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(The Berlin Wall - so after 28 years of grief, death and terror, it's over in a few minutes.)

With the relaxation on travel restrictions between East and West Germany, it was only a matter of time before the wall dividing the two Berlins became impractical and a relic of the Cold War. But the speed with which the change occurred took the rest of the world by surprise. As the day wore on and as reports came in as fast as they happened, it was slowly becoming apparent to the rest of the world that the Iron Curtain indeed was evaporating.

Mike Pulsiver (CBS News): "Witnesses are quoted as saying they have seen East German soldiers dismantling a section of the Berlin Wall as an incredible story keeps unfolding at breakneck speed."

The irony was, after so many years of a seemingly impregnable wall dividing the city and the endless attempts to escape to the West and the loss of life that happened during those attempts, the fact that the wall came down so quickly seemed ironic and in some ways strange. But the people of Berlin seized the moment and it became one huge party. The past was gone and there was no turning back.

As a bonus for our German friends, or those of you who want to brush up on your German, I've included a several news reports from German Radio from November 9-11, 1989. They are separated by a few seconds of silence between cuts.

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The clips go as follows:

1. Press Conference with Gunter Schabowski, DDR
2. Radio report
3. Radio DDR – 3 am news
4. Berlin Radio
5. SFB Radio – 8 am news
6. Comments by Walter Momper from Bonn
7. Jugenradio DT 64 – News 5pm.
8. Willy Brandt address
9. Address by Egon Krenz

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(East Berlin 1953 - Getting to be an all-too-familiar image: Rocks vs. Tanks)

As the Cold War trudged on during the 1950s, there were a few uprisings that became wrinkles in the Iron Curtain. One was the East Berlin riots that began in June of 1953. They were quickly joined by other disturbances around East Germany, with a few cities in the Eastern Bloc joining in. They were quickly extinguished but gave the West a glimpse that not all was as it was portrayed to be. As these newscasts from June 17-23rd attest.

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(Can - perfected the fine art of having your mind blown)

Surprisingly, a lot of people I have run into lately have never heard of Can before. To say they spearheaded the Krautrock movement in the 1970's is a little disingenuous. They were heavily involved in electronic music in the 1960's - two of the band members studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen. Irmin Schmidt, the co-founder once told me, that, in addition to working with Stockhausen, as a student he had worked for the East Berlin Opera as a repetiteur (before bolting to the West). So the band came from a more hardcore place than just plunking around on synthesizers.

Anyway - Can have a long and celebrated career and have been influential in a lot of musical circles.

This track Come Sta, La Luna comes from their last album for United Artists "Soon Over Babaluma", recorded in 1974 and released just before they signed to Virgin.

The band went through a number of personnel changes over the years before finally packing it in around 2001. But they are still very much involved in a lot of solo projects as well as working with other bands.

They definitely put their mark on the 70s though.