POLKA BAND GOBI

Thik Polka…the band ( now known as Polka Band Gobi)

When you hear the words THIK POLKA your immediately think of one of the biggest Polka Bands in the U.S. and standing with a group of your best friends in some concert hall or outdoor stadium or at a friends wedding in a small hall and yelling, “We want TP, we want TP” . You think of Yosh doing his accordion solo for Dark Side of the Moon. You think of cabbage rolls and Lederhosen and of you watching your mum making you a special batch of pierogies...with cheese and potatoes. Every time we think of Thik Polka we think of all those times, each and every one of us.

This site has not been long in the making and is a tribute to the world’s best Polka Band…”Thik Polka” ( or TP for short) a band that I and so many have followed and loved and treasured for many dozens of years. When you look back on the history and fame of Thik Polka, the band, what imediately comes to mind to so many people is a band that ;

1) Made Lederhosen popular to people in all walks of life.
2) That the phrase “ where’s the TP” has a whole new meaning to music lovers everywhere.

Thik Polka’s history is known to many and does not bear repeating other than to state that when everyone thought the story ended…it just began. While on the final dates of their Upper Western New York State World tour, Thik Polka left their accordions in their hotel room and left a note for their nephew, explaining their absence. In this note, it was explained that they were tired of all the fame of all the glory and were off to India to search and to discover the “Perfect Polka”, to find the source of the Polka and then to play the perfect polka at the Taj Mahal. Through these pages I hope to bring to life, the journey of Thik Polka (now known in India as Polka Band Gobi)and their search. Prior to leaving for India, TP developed a strong bond with a Mr. Kumar of Mysore India and Kumar I am sure will be an invaluable resource for Polka Band Gobi
p.s."Gobi" means cabbage in Hindi


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Friday, September 19, 2008

Club Timings

I am sure everyone has heard of “Tusker's Bangla Sahib Road” in New Delhi a very famous night club that really has a scene. It is big and many many people come to hear the music. Well…we played at a place just like that, only smaller. We played last night at a place called “ The Timings”. We polkaed the house up and our fan base is really building. I need to let you know that the name we have now for our band is the Polka Band Gobi and we can all thank Kumar for this as he is a very wise man. As I was telling Kumar in a letter his advice reminds me of my uncle Wujek. When I was a very young man and when I was helping my uncle Wujek with the cabbage harvest and when I would sit on his knee, Wujek would say to me, he would say,” Yosh, there are people who march to the beat of the Polka and there are those who march to a different beat of the Polka.” He said something else about that , but that was long ago and I was young and I forget what it was. I guess it means you want someone who “hears” the polka and Kumar sure hears the polka. I hear the polka and so does Kumar.
Yashi

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

New Poster for Polka Band Gobi

Yamya is so happy to be on our Polka Band Gobi Poster. This will sure to bring many people to see us an hear our wonderful polka music

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

One of biggest fans of Polka Band Gobi


Yamya brought her sister and nephew to one of our concerts. We did a concert in the park for everyone . You can see how happy the nephew was to meet big polka stars like Yosh and Stan

Monday, September 15, 2008

Update from Yashi

I can tell to you and you would not be surprised I am sure from all the requests for information that have come to me asking for information on what the heck is going on with Polka Band Gobi (formerlyThik Polka). My nephew Lucky, has been forwarding messages to me and he let me know that Cheektowaga and Tonawanda are missing Thik Polka, the band. As you know we are in New Delhi ( this is in India) playing polka gigs all over the place. We met with Yamya a very famous sitar player and she joined the band so now when we do our polka music, the blending of the accordions and sitar is just so…magical ( you could imagine this I am sure).
We are so so lucky, as the phrase goes, for when we settled into India this very famous chef asked us to play in her restaurant and we bring the house down with our polka music and we get to live here too! The weather was oh so hot so our lederhosen went away and we now have full cotton lederhosen and this is so much better. And no more with the cabbage rolls! We now only eat vegetarian cabbage rolls and the chef lady makes them special for us and I think it is a hit with the crowd that follows us too. I will have to tell to you how you do vegetarian cabbage rolls. You get this bread stuff and roll cabbage in it, add some curry and there you go. It has some secret herbs and spices, I think so. Next letter I will let you know how our fan club is building up and the music we are playing. I have heard from a Khuresh Kyryl of Tuva ( a country close to India somewhere, north I think) and he is a throat singer. I have heard him throat sing on the internet and I think, yes I do, that this man will play a key part with Polka Band Gobi and our search for the perfect polka. Maybe he will join us when we play the Taj . That would be very nice, we just need to work out the timings for this.
Yashi , over and out

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Kumar interested in being manager



Kumar, I gave the cook your message

Dear Mr. Yoshi and Mr. Santooh,

You hire and pay me? I make fine manager of thik polka. I work for you only fair salary. Kindly clear me of my doubt. We can conduct meeting soonest convinence and work on details. Convey my greetings to vaitress at restraunt. Ok? Ok? Best,Kumar

She wanted me to personally thank you for the greetings Kumar and wanted me to send to you her photograph.

Yashi

Monday, September 8, 2008

I heard from Kumar

I heard from Kumar today, he is in Mysore and he has a strong, very strong interest in being the manager for the band. We make so many hundreds ( that is right...hundreds!) of rupees a day
so it will not be a problem to work out arrangement with Kumar. We need to still need to meet with Kumar in Mysore. Wanted to update the fans
Yashi

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Playing the Polka in Delhi



It is going so well today. We have a place to stay and play. You know that place where we first played the polka and had our first meal when we arrived in Delhi...well we live here. This is where the band plays and where we stay and where our poster is shown. And this fine man says he wants to be our manager. This is good

Friday, September 5, 2008

Most newest member of Polka Band Gobi


From Yosh, now called Yashi used to be called Yosh writing from New Delhi . I need to bring my worldwide fans up to the date of now. You know us as Yosh and Stan as,” Thik Polka” the Polka Band of renown and you have always known us as Yosh and Stan.
We were world known as Thik Polka but now since we are in India with our Polka band of renown we are Yashi and Santosh and even better news for everyone, it does get even better. We now have a new member of the band and a new name. No longer Thik Polka we are now Polka Band Gobi and we now have a new member that makes 3(three) which means we are now a trio. So when we do our Polka playing we have a band member that plays with the sitar. Oh the sounds that blend with a sitar and an accordion….so …mellow… or some word like that. Her name is Yamya and this means “light” and she does light up the stage. Her photo is here. She does like the polka.

The best tea in all of the world



Yosh again. Our second day in Delhi we came across this tea man and we had the best cup of tea ever. We told him about our polka band and as you can see, he was a very very happy man.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Pretty close to best food in all the world

Yosh reporting in. Our first day in New Delhi went well. We found accordions in this great bazzar place and had our first meal at this restaurant. We played a polka and got a free meal from these wonderful ladies. And we found the greatest drink, just like Kumar said...this orange diet fanta is the best.