09-V-1972.
The wild night at Pop, with "Free jazz experimental band", recording the sound until 1:30. Two guitars, a jinglebell, a tapan (macedonian hand drum), empty gromovača* bottle and two drumsticks. The tape was eventually lost, but only after the festival.
The atmosphere was great, company was great. Mocking with no bad intention, taking each other seriously.
(on the pic, Tejka and Bosa; Bosa is sitting on my chair and that's my bag, we switched place for this class so I could take shots while sitting with Dragana; the hole in the floor, next to the chair, is almost visible)
Next day at school, more fun - again Slavka or Dragana would sit in Zova's lap. Then Slavka sat in my lap and I just raise her legs and dump her on Tejka. Almost knocked her head, desk was close. Tejka and I shouted one round at each other, done. Then again Dragana and then Slavka again sat in my lap, just enjoying it for a minute, no dumping this time.
Schedule fuckup with theatre festival, mixed up the shows, today's "Rodoljupci", tomorrow "Da li je moguće, drugovi, da smo svi mi volovi" ("Is it possible, comrades, that we are all oxen"). Doors open, I'm entering. Found a better shooter, getting to know a lot of people (e.g. Aćim, who resembles Roman Polanski a bit), making business. Went with him to DC-99 to do the negatives. He soon also became a member.
On friday 12th went to the club with Pop to see the "Progressive" with sound now, then went to D.M. to re-record her Korni grupa (did I really carry the old club recorder... ouch, that's a few kilos), then went home to do the positives. Borrowed "Aqualung" from Pop mostly for the texts (and that final riff on "Can not").
(pic: Bilja at the blacboard, Mandža on the left, Bajlo and Staša from behind; Tito's picture in every classroom, as always)
Saturday, another storm at school. The sociology professor was absent, so we just sat in the class and mostly had fun in the back. When we quieted down, those in front began. Baki went out, so he'd make a dramatic entrance pretending to be a professor, so we'd all quiet down in a second, but Bilja wanted to foil his scheme and blocked the door with her shoulder, and Staša with a foot. And then historian appears, seeing Baki in the hall unable to get in, tries to get in, but Bilja is holding on (and it was her birthday). Then he bursts in, gives her a long shouting tirade, now we know who has to learn the history lessons really well.
Same day I rushed downtown to buy more negatives, came home a bit late and slurped dinner in a rush and didn't make the bus. Watched "Influence of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon daffodils", more or less a rubbish of a text but two cute actresses on the stage (and from Belgrade, perhaps just a guest show, out of competition). With all the rush I had a bout of nausea. Višnja and that actor were in the third row in the back. I was asked to stay at the party after the show, saw (and caught) many then famous faces, including a piece of drunk speech by Mika Antić**, who oozed pure truths. (alcohol speaking, as I understood much later, in vino veritas, in vinjak dry wisdom). This will pay off, oh it will.
On sunday, previously unseen density of crowd, even the rare birds chose to appear. Pop and I stayed longer, he's got some english guys at home, blacks though. The equipment is everywhere - he's got the tape recorder now, Dimče the editing table, no trace of the splicer. Then I just offhandedly promised M.M. (cute girl, but didn't even touch her, though I wondered aloud why don't I, specially those few minutes in the dark, but this time I know she's got a boyfriend) to develop her tape and it was a screwup, got a negative - fixer in the inverer bottle or what?
The opera was taking forever. One of the competing theatres ran "Lucia di Lamermur", so it was almost midnight when I left the club, having squeezed the last active molecules of that crazy fixer. On the way home, streets freshly washed, not a live soul anywhere, something to behold.
These were crazy five days. Dad is still in USSR, having fun.
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* almost every brandy is -ača except šljivovica, and "grom" is a lightning. So this should be "lightning brandy", i.e. a very strong one
** He was just very famous then, which is a miracle for a poet. Nowadays, Ksenija lives in a street named after him
Mentions: Biljana Lajković (Bilja), Bosiljka Šain (Bosa), Branislav Rade (Baki), DC-99, Dimitrije Josin (Dimče), Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Korni grupa, Ksenija, Marko Popović (Pop), Milan Šebrcan (Aćim), Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), Slavica Tejin (Tejka), Slavka Vinković, Slavoljub Mandić (Mandža), Stanoje Serdarević (Staša), Višnja Lazin, Zdravko Smetovački (Zova), in serbian
1-VIII-2022 - 15-V-2026