When we found Bruno and Sasha in the morning, we discovered that Bruno had cut his hand last night. It was really pretty bad and despite the fact that we had a long drive ahead of us, we took him to the hospital for stitches. We had some coffee and then hung in and around the van (or WAN as our Croatia comrades keep pronouncing it) for several hours while Bruno got fixed up. Finally we hit the road to Italy. Originally tonight was supposed to be a sort of in-studio party/show at Josip’s friend Paride’s studio. Paride made the offer when our show in Modena was cancelled a couple of weeks before the tour. However, due to Paride’s travel schedule, it turned out to be a day off. It was a bit disappointing not to play a show, but it was a nice evening.
We arrived in the little village of Verzuolo around 9:30 p.m. and followed Paride up a long rutted dirt road up into the mountains to his house. His Oxygen Studios is on the ground floor of his house and boasts a beautiful 2-inch Ampex recorder and a custom-built Swiss console. Paride plays in a cool band called Kash and has recorded with Albini in Chicago. Next year, Steve is coming to Italy to record Kash at Oxygen. Josip is already planning to record the next Joe 4 record here,Paride and his wife pulled out all the stops with an amazing meal and coffee on the patio overlooking the lights of the village in the valley.
