Claudia and Helmut had reason to feel abandoned and on January 21st 1975, Klaus's thirty-fourth birthday, she moved out never to return. Helmut was left behind, confused and tear stained. However, Klaus rose to the challenge and reared him solo, performing the duties of any earnest mother, including the task of breast feeding the four-year-old."  But the sun did shine again on Klaus and his love and he met the beautiful and crazy Theda Wetzel during the making of Who Needs Dialogue? (1975) "The leading lady, Theda Wetzel, proved a great asset to the film, and Klaus in particular found the young actress delightful with her long auburn fingernails, brown skin and curly hair. She awoke feelings of youth and joy in the composer and they fell in love. They married in January 1976." Sadly this did not last. "Life in the Harmony camp was initially idyllic, the newlyweds doting on the playful Helmut, but soon Theda became restless and volatile, her sweet-natured cooing giving way to a gruff-mannered yap. She started to accuse Klaus of annoying her; in time her verbal remonstrations expanded into physical-style rebukes, alienating Klaus and alarming the boy. Klaus tried to turn a blind eye [his left one] to her rough cankerousness but within months her temper had become unmanageable - one night she shaved off half his prized moustache as he slept. Once embarrassed to seek help, he now found himself unable to ignore the problem after waking to discover her attempting to amputate his right leg with a pneumatic drill. Within a year of marriage their once flourishing romance had all but wasted to an atrophied husk of its former constitution and he tearfully ordered her to leave the fold. After reaching a financial settlement of $200,000 and a mink coat, she agreed to go. On January 21st 1977, Klaus's thirty-sixth birthday, Theda Wetzel, his third wife, left never to return. Klaus Harmony was, apart from his son, alone again."  A massive breakthrough did come in 1977 with the movie The Ladies Man which gained Klaus and Friedrich Wohlfäht commercial and critical success. Also Klaus met one of his greatest loves of all. This was to be Lola Schlipp. "Lola was altogether more experienced, having appeared in countless films already, including the inexplicably popular Chip Jenssen farce, Tits and Bits. She knew the moves almost before Wohlfäht called them and made easy work of the shooting schedule. She arrived on time, knew her lines, took almost no drugs and had an independent, worldly quality. Klaus found himself falling in love with her and before shooting had finished they were married." But the unthinkable happened. At the same time as all this happiness there was a sadness so big looming on the corner. "On January 21st 1979 Lola boarded a charter flight to Milan with Otto Dieskau, Friedrich Wohlfäht's First Cameraman and Sound Recordist. They were to film a promotional trailer for the upcoming release of The Ladies Man in Italy. Twenty minutes into the flight Lola began to complain of severe chest pains and Otto Dieskau frantically massaged her heaving thorax in an effort to relieve her agony. Without warning the small aircraft was ripped apart by an explosion which could be heard for miles around as the silicone implants in Lola's chest erupted, the changing pressure in the cabin too much for the counterfeit bust to withstand. The master reels of The Ladies Man were destroyed, lost somewhere over Austria, as were Schlipp and Dieskau." It is impossible to know how Klaus could have recovered from this. We he knew him at the time believed his life would be destroyed. But no. It was just beginning afresh again. "After a few months of grief, Friedrich Wohlfäht approached Klaus for the permission to make a biopic of the much-mourned actress. (Killer Tits) Klaus found the idea difficult to contemplate - how could any film do justice to the beautiful, classy erotic actress lady that had been his fourth wife? Friedrich assured him that the film would be highly tasteful, artistic and would portray Lola as intelligent, soft-hearted, money-minded, compassionate and gorgeous...  ...With Klaus as senior consultant, Friedrich set about writing the screenplay which was truthful to the last detail with the exception of a lengthy mud wrestling sequence. A romantic score was written which included the heart rending track Shave and Shine. The casting of the leading lady was naturally of paramount importance and for that role Wohlfäht found Suzanne Watkins-Rob, an English girl looking to pay for her studies in Holland. In a certain light the resemblance was uncanny and crew members had to do double takes on the set, believing that they were in the presence of the late star herself. The film was completed and made close friends of Suzanne Watkins-Rob and Klaus, who found solace in her young beauty and striking similarity to his previous wife. Suzanne suggested marriage to Klaus, having fallen deeply in love with him. However the composer still pined for Lola and explained that he did not feel ready for a new relationship - if indeed he could love again at all. The young actress vowed to wait despite his reticence, and her patience paid off. Klaus agreed to marry her two weeks after her proposal." And so, you can see how much of a romantic Klaus was. Often I think he was abused a little by his women but they made him happy. Now I must find the money from sales of his music to pay for Suzanne's second swimming pool in Brentwood (Essex not California) Tomorrow Helmut needs a wash and I must fly to Amsterdam for this. He did not want to stay in England after his disastrous driving lesson at Stanstead. Peace Jan Sink Klaus Harmony and his Accordion of Pain 08/23/2010
 People often are asking me why Klaus Harmony, when he was so famous for the accordion in the 1960's, did not incorporate more of the versatile and universal instrument onto his soundtracks for the Erotik Expressionist movies with Friedrich Wohlfäht. Well, of course, I cannot say precisely because I am not Klaus and would not presume to know the inner workings of a genius brain but I do have a thesis on the subject. It is well noted and documented in the biography of Klaus, 'Porno Sonatas' by Godfrey Gilliam, that Klaus may have some less than happy associated memories of the accordion in his life, in particular in connection with his mother Lotte Schmitt.  "In 1948 with a child to support, with Orff having departed from the film circuit to open a chain of stores selling sex toy vent dummies, Lotte embarked on new creative ventures. Influenced by her earlier incarnation as a supporting artiste in the clubs of 1930's Berlin, she created a new form of cabaret, breathtaking for its daring employment of street theatre as a medium from which to comment on events in post-war Berlin. Dressed only in a negligée, she would stand in the windows of shop fronts singing her songs accompanied by the young Klaus on accordion. These songs soon became well known, and ballads such as Der Nun und das Pferd and vaudevillian foot-tappers like Wo Loflt Meinen Kleinen Sturzhelm Gehen? have become standard repertoire in certain German circles. During the early-fifties a new aspect of her 'Vaudeville Nouveau' developed whereby she would wait for a man to approach her and together they would retreat upstairs enigmatically, leaving Klaus to carry the act and learn his trade alone. Ailing health and an utterly rampant drinking problem beset Lotte over the ensuing years and eventually Klaus had to become a solo artiste. His tender age notwithstanding, he knew the songs intimately and, with his accordion, performed them with an uncanny likeness to Lotte's own delivery, moves and all. The part of the act that involved disappearing upstairs he found difficult however, preferring to simply kiss the men on the cheeks. [He later noted, that they seemed to be just as happy with this, sometimes making favorable remarks about his underdeveloped pubescent moustache.] "  He did base his early pop career on this instrument but he soon moved forward into the Progressive Rock style and left it behind. There is always somewhat pain and yearning to be found in the life of an artist to make his art and here, I think, is the pain of Klaus Harmony. Peace, Jan Sink It is true to say that Klaus did indeed have a large effect on other musicians. People are often unaware of this fact and for this reason are overlooking the significances of Klaus Harmony and his forward-thinking Avant-garde type creativita.  It was during the sessions of the movie Chenois (1973) that Isaac Hayes is said to have visited Klaus's studio in order to reassess his own ways of working. He is thought to have found the music for Wundercrotchen "damn near mind-blowing" and could not miss the opportunity to sit in on the sessions for the new movie. Much along similar lines, Stevie Wonder is purported to have acknowledged the influence of Klaus along with Herbie Hancock as Walter Samuel has often pointed out. "Herbie Hancock alluded to the soundtrack of 1971's Die Grosse Brustwarze Karnival having influenced his own early 1970's output, whilst Stevie Wonder, when asked about the genesis of his landmark LP, Talking Book, told a journalist, "Man, I just closed my eyes and made like I was Klaus Harmony." There being no doubt as to the extent of the album's influence, there is also much evidence of Klaus Harmony's own musical heritage, in particular his classical training under the tutelage of Henry Bysshe. A Visit to the Countryside depicts the simplicity of rural life for its sexually emancipated youth, and, in painting a portrait of such an idyllic existence, the composer draws on the descriptive, programmatic music of both Grieg and Beethoven, weaving their motifs so seamlessly into his own that it takes more than a concerted listen to discern passages of Peer Gynt and the Pastoral Symphony."  A visit which Klaus made to Los Angeles in 1979 brought him together with many great musicians who were drawing inspirations from his genius. Samuel also writies this about it: "In an effort to imitate the vapid exuberance of Chip Jenssen's "California Gold" movies, distributor, Futafusion and record label, Judd Discs, offered to pay for Friedrich Wohlfäht and Klaus Harmony to take a short sabbatical in LA to meet with their west coast counterparts. Instead of adhering to the intensive schedule of meetings and lunches set up for him, however, Klaus eloped with Harold Faltermeyor and, for fourteen days, did little but play ping pong in his friends infamously well equipped Malibu games room. Upon his return to Europe, he began work on the score for Schaften Lieben and produced uninspired work by his own standards, but fashioned a style which made a significant impression upon Hollywood composers such as Randy Edelman and Dave Grusin." Also, Dave Grusin took a particular cue from a certain Klaus track, Mr No More Nice Guy. It is so that Klaus was a leader of styles and not a follower. He did take inspiration from the classical masters such as Bach and Beethoven, and from popular music such greats as Gerry Marsden, who for him was the brightest star. He was not at all fond of gimmicks or tricks in music as Walter Samuel mentions on relation to his short experiment with World Music in the score for Schaften Lieben:  "...it is thought that despite the enthusiasm of Futafusion and Judd Discs for this synthesis of Western and Eastern sounds, a style they thought both adventurous and commercially exploitable, the composer himself thought the result less than remarkable and something of a cul-de-sac in aesthetic terms. Indeed he expressed some surprise that Peter Gabriel was not able to get a similar compositional inclination out of his system somewhat sooner." Of course only history may be the final judge of the impacts of Klaus Harmony but it needs no further elucidations that I am in the belief that Klaus was indeed a genius and did set the trends but not follow them. I don't think he bucked them either. But then what is bucking?  Pupu has made me an egg-white omelette which is what the London taxi drivers eat she tells me. Peace, Jan Sink  Walter Samuel, esteemed Professor of music at Hamburg's Erma Schultz Akademie, has long been seen and regarded as a highly respected authority on the the music of Klaus Harmony and has seen to it that Klaus's music is now being studied as a central part of a German Music Conservetoire module (Klaus Harmony und die moderne Beschfatiguing des Pfostens von numeralogical refrence in der Musik der Erotik Expressionistbewegung 1969-1981). We are very excited to be seeing this and are giving our full endorsement to Prof. Samuel for the use of any materials in these most worthy academic pursuits. As such, and from time to times, I am committed to including writings from him on the subject of my friend's music here on my blog. So without any further doings I present a analysis of Another Day, Another Friend, which is included on the fourth volume of OEUVRE... ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER FRIEND, 1971 A keen proponent of the palindromic form, Friedrich Wohlfäht ends Die GROSSE BRUSTWARZE KARNIVAL in the same setting as its opening titles. Focusing on Lora's return from the countryside and her rural affair, the closing montage inter-cuts slow motion footage of her tender experiences with images of the metropolis to which she is returning. Klaus Harmony's response to the sequence was a breathtakingly simple and fine piece featuring a moog ostinato on the tonic chord throughout. The composer believed it to be his best music to date and called it 'an expression of humankind's capacity to defy uncertainty'.  Wohlfäht thought it a work of genius and felt certain it would achieve recognition as such. Eventual disappointment followed however; the composition never became widely known other than for its use in a corporate presentation film for Spaldeve PLC, a Danish company selling time shares in Sweden. Walter Samuel, 1997 Klaus Encounters of Some Kind or Other 08/07/2010
There is some guy in Denmark (what's his name!?) who was obviously very taken with the music and art of Klaus and has named himself Klaus Encounters - this is a tribute act to Klaus Harmony which is, if I may say so, most touching indeed. Pupu believes he is just a leech parasite living off the name of a genius but I disagree. He keeps the flame alive and, most important to me, helps me to live up to my promise to Klaus, that I should maintain the funk at always. Try his link homepage here which has some interesting stuff about this most special guy. Klaus Encounters. Even the music is lovingly put together, though I should say it is dreadfully crappy and would have given Klaus a good laugh indeed! No matter.  Pupu has tried to persuade me not to do my eating experiments. She believes it will be bad for my psyche. But I am determined to understand when I will be hungry. To this end I have hired a most beautiful girl from Basildon with a white coat and a stopwatch (she used to work in a vetinary surgery) and she will record when I am hungry so I may understand when best to eat. I was determined that she should provide her own clipboard but she wants to be an employee rather than self employed (where she could have claimed the expense) but she is more beautiful than I expected and she posseses her own spectacles which, though I did not expressly require, will certainly help her look the part. She is called Mandy and is a very classy lady.  Today Helmut took the first in a driving course at Stanstead. He wanted to cover the windscreen with silver foil and instead use a CCTV device by Jerrick Vander strapped to the car bonnet to navigate but of course that are most strict here in regulations (and they mock the EU?) and insisted he must use his own eyes for the driving. I think he still believes he will make them agree to tin foil on the rear window at least but I am most dubious I must say. These men live for burocracy. Pupu is calling and I must fetch her a glass of Pimms which she always takes to the sunbed with her. Peace, Jan Sink Klaus Harmony Pac-Man 09/20/2009
The very clever son of genius Jerrick Vander came to me and said, "hey Jan. What about a Klaus Harmony interactive game?" Well, Klaus loved gadgets as we are all aware and we think he would have loved this!  Dierdre Vander (I only just discovered his name is a girl's one - stupid!) has created Klaus Pac-Man. (try it out) Klaus has to eat as many viagra as possible. Not likely. Anyway I think I am going to play with myself on this. Pupu wil not be happy. She wants to visit a charity auction in Loughton where thay are selling Julie Goodyear's boot collection. Peace, Jan Sink Did Fabien Mitterrand kill Klaus Harmony? 08/01/2009
It has been claimed, mostly by some, that Fabien Mitterrand did kill Klaus Harmony. Well, it could, of course, be so. But why would he do it? Obvously it is like a Mozart and Salieri thing (God forbid that I should need to say that Klaus is Mozart here!).  Tales of their rivalry - or Mitterrand's bitterness - are well document. First Klaus was in the midst of a breakthrough with the first digitally recorded pop album with Ladies Man in 1977. When Mitterrand found this out he sent a man to be an undercover runner in the studio and wipe jam on the recording heads of the tape machine which Jerrick Vander had invented. What a mess, I can tell you! So Klaus had to start again but on analogue tape. The sad thing is that two years on from this Ry Cooder had the same idea but did it the other way round. This was bad enough (as if it wasn't!) but then in 1980 he stole the master tape of Klaus's Eurovision entry, Sad Funk Lonely. It was a sure fire certainty to win but Klaus, being Klaus, would not fight the fight and let it go instead. Later Amando Ferrari recorded this song at his very emotional birthday concert in Milan and we have a beautiful recording of these on Oeuvre Zwei. And so it goes on. Klaus never paid back these feelings and could never understand why Fabien Mitterrand was as hostile as these. But one could never account for the creative psyche! He was almost certainly a bad man but we don't think he killed Klaus. For one thing, he wasn't clever enough for it! Also Klaus was much more clever and would have outsmarted him if they had been truly against each other (though not so that he was in the KGB like some are saying - crazy!) If FM was alive today he could elucidate it all but for that tragic business with the tractor in Norfolk County, UK (he was annoyed by the noise and hijacked it from the farmer before accidentally driving it into the path of a speeding Smart Car.) Terrible but... you know. We did go to his funeral and, of course, Streef la Belle was there and so was James Last. I counted 57 guns amongst all their bodyguards. They terrify me. Bad men for sure. Peace, Jan Sink A Tribute to my Great Pupu 06/30/2009
 Anyone who has been reading any entries by me soon or recently will surely know that I and Pupu are sometimes a bit 'on the rocks'. Well I make no apologies for this and nor she does also for we are a very loving and solid couple (as a rock you might say!) and those who know us would say so. But she does test my good faith at times and I must say of all times recently when she remarked to a woman at the make up counter on Harrods that I was in the business of porn. Well, of course, it is not so. And for that matter, and more importantly, is the pressing matter that Klaus Harmony was not either. It is true that he was called the 'Mozart of Porn' in the 70's: The Sad Story About Helmut Harmony 06/19/2009
People have asked me about Helmut (below) as he is most sincerely an eccentric person who does not enjoy the limelight in any way. He is certainly by now a recluse and lives in a single room at the headquarters of HarmonSink in Amsterdam (he calls this his Kleine Ruimteflat) but it is really merely a room with a basin and WC.  It is true that it is difficult often at times to communicate with Helmut about the business side of running HarmonSink and selling Klaus Harmony music but we have found a way to make this work. Generally a man is posted outside the door of Helmut's Kleine Ruimteflat and can recieve emails and SMS text messages on his handheld device. He will then write these onto a clean sheet of paper (using raspberry juice as Helmut does not like ink) which can be passed under the door into a chamber which conects to Helmut's room which he will enter to retrieve this. I was charged with custody and care of young Helmut when Klaus died in 1984 so I am family to the boy. Sometimes Pupu believes I am harsh and disloyal to him but I do love him and am only the victim of my own frustrations. But we do work very effectively together and I am very proud of him. I must visit him now to drop off this month's supply of Muesli on which he subsists completely. Peace, Jan Sink |   About Jan Sink
Jan Sink was born in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1944 and, following a largely unsuccessful career as a roadie, became a recording engineer at the infamous Amsterdam recording
studio, The Velvet Glove. In 1969 he was hired by legendary erotik film composer Klaus Harmony to engineer sessions for 'Elektrische Lippen', the composer’s first collaboration with director, Friedrich Wohlfäht. Jan went on to engineer and mix and co-produce soundtracks for classics such as 'Die Sins des Apostles', 'The Ladies Man' and 'Die Sexorcist'. Following the composer’s death in 1984, Jan took the role of CEO of HarmonSink Corp founded with Klaus’ son, Helmut Harmony, to administer the Klaus Harmony publishing catalogue. In 2005 HarmonSink Corp acquired the rights to the complete recorded work of Klaus Harmony which is now being re-released in the form of the acclaimed multi-volume 'Oeuvre' series. Jan divides his time between Amsterdam and London and sometimes lives with his wife, Pupu. CategoriesAll ArchivesAugust 2010 |