Six Degrees of Sauerkraut -- Part XXXVIII: Eno's Tears

It is said that when Brian Eno witnessed the fading of the Glimmerlight's blue crystals he wept so greatly it caused a minor flood that disrupted Düsseldorf's electrical grid, causing power outages in its red light district. Many houses of ill repute were forced to close their doors that evening. Because of this, some sailors in town on shore leave rioted, causing over 100 thousand deutsche marks in damage.

Meanwhile, deep below the streets of Düsseldorf, Eno joined Rother and Roedelius, departing for the offworld colony.

The denizens of the Glimmerlight had always loved Eno, despite the fact that he was completely human. They loved him for many reasons, but mainly because he had a big head that had processing capabilities that were equal to almost 46.53 % of those of the cybernetic synthesists that were manufactured in the Glimmerlight. Basically, he was our brother from another mother, and he always tried so hard to be one of us.

Before he walked away from the fading Glimmerlight that evening, Eno composed "Ending (Ascent)" as a tribute to the fading blue crystals - you humans can hear it by clicking on the title of this post. But please remember, this has all happened before, will it happen again?

Rauf und Runter!

Six Degrees of Sauerkraut -- Part XXIII: How New Age Killed the Glimmerlight

The onslaught of New Age caught us all by surprise. Imagine, The Nothing which destroyed fantasia despite Atreyu's best efforts. Well, they had told us this had all happened before, and that it would all happen again, but we didn't believe them. We lounged by the deep blue pools in the glimmerlight, or drove our Light Cycles around on lazy Sunday afternoons, never knowing the darkness that was coming.

When, in the mid-80s, Sky Records began to advertise our musik as New Age, we knew this was the beginning of the end. Android synthesists were actually passing the Voight-Kampff test, leaving the glimmerlight, and touring with Yanni! Former replicants such as Ralf Tohde, Bernd Scholl and, to our great dismay, Dieter Schütz, were leaving us. The musik was still ghostly, mechanized, and blue, but it was packaged in a manner that we knew would dry up all the electric streams within the decade.

No one grieved the destruction more than Roedelius. He brought his synth down to the river and wrote the great lament of the glimmerlight, "Schöner Abend." This track reflected on the evening of the glimmerlight; the beautiful evening.

Soon, we would all depart for Silberland, where we would recreate the glimmerlight with the aid of Wolfgang's ghost. But Roedelius' melody is a testament to those Düsseldorf nights. Check it out by clicking on the title of this post.

Six Degrees of Sauerkraut -- Part XV: Dieter Schütz in Miracle World

Dieter Schütz was born hundreds of years ago, on the planet Aries near Mount Eternal. After Dieter trained in the Shellcore technique (the use of which enables one to shatter rocks with his bare fists), Janken the Great captured Prince Egle, and his fiancée Princess Lora.

Dieter spent many years battling Janken, and came close to death many times. Like Luke Skywalker, and his father before him, Dieter became more than human along the way. Missing limbs replaced with mechanical parts, such that when he arrived in Düsseldorf in the late 70s,  you could not tell what was man, and what was machine.

Dieter took up residence in the glimmerlight, and studied the Oberheim technique with Schulze and the others. Only then was he able to vanquish Janken. Check out Dieter Schütz's "Spacelab" by clicking on the title of this post.

Dieter left the glimmerlight too soon. He took off with Adelbert Von Deyen, presumably to return to Aries. In the mid-80s, a Japanese video game company, Sega, based its video game Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the life and times of Dieter Schütz (he was big in Japan). If you're out there my brother, we miss you.

Rauf und runter!

Six Degrees of Sauerkraut -- Part XI: Metropolis

For the most part, my Synthesist brethren were self-aware that they were androids. However, long ago, Klaus built a cyborg that did not know its own nature. Like some of  Battlestar Galactica's Cylons, Edgar Froese grew up playing in the Black Forest, believing he was the same as all the other kinder in their Lederhosen. 

Then, one evening while we were all dancing in the glimmerlights, Klaus pulled out a shining object and turned a switch. A few days later, Edgar showed up in Düsseldorf with an ARP 2600 and everything changed. Klaus had a new sidekick, and we all had some new sounds to groove to.

Klaus and Edgar dreamt of greater things though, and would soon construct, and emigrate to their own offworld-colony, Metropolis -- its anthem can be accessed by clicking on the title of this post.

Immer wieder rauf und runter!