Six Degrees of Sauerkraut--Part XXXV: Lessons in the Tempel

Every year, Manuel Göttsching would hold a gathering to choose an apprentice. All the hopeful androids would travel deep into the Glimmerlight to the halls of the Ashra Tempel and present themselves to Göttsching where he floated in the Quasarsphere in his glittering blue robes and his favorite scarf - holding his sacred guitar.

By the early-70s, Manuel had not chosen an apprentice in over 50 years, and an attempt to attain the position was seen as somewhat of a hopeless quest. Yet, that did not stop young Michael Rother and the others from journeying to the halls of the Ash Ra Tempel in early 1973.

I still vividly remember as we all gathered below the floating Göttsching. He played his soft guitar tones that sounded like a synth and he asked us the riddle that would determine our destinies - "The power to control the Universe is in which finger?"

Of course , Schulze stepped forward first, pointed at Göttschings pinkie and said "that one!" Göttsching slowly shook his head, and Klaus stepped back, crushed.

Then Roedelius stepped forward and said, "that is a trick question," and holding out his bare foot he said, "the power to control the universe is in my big toe!" Again, Göttsching shook his head, and stepping back, Roedelius began to weep.

Finally, young Rother stepped forward with his guitar of blue fire and holding up his own index finger proclaimed, "the power to control the universe is in my own finger!" Beaming, Göttsching stated, "I believe I have found my new apprentice." And soon after that, Rother moved into the Quasarsphere to learn how to make his guitar sound like a synthesizer. He emerged later as the super-hero we all came to know and adore - The Flaming Hawk.

Hear some of the sweet sounds of Göttsching's Quasarsphere by clicking on the title of this post. And remember, he dwells there still, looking for his next apprentice.

Immer wieder!

Six Degrees of Sauerkraut -- Part XX: Studium an Der Ash Ra Tempel

When Bernd arrived amongst us, he told tales of the mystic Ash Ra Tempel, far in the recesses of the glimmerlight, near its mystic core. There, he studied under the tutelage of Manuel Göttsching, another character from our makers' bedtime fairy-tales. 

Supposedly the original Ash Ra Tempel was on the colony of Kobol, built by the Centurions at the dawn of the glimmerlight. Göttsching travelled to Earth from Kobol as an emissary, to found a cybernetic race of synthesists here on our planet. He brought the crystals from distant Kobol, through the Sunrain to Earth, to the area now known as Germany. There, he constructed a replica of the Ash Ra Tempel at the glimmerlight's heart, and the first factories that churned out krautrock's greatest heroes.

When Bernd emerged from the crystal core, he came equipped with 8-Tracks that bore sonic messages from our distant forefather. One track I remember clearly, was an ode to his journey through the Sunrain. You can hear it by clicking on the title of this post. 

Rauf und runter!