the polycarbons

daljit & darshana's papa is a scientist. but he doesn't look like a scientist, he has a pony tail & earrings. he told daljit & darshana they could call their band the polycarbons. polly likes the name because it isn't really polly because it only has one L.

daljit compromised & said their official full name will be the polycarbon sisters of mass destruction but they can be called the polycarbons. like OMD is really orchestral manoevers in the dark. or PiL is public image, ltd.

maddie said it works for me, i just wanna rock.

waiting for the siren's call

the girls learned this song by new order fast! like in maybe 2 practices, with very little help from marie-claire or papa. papa was really impressed & said they were starting to sound like a real band. the next song polly wants to learn is krafty which is from the same album. she likes new order, but not as much as daljit & darshana. maddie likes them ok. the songs have a good beat for her & she likes singing backup to polly.

papa says these songs are technically more sophisticated than anything the ramones ever wrote & they should consider one of them for the second song they perform.

bo due kah

marie-claire picked up polly from school yesterday & they went to the park to practice singing. on the subway marie-claire got her ipod out so polly could listen to a new song. when polly saw the title she couldn't even read it, it was the strangest word she had ever seen. the song was called boadicea by a lady named enya and it was haunting & made polly think about ghosts. marie-claire said boadicea was pronounced bo due ka and it was a name of a celtic warrior queen who lead an army against the romans in england a long time ago.

like xena, polly asked? exactly like xena, marie-claire said but boadicea was really real.

polly said it would be easy to sing this song because it's not really singing, just humming.

polly wrote a haiku for you!

this one's about yoga:

yoga, boring but
mama likes super a lot!
she teaches a class...

ohh la la la la la

sometimes polly wishes she were in an electro-techno chill house band instead of a rock & roll band. her favourite album right now is supernature by goldfrapp & she'd like to sing songs like her. or songs like MIA sings. polly told marie-clare & she said don't worry it's not like this is the last band you'll ever sing in. this one's just the first. that made polly think a little.

the easiest thing in the world for polly to do is sing. and the hardest thing in the world for polly to do is sing in front of peole. but marie-claire & papa both promise that singing in front of people will get easier with practice. just like snowboarding. or yoga, mama said.

but polly can't remember yoga ever being hard. that's because you were practicing yoga when you were a little baby, papa told her. that always makes mama laugh when papa tells her that. polly doesn't know why.

but right now all she wants to do is sing ooh la la by goldfrapp. it's her favourite song.

back to school

polly didn't mind going back to school because that's where all her friends are. at lunch she said they were starting to sound like a real band. daljit agreed but said we still have to decide on a name. but nobody had any good ideas because they were too busy practicing to think about it.

laying down tracks

papa made 4 separate tracks of blitzkrieg bop for the girls. it was kinda hard because polly had to sing it listening to the band on headphones so papa could get a clean track of her voice. each of the tracks had one of the girls missing. then papa burned 4 cds & handed them out & said it was homework. they could listen to their cd & practice their parts. polly's cd just sounded like a karioke version. maddie's sounded the weirdest because the drums were missing.

papa said they had to practice the song at least once every night until the show.

bodyrock

yesterday before practice started polly said she was sick of rock & roll & put on bodyrock by moby. all the girls started dancing except for maddie who was followin the song on her drums. daljit said even though it's all samples we could probably figure out how to play it. even marie-claire danced a little.

but after the song was over she made them practice blitzkrieg bop again.

hey/ho! let's go!

papa says the girls are sounding pretty tight & they should sing blitzkrieg bop by the ramones because that's there strongest song. they need to pick a second song for backup though.

polly picked surfing on a rocket by air. daljit wanted god gave rock & roll to you by kiss. maddie said somebody told me by the killers & darshana wants waiting for the siren's call by new order.

papa said those are all good songs & you should learn them & then we'll see which one you can play the best & that will be your second song.

happy birthday taurus

happy birthday to all you taurus toreadors. polly thinks bullfighting is mean but the clothes sure are pretty. some famous taurusians are: queen elizabeth II, uma thurman, david beckham, jessica alba, al pacino, daniel day-lewis, kate hepburn, salvadore dali & william shakespeare!

fun with metrics

sometimes polly will google yahoo or search for yahoo on google. she thinks it's funny because it will bug the yahoo people & the google people. because if you google yahoo, google has to show you the link & the same with yahoo. papa says that messes with their metrics & it always makes him laugh. polly doesn't know what googling yahoo has to do with the metric system but it's still fun to do it.

managers & producers

papa & marie-claire are in charge of band practice. partly because the girls need to be supervised & mostly to make sure they actually practice & not just fool around & have fun. papa said he's the producer & marie-claire is the manager.

daljit complained that they don't even have a name for the band but papa said it wouldn't be important if they sounded terrible because nobody would remember the band anyways. they practiced 2 songs by the ramones, blitzkreig bop & i just wanna have something to do. then marie-claire made them listen to if she knew what she wants so they could learn it. polly already knows the song & helped teach the back-up vocals.

marie-claire decided that all 3 girls would sing back-up, even though daljit & darshana can't really sing, not as well as maddie. but maddie would be theprimary backup. marie-claire taught her the basics of singing harmony & maddie caught on real fast.

they can play the ramones songs now because there's only 3 chords & they both kinda sound the same. marie-claire said that was mostly true of all their songs.

easter vacation not really

polly doesn't have school all week for easter vacation. you'd think she'd have a lot of free time but you'd be wrong. mama has her help out at the ashram & teach the baby yoga class in the morning. and papa said she & the band have to practice every day this week for at least 90 minutes!

maddie called & said she liked her vegan easter basket. she said rosa their housekeeper has saturday nites & sundays off but she left an easter basket for her which was nice. polly asked where maddie's mama was but maddie said she didn't know. on easter she was all by herself so she ordered a pizza & some chinese food. polly said she coulda called & come over to her house & maddie said she would next time & she'll see polly later this afternoon for band practice.

a vegan easter basket for mads

polly doesn't celebrate easter. she doesn't know what the big deal is. she won't eat chocolate because of the milk in it & she doesn't like jelly beans because they're made out of gelatin which is ground up horse feet.

daljit & darshana don't celebrate easter either. the only person polly knows who might celebrate it is maddie but she says she doesn't care. maddie likes to act all tough & grownup even though she's just a little girl so polly decided to make her an easter basket. she emailed daljit & they went shopping to find vegan easter treats.

here's what they got for maddie: trail mix, a cd mix of all of polly's favourite songs by the darkness especially in an english country garden, box of green tea, some stickers, a rice krispy treat from the coffeehaus, some bubblegum lipgloss that was probably tested on animals, polly couldn't tell, some black nail polish, some honey roasted peanuts & some dried pineapple slices. nobody had a a basket so they used a steve madden shoebox they found in daljit's closet.

polly & daljit had daljit's big sister devyani take them uptown so they could leave the basket with maddie's doorman who said he'd make sure maddie got it real quick.

polls, dolls, mads & sharks

daljit likes to give everybody nicknames. she calls polly polls. so polly decided to call daljit dolls. daljit liked that. she calls maddie mads & darshana sharks.

let the song sing you

on thursdays marie-claire picks up polly after school. now that it's spring they go to the park so polly can practice singing. papa said marie-claire can teach her how to sing like a rock star. mama said if they make any money they can split it & polly can use her share to get a cell phone. polly liked that idea a lot because she's the only girl she knows who doesn't have one.

the first thing marie-claire told polly was don't sing the song, let the song sing you.

that made no sense to polly & all she could say was huh-wha?

marie-claire explained that there's a spirit of music that you can summon when you sing & she'll sound like you but it won't be you singing the song it will be the spirit. like in the exorcist? polly asked. polly's never seen that movie & doesn't want to but maddie told her all about it & it sounded real scary espescially when the girl turns her head all the way around.

marie-claire laughed & said kinda but it's not an evil spirit, she's like a fairy princess who lives in the song & she loves to sing but she doesn't have a voice so she has to use your's. anyway if you try to let the fairy princess sing the song for you, you won't be so scared in front of people. because it's not you singing, it's the song singing you.

that kinda made sense to polly but not really. she liked the idea of singing for the fairy princess though.

when polly sang she thought she sounded the same but she really tried to look for the fairy princess in the song.

marie-claire said you can't see her but you can feel her in your heart.

god gave rock & roll to you

daljit showed polly one of her papa's dvds of a band named kiss. they sang a song called god gave rock & roll to you which daljit said would be a prefect song to end their set. polly thought they looked silly, like black & white clowns pretending to be evil. daljit said she was mistaken luv, they're actually rock & roll gods. but she did admit the make-up was a bit queer. polly said she would have no problem singing that song, especially after they googled the lyrics.

daljit said the guitar solos were a bit tricky but her & darshana could suss it out.

tuning the drum kit

papa & polly went to maddie's house after school so they could break down her drum kit & move it back to polly's house. luckily maddie's mama was out shopping so when maddie explained what was going on to miss rosa their housekeeper she got the doorman to help carry the drums out to the lobby. bob came around with the town car & drove everybody downtown to polly's building where they loaded everything into the elevator & brought it up polly's house. maddie & papa set up the drum kit while polly watched & thought about putting on her rollerblades.

then papa gave maddie his electric drum kit & a pair of headphones & said she could borrow them so she could practice in her bedroom & not make any noise. maddie looked sad like she was gonna cry & polly thought maybe she was thinking about how she missed her own papa. but papa said it was ok kid, take it, i never use it & maddie said ok thanks & hugged him. polly smiled & was proud of papa but she didn't know why. she just knew he had done a good thing.

afterwards maddie had to go so polly walked her downstairs where bob was waiting with the town car & maddie hugged her too & said she'd email her later. polly went back upstairs & put on her rollerblades. she skated around the loft while papa played maddie's drums.

papa said he was tuning the drum kit.

making a stage

papa found an old wooden pallet in the alley which he dragged into the elevator & all the way home. mama said she didn't want that dirty thing in her house but papa said it would be ok because he was going to cover it with a carpet.

he set it up in the corner. first he stuffed it with a roll of insulation he got from the hardware store. then he put a carpet down & put the pallet on it. then he put down another carpet on top of it & folded it under so it looked like a big square. papa said they were going to move maddie's drumkit over here & put it on this until the big show. the carpets will help muffle the sound so the neighbors won't complain too much.

polly got on it & said this is a stage isn't it papa & papa said it sure is scout.

it wasn't too high but polly felt like when she was snowboarding but she hadn't started yet & was still on the top of the mountain looking down.

3X a week

papa says they have to practice at least 3 times a week if they want to get any good, and before the talent show they have to practice every day for at least a week. this will cut into polly's yoga, daljit & darshana's violin practice & maddie's soccer. but papa says it's important & the only way to learn 2 songs in time.

polly said they only had to learn one song but papa said if they're going to do this they have to do their best & play to win. and that means they'll need an extra song to play when they get called back onstage & announced as the winners.

that made sense to polly so she emailed the girls & told them they need to learn 2 songs.

if she knew what she wants, part2

auntie serena & marie-claire came over for dinner. when polly saw marie-claire had brought her guitar she thought uh oh because she knew she was gonna have to sing for everybody. so polly & marie-claire sang if you knew what she wants again for everybody & mama like it & so did auntie serena & papa except he said we have to work on your confidence & polly needs to look at the audience & not at the floor or marie-claire.

I wanna be sedated

papa took polly to the coffehaus today like he does every saturday so polly could see marie-claire & have her soy hot chocolate & papa could read the newspaper & talk on the cell phone. but this saturday was different because maddie was coming so she could meet marie-claire too.

maddie brought her drumsticks so she could show papa & marie-claire what she could do. they made her use an old plastic bucket as a drum & watched her bang on it. everybody else in the coffeehaus watched too but nobody cared or seemed to notice. papa said she had a good sense of timing & marie-claire said she rocked.

then marie-claire put on i wanna be sedated by the ramones & asked maddie to follow it & play along. maddie could do that easy. papa said that was a good song but he didn't want polly to sing it because it was about drugs.

then papa said ok you girls go play & they got the table in the window & talked about school & the band & daljit & darshana & tv shows they liked. maddie tried a soy hot chocolate & said it tasted better than the real thing. polly said it is better because no animals were harmed when marie-claire made it.

5 o'clock shadow

today polly took maddie to see brooklyn the horse. daljit & darshana couldn't go because they had violin practice & daljit is afraid of horses.

maddie gets picked up from school by a driver named bob. so bob drove papa, polly & maddie to the park in a big black town car. maddie said when she was a little girl before her dad went to jail for insider trading she had a horse farm in kentucky that had a lot of horses, even a race horse called 5 o'clock shadow. but she didn't have the farm anymore because mama said the feds took everything.

papa asked maddie if she'd seen her papa in jail & maddie said her brother had but maddie's mama wouldn't let her & got a divorce. papa could tell she didn't wanna talk about it so he was quiet & listened to his walkman.

at the park polly introduced her to brooklyn who looked even bigger than last time & cassidy, brooklyn's rider. she had a bag of baby carrots to feed him & maddie had some sugar cubes & apple slices. maddie like brooklyn a lot & hugged him around the neck.

afterwards bob drove polly & papa home & maddie said she'd email polly later.

shiny disco ball part2

mama hung up the shiny disco ball last nite just like she said she would. when polly turns all the xmas lites on her room sparkles & she like that a lot. later polly told papa it looks like a dreamy princess castle on the ocean with sparklers & angels flying around.

papa said i'm glad you like it, scout.

shiny disco ball

last nite papa brought home a shiny disco ball from the club where he works. they were gonna throw it away. it's huge, bigger than the tv. papa said polly could hang it from the ceiling in her room & polly liked that idea a lot. but papa isn't good with tools so polly didn't know when it would get put up. but then mama said she'd put it up tonite as soon as she borrows a ladder from the neighbor.

first practice: uh oh…

today was first practice! the girls went over to maddie's house because that's where the drums were & maddie said her mama was out shopping which she said is code for out drinking. the first song they tried to play wsa blitzkrieg bop by the ramones.

they didn't even make it through the whole song. uh oh, polly said. they didn't sound like the ramones at all, they sounded like a giant jumbled mess. polly thought it was like listening to 5 different tvs at the same time & couldn't even sing.

maddie was the first to say we suck. even daljit was dissappointed & said they sounded like utter crap. darshana said we're craptastic. everybody looked at polly like she would know what to do. so polly called papa but didn't even leave a message because she never knows what to say on a message.

then she called marie-claire at the coffeehaus & marie-claire said that maddie & darshana are the bridge that everybody plays on. they need to play the song together first, and when they can do it, then you add daljit on lead guitars & after they can play it then polly can start singing. she also said to try playing it slower & don't focus on the whole song, just learn sections of it first.

marie-claire said being a band means a lot of practice & hard work & it's not as easy as it looks on tv.

those were all good ideas so the girls spent all afternoon practicing.

maddie can sing too

maddie might look like a scary goth punk rock girl, or as scary goth punk rock as the school will let her which means lots of black eyeliner & black nail polish & blue streaks in her dyed black hair & black chuck taylors, but… she can really sing! polly says maddie can sing as good as she can, but maddie says she's shy & wants to hide beind the drums.

what about me, polly asked. i'm super shy & i don't get to hide behind anything...

polly has a knock knock haiku for you!

knock knock, who is there?
oh no! another lame joke
not very funny...

happy april fool's day one day late!

the cactus suit

papa's back! finally! polly thought he sure was gone a long time!

papa said he missed her a lot & thought about her everyday & why didn't she ever leave a message when she called him. polly said she didn't know.

papa brought her back a bunch of stickers & a little japanese dolly named sabochan wearing a cactus suit. he said it was cute & reminded him of her. sabochan wears a cactus suit when she's afraid & needs protection. papa said the dolly was made by an artist called tokidoki. polly thought a cactus suit is a good idea.

here's polly in her very own cactus suit.

but she's not scared...