Background

Jozafat was born in late 1939 in German-occupied Poland to a family of swine farmers in a rural village. His early life was marked by great hardship caused by occupation and war shortages. He spent his childhood rearing, breeding and slaughtering pigs. His proximity to the animals often made him ill and the family would frequently have to make the tough decision whether they or the animals would get to eat on any given day. The scarcity of food and illness left Jozafat permanently stunted in his growth, peaking at a measly 5'2" by age 17. In his adulthood Jozafat would do many different things for money, but to this day he refuses to work with any pig. From his teen years, he would become a permanent rebel without a cause. Due to lack of birth certificate, he erroneously believes himself to be outside of the law and thus acts accordingly with little respect for any institutions. He would earn his first few złoty smuggling goods to and from the neighbouring Soviet Union on his bicycle. Throughout his early adulthood he would pick up a love for outlawed Anglo-American rock music, listening to them on bootleg vinyls and through Radio Luxembourg. He was inspired by acts such as Chubby Checker, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley to start his own band with his friends. For lack of Guitars, Drum sets and other common trappings of rock; they improvised using traditional local instruments. Out of necessity they created a sort of Polish Folk-Rock fusion genre of their own which granted them great popularity in the underground scene going from town to town, dodging authorities. His Rockstar lifestyle began in this period, drinking and smoking like any of the greats and still continuing to smuggle. It was on one smuggling mission across the border to Zakarpattia Oblast (modern Ukraine) where he met the mother of his twins and also introduced his younger brother Eryk to his future wife. Jozafat was immediately taken with the Ukrainian Olenka and spent many cross-border trips wooing her over bottles of Austrian Eiswein and flirting with his spotty Ukrainian. He would eventually earn her affection by performing a rendition of the Buddy Holly’s ‘Everyday’ in Ukrainian. Shortly after she would become pregnant with twins. Their relationship was short lived and did not survive for the duration of the pregnancy, once she had given birth they each claimed one child to raise themself and went their separate ways. Fatherhood had a big effect on Jozafat, he stopped chasing his rockstar dreams and fell into a sort of village handyman role. He fixed leaky roofs, broken doors and old tractors for neighbours who gave him beer and business mostly out of pity for his child. Despite their hardships, Jozafat remained a jolly, free soul and did his best to provide for his son. Though he aged, Jozafat did not mature. His anarchic tendencies were never shaken even with the responsibility of parenthood. Much of providing for his son involved illegal activities such as selling forged documents, relabelling alcohol and evading taxes. Jozafat’s biggest weakness; alcohol, also became his greatest strength. He knew how to schmooze with local law enforcement and bureaucrats to keep them off his family’s back. For an unemployed village alcoholic, he managed to keep some powerful drinking buddies. By the time both of his sons were adults, age had caught up with Jozafat much faster than his peers. His gut spilled over his trousers and his hair thinned on his scalp. The grooves of his face had deepened into canyons and his nose had taken on a crimson, bloated shape. The old man looking in the mirror still sees his youthful heart reflected back, and his appearance does not bother him. After the fall of Communism in Poland, he wasted little time immigrating to America where he believed he could finally meet his rock heroes and live out the dream he’d put on ice for decades. In classic Jozafat fashion, he lied his way onto a plane with a forged ticket and visa and illegally smuggled himself into the country. He made a bee-line for Los Angeles. He scrapes by through a mixture of day-labouring with migrant workers and busking in the streets, amusing tourists with his Polish Folk-Rock fusion sung in his thick accent. Following months in Los Angeles, he decided he wanted to see the rest of the country too, especially the music scene. After saving up some money from his hard-work, he embarked on a trip with his son Dariusz to Nashville, Tennessee. He desired to go to the heart of the American Country music scene and maybe catch a glimpse of Dolly Parton. They loaded up a stolen rental car and took the famous route 66 most of the way to Tennessee, sightseeing along the way. They'd never make it to their destination however, compelled by some strange force towards Knox County