Episode 152

Halo Prietljie, 

In our second installment of the Croatian Summer Destination Series (CSDS), Uncle Mike and Tony D take us to Plitvice National Park. Lots of great tongue twisters for you in this one. 

Lesson

Plitvice Lakes National Park - Nacionalni park Plitvička jezera

Waterfalls - slapovi

Trails - staza

Super Slatko Report

In the Super Slatko Report DJ MOE goes over a current event! Today we learn all about Mladen Mikulin, famous his Jim Morrison bust, what happened to it and where it is today. Plus a fun game for any Doors fans out there.

Mladen Mikulin, a notable Croatian sculptor, was born in 1958 in Zagreb, Croatia. His early engagement with the arts began when he was young, drawing and painting, which helped cultivate his sense of form, detail, and spatial awareness. His early creative explorations laid the foundation for his later sculptural work, instilling in him a deep appreciation for anatomy and expression. His inclination toward capturing the human form and emotion would eventually guide him toward a professional path in sculpture.

Mikulin pursued a formal education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Over the course of his career, his talent took him to new heights, his work spoke for him in ways he couldn’t imagine, in this art form he was able to tell all the people of his ability. Barely Break-in’ a sweat, he won several awards and honors that recognized his contributions to the Croatian cultural landscape. Among his most notable works include the monument of the Croatian Monk and writer Grga Matić and the Croatian Hawk of the Maksimir park, Uncle Mike & Tony D spent a little time at Maksimir Park in Lesson 151. His work is often characterized by a strong sense of realism and emotional depth, cementing his status as a prominent figure in contemporary Croatian sculpture.

Mikulin being an artist himself appreciated other art too, one of his favorite artists was the late Jim Morrison the poet and lead singer of the Doors who died at the age of 27 in Paris in 1971. In the mid to late 70’s Mikulin had the idea to celebrate Morrison by creating a  headstone and bust of Morrisons likeness to be placed at his resting place in the cemetery Père Lachaise. It wasn’t until 1981 when his idea would be able to come to fruition. In the End, the white marble commemorative Jim Morison bust and headstone caused quite the celebration, fans and press flooded the cemetery, even reuniting the remaining live band members for the installation ceremony. Soon after the Jim Morrison grave site became one of the most visited and photographed places in all of Paris.

Being such a trafficked place the bust and headstone and neighboring headstones suffered. Since the bust was placed in 1981, people from all over the world have visited, but some people are strange and chose to break pieces off the statue as a keepsake or graffitied the bust leaving permanent marks. The Morrison grave site lies is in close proximity to some notable figures such as: Édith Piaf: a French singer and actress, Marcel Proust: a French novelist and critic, Oscar Wilde: an Irish Playwright and novelist, Gertrude Stein: an American novelist, poet and playwright, and Frederic Chopin: a Polish composer and pianist. Jim Morisons is in great company, 5 to 1, the one being the American Rock Icon. Its unfortunate too that their headstones have been defaced over the years as well.   

Then on May 9th, 1988, sometime at the End of the Night, Jim Morrison lost his head. At the time of the heist, there were no leads for who could have done it. The speculation was rampant, from crazed fans, to the family themselves, a Spanish Caravan, a jealous lover, some L.A. Woman, no-one was coming forward. It wasn’t until May 16th of this year, 2025 that the search had finally concluded. After 37 years of being missing, it was finally time to rejoice and Get Up and Dance because the French Financial and Anti-Corruption Brigade of the Judicial Police Directorae of the Police Prefecture had done a great thing. Here’s a direct quote from the article. 

According to the public prosecutor's office: “It was a chance discovery during a search carried out in connection with a case of fraud that led to the recovery of the bust.” End quote

(Below is a link to one of the many articles available on the subject, this article also includes a link to the French Police Instagram account that has a picture of the recovered Morrison bust.)

At the time of this article, plans have not been made to reunite the Mladen Miklun Jim Morrison bust to the headstone at Père Lachaise cemetery. I would like think that someday this will happen, but these are Strange Days, we fans will just have to Take it as it comes. For we are just the Riders on the storm, we’d obviously prefer an Easy Ride to a long awaited reunion. For now we’ll just continue to enjoy this Moonlight Drive, Waiting for the Sun to come up on a day where the Jim Morrison grave site can be made whole again. And when that day comes, they better double down on the security, at least put an air tag in there somewhere…

And thats it for the Super Slatko Report.