Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia

hello friends! i am writing this from our house here in nova pazova, serbia where we played a great outdoor show for the folks here last night. we were told that we were the first american band to ever play this town! sorry for the long delay in updating this here blog but our internet access has not been that hot on this tour. here's some news and pictures: we had a fun time in slovenia last week before heading into a studio in ljublana to record some more tracks for freddy and lisa. here is the stage outside the max club in velenje, slovenia:



after our week in slovenia we headed south into croatia. view as we come out of some mountains towards sibinek:


sibinek is a small but beautiful town right on the coast of the adriatic sea. we were put up in an apartment rented from a nice local family right in the heart of town. sibinek is laid out in small, winding little streets very similar to the other old towns we have visited in italy. the family there actually thanked us for our US aid in the war and gave us each a seashell for good luck. ain't that sweet? they fed us well and even had a beautiful collie to entertain us. after walking around the town and the harbor the morning after the gig, we headed south to split kastel for two days on the sea side. here are some shots of sibinek and some shots of our drive along the coast to split:













setting up for the gig:






as i've said before, outdoor sound can be kinda tricky. sibinek was a bit of a challenge. beware the soundmen who show up wearing whitesnake and saxon t shirts:


carolyn getting primped:


walking around town the next morning:








this is just an amazing gut and we couldn't resist:






some shots from the drive to split, kastel. the photos really don't do the scenery justice... insane views of the sea:






the drive to split, kastel (just north of split) took just about an hour. our show in split, kastel was part of a 5 day biker rally and camping weekend. we played on a huge stage looking out over the sea for a few thousand biker dudes and their ladies. again we stayed in an apartment rented from a local family who fed us well and were very happy to have us. the landscape in croatia, especially by the seaside, is very dry and rocky. the vegetation consists of more desert like plants that you might see in southern california or maybe florida. the coastline itself doesn't have that much in the way of sandy beaches. most of the bathing areas we saw and had a chance to swim in were man made and built up with lots of sand. me getting out of the water:


view from our apartment of the sea:




our hosts made us a huge meal for the two nights we spent there. we had a full day off and then another day to rest before the show that night. this tour really feels like a vacation... a funny thing about this region is that 'vegetarian' means 'fish' to the folks here:


the next day we drove into bosnia to the city of mostar. this town suffered a lot of destruction during the war here in the late '90s. much of the old city was destroyed including the city's landmark bridge which was later rebuilt. folks there explained that the bridge linked two halves of the city: the eastern muslim/serbian side and the western croatian side. there are still many buildings here showing bullet marks and signs of the violence that took place. hard to imagine considering how peaceful and beautiful it is now. there were many tourists here and we met folks from the states and canada as well as many other europeans there on holiday. a bullet ridden house:


views from the bridge:






today i spent the day fixing up some of my gear, eating some delicious fresh watermellon and teaching a 10 year old serbian boy how to play johnny b. goode. our food is being served now i have to run. more stories and photos to come... stay tuned!