We ventured down the street to find food and coffee and stumbled upon a Piteria, a sort of bakery/restaurant that serves a type of stromboli-like pastry. I had potato (for 3.90 Kuna, less than $1) and the boys had chicken and potato. When we got back Josip was waiting for us. We had a bit of good news in that the bass cabinet just had a loose wire that had come unsoldered — an easy fix. I rode with Josip up to Ljubljana to pick up our rental van for the tour. The hour and a half drive to Slovenia was worth it, considering the same van would have been 20 Euro more to rent in Croatia. We raced back, picked up Bill and Jason at the apartment, met Sasha and Bruno at the club to load out, and then picked up Damir and the rest of his drums at the practice place. Finally around 6pm we were on the road to the seaside town Rijeka.
We found the little club Place and the promoter promptly laid out an incredible vegan spread: delicious vegetable fitters, stir-fry peppers over rice, a bean and onion salad and crusty loaves. Like I said, we aren’t used to people taking care of us like this. Although we were billed on the show poster as “post-hc/noise-rock,” the club calendar branded us as “Stoner/Punk.” The show was sweaty and really good. Joe 4 were on fire. I had thought that they were good the night before, but after they played tonight, I realized they a bit flat on Wednesday. We played well and the crowd seemed to dig it, but no one bought anything and Joe 4 only sold one t-shirt. Afterwards everyone hung out on the street of this really cool thousand-year-old town.
We stayed overnight in a partially renovated apartment that Josip’s friend Raul arranged for us. Sasha and Bruno went off with friends and us Americans hung out with Josip and Damir. I went to sleep straight away but apparently there were some shenanigans that involved Bill falling off an air mattress and taking a face plant and Jason’s air mattress deflating while he slept. I’d also like to point out that although I had thought that Jason snored loudly, he pales in comparison to Josip and especially Damir. I thought Damir was playing a trumpet in the next room.
