Carpe Aestatem (original)

Chapter 37

Olivia

We've been back in Ljubljana for about twelve hours now after the Umag gig, and just had our dress rehearsal for the rest of the tour. And we have a week until the show in Zagreb, which is apparently sold out, so what Jure told me is that they're trying to schedule another one in Croatia for the fall. And we've extended our stay through the Stožice gig in October. And I was lying on my bed, petting Igor when my phone buzzed.

Mom:
Sonček, someone from The Tennessean's Music Arts and Culture podcast wants to do an interview with you. I don't want it to interfere with anything.

Olivia:
Can I do it tomorrow at 2:45 Ljubljana time? That's almost 8am in Nashville.

Mom:
I'll tell them now you want to do it at 7:45 CST.

I came out of my room. "Hey Janči?"

"Ja, Olivia?"

"I have an interview tomorrow afternoon with someone from a podcast from the newspaper my mom works at. Do we have anything scheduled for tomorrow at that time?"

"I don't think we do."

"Thanks!"

The next day

It was 2:30. I closed the door to my room after I had gotten Igor out and opened my laptop. Right there was an email from the host of the Tennessean MAC podcast. My mom is often a guest host on it, but she promised to not co-host the episode I'm on because she's my mom. I logged onto ZOOM and the screen showed 'Please wait for the host to start the meeting'. I scrolled on my phone, watching videos that people posted of us at Umag. It was a great gig to show ourselves to an international crowd. Our first one. Our first gig outside of Nashville. And then an 2:45, the host joined. "Olivia! Hi there!" She said.

"Hi, how are you?" I replied.

"So, my name is Elena and I'll be interviewing you today! I know your mom is a frequent guest host."

"I told her not to co-host this one because she might tell embarrassing stories about me."

"Alright, I'll get the record button set, and then we'll roll!"

Then it was silent for a second. "Hello, Olivia!"

"Hi, how are you?"

"I'm doing great! So where are you right now?"

"Right now, I'm in my room at Jan's apartment in Ljubljana on our time off in between our Umag and Zagreb shows."

"So, I know our listeners want you to dive in on the tour life so far, but have you always known you wanted to be a musician?"

"Kind of. I think since I was like six, when my mom brought home a guitar to try to teach me. She wanted to pursue music as a kid, but my grandparents discouraged her, so she's projecting her life's hope onto me. And I'm so grateful that when I got to high school, I got the opportunity to meet the girls who I'm touring with now."

"You played at the Grand Ole Opry last week. How did you feel when you were asked to play there?"

"I mean, it was a few hours after we had gotten selected for the tour. We were still on our post-graduation high and the shock from when we had gotten selected. And being the youngest people to ever play there was an absolute blast. Almost all of the Nashville area came, including some of our out-of-town family and friends."

"What was your first thought when you and your friends got selected for the tour?"

"So, I was working on one of Joker Out's songs, it's called 'Dopamin', and my Frenchie started barking at the laptop screen that just lit up with an email. I checked it, and we had gotten selected for the tour! I then remember telling my dad that we had gotten chosen, and texted the group chat with 'Check your emails. This is not a drill' or something like that. And a few hours after that we got the Opry booked!"

"I was at your concert last week!"

"The Opry or the one we just had in Croatia?"

"The Opry. You did great!"

"Thanks. Were you tasked to write a piece on our gig?"

"We weren't. What's your favorite Joker Out song and why?"

I paused for a second. "Hmm...I'd say 'Umazane misli' because it's one of the first Joker Out songs I learned on the guitar. And when my friends and I arrived in Ljubljana, Bojan sang it so we knew where he was. I remember hearing it on the escalator heading up to the arrivals area and was like 'Is that Umazane misli?' And it was, and when I finished the chorus and saw them, I shrieked, 'TI!!!'. In case you didn't know, ti means 'you' in Slovenian, and it was perfect because I was so happy to see them."

"How long have you been a fan for?"

"I think about six months. I'm more of a Siddharta, Big Foot Mama and Gušti type of person. My mom's been a fan since they released 'Gola' back in 2019."

"And let's hear some fan questions. So, Danielle asks, 'How long will you be with the band?'"

"Our original plan was to stay through the beginning of October. And then Jan said on our ride back two days ago that they want us to open for them at Slovenia's largest venue, so we're staying through that gig. We'll be back in Nashville on October 10."

"Aww, that's really sweet of them!"

"We thought we'd be back in Nashville earlier, but thanks to the Stožice gig we're staying a little longer."

"So, Cameron asks 'What's your favorite part about touring?'"

"We've only had one show so far, but so far I love the different crowds and how they're all excited to see us."

"How's the vibe different from Nashville?"

"Honestly, I feel like the European concerts are a little less chaotic than what you would call a stadium concert. When my friends and I went to see Taylor Swift in Dallas, everyone was over the top in costumes and stuff. In Europe there's not really much themed outfits. But I have seen some of the weird things that people throw onstage."

"Olivia, thank you so much for your time. Anything you want to say to our listeners?"

"I just really want to say if you came to our Opry concert last week, thank you for coming, we hope you have a great time, and we hope to see you at some point between now and October 6!"

"Thanks for being here, Olivia!"

"Bye!"

I left the meeting, opened my door and then Mom texted.

Mom:
How was it?

Olivia:
Elena was really sweet.

"Janči, I finished!"

"How was it?"

"It was good. My mom's often a co-host for that podcast but I told her to not be on it because she might tell embarrassing stories about me."

Jan laughed a little.