In came their imprint Power Records. You think the battle lines between D.C. Comics and Marvel Comics is airtight, but at Power there was all kinds of inter-philanderin’ détente going on. Batman, Superman, Captain America, Spidey and, heck, let’s throw Conan The Barbarian, Star Trek and Space 1999 in there too, how ’bout it?

Now it is 2012 and “book” and “record” seem as compatible as “yoga position” and “wheat thresher,” but two people remember. Way Out Wednesday’s kiddie record guru Tony Redman and resident regressive and altogether suspicious subject Dw. Dunphy jump headlong into the jagged pile of vinyl from their collective youth…with Power! Read along with us, kids! Okay?!! (download PDF)

“Stacked Cards” from Batman (download)

Tony – I’m eager to hear this first story featuring the Joker. Is this silly Joker or scary Joker?

Dw. – Well, this came out more than a decade before Tim Burton’s Batman movie, but there is a slight similarity, story-wise, so let’s go with scary.

(0:00) Tony – I like the jazzy music at the start.

Dw. – It’s just like the beats all over again, bongos and everything. Ginsburg in blue tights. Ferlinghetti killing people. Exactly the same.

(0:31) Tony – Jeez, was Chief O’Hara too busy to hang around?

Dw. – Whenever there’s crime to solve, you know where Chief O’Hara will be…hiding in the mens room with Catwoman’s mugshot.

(0:39) Tony – So does he know his vandals by the kinds of rocks they throw?

Dw. – “When you’ve been the law as long as I have, you’ve seen a lotta rocks lobbed at you…except for the ones that put you in a coma.”

(0:55) Tony – Nice shout out to Arkham. They at least know a little bit about the comics.

Dw. – Yeah, and the original book that came with this seems to have been drawn by Neal Adams. We should get confirmation from Johnny Bacardi on that one.

Johnny Bacardi – Judging by what I’ve seen after Googling it, I’d say it sure looks like Adams, unless some of the Crusty Bunkers (a collective of assistants he had in the mid-70′s) pitched in. Looks like Adams with (Dick) Giordano inks to me, though.

Dw. – Thanks, JB! (It’s so good to have experts on the staff…)

(1:09) Tony – Do you think the Joker really had to sign that note? I mean, it was pretty obvious who it was. And with all the bad guys around I’d think the Gotham City Police Station might have bulletproof glass (or at least rock proof).

Dw. – That was just Power Records teaching kids to be polite. Always remember to sign your death threats, kids.

(1:26) Tony – Oh yeah, a 306. What’s a 306, anyway? I couldn’t find that number specifically, but it would be between 288 (Lewd Conduct) and 311 (Indecent Exposure).

Dw. – It appears to be “Liability for conduct of another; complicity.” Wasn’t Complicity J.J. Abrams’ first TV show, with the pretty blonde with the long curly hair that always drove the getaway car?

(1:50) Tony – Wait a minute. Didn’t he contact the Commissioner already?

Dw. – Ain’t nothing funny about Alzheimer’s, you Peter Pan Records bastards…

(1:59) Tony – Where have I heard Robin’s voice before? It sounds like someone from a cartoon, but I can’t place it.

Dw. – It’s not Casey Kasem, or as I refer to him, America’s Gielgud…which reminds me. I have to go shut off the oven. You have to let your Gielgud rest for fifteen minutes so the juices redistribute.

(2:06) Tony – Didn’t they have Aunt Harriet around to avoid that kind of thing?

Dw. – Sure, but boys will be boys when you’re off tenting your Gielgud with foil.

(2:21) Tony – “What? No, I’m not interested in free dance lessons!” (How old a joke is that?)

Dw. – I won’t dance; don’t ask me.

(3:17) Tony – *spit take* Did he say “frontal lobotomy”? Well, thanks for that diagnosis, Dr. Grayson!

(3:33) Tony – No wonder the Joker will be able to get away with it. Huckleberry Hound’s watching the museum!

Dw. – Oh yes, “Guernica,” “Starry Night,” and “The Scream” are all in safe hands. Yes, this schlub’s hands!

(4:32) Tony – I guess they can’t say “dead” on a children’s record.

Dw. – He’s sleeping. Very soundly. I SAID, HE’S SLEEPING VERY, Oh, screw it. He’s dead.

(4:37) Tony – It never happens to the guys that have another ten or fifteen years before retirement, does it?

Dw. – That’s how they get out of paying pensions. They send Mike Bloomberg down with a shiv. (I’m NOT inferring that billionaire Mike Bloomberg kills people to keep from paying police pensions. Just that, y’know, it could work!)

(5:36) Tony – Yeah, excellent detective work, Mulligan. Especially since the Joker threw a rock through the window earlier that day.

Dw. – Be nice, Tony. Throw him a Mulligan. Hooh-haah!! T’ank yah, ladies and germs!

(5:58) Tony – Robin seems a little too preoccupied with “action.”

Dw. – He’s a growing boy hanging around a grown man in blue tights. Bound to happen.

(6:00) Tony – “In spades”? Nice one, Robin!

Dw. – Bruce Wayne is kind of like the guy who finds out that he had a teenage son from a random booty call fifteen years earlier, now he’s on his doorstep and, worse, he’s about as funny as a punctured condom.

(6:39) Tony – “Duh, I tripped on something!” Idiot.

Dw. – Excuses, excuses. You know damn well Robin’s getting drunk in the morning to hold his demons down. “Tripped…” Hah, he wishes!

(6:45) Tony  – Wow, I guess they can say “dead”. That’s the second corpse today. Man, the Joker doesn’t fool around. I remember back when he was perfectly content throwing rocks through the Commissioner’s window.

Dw. – And here’s where we have that similarity to the movies, because whatever The Joker’s using, it sure acts a lot like Smilex. Or he told them a funny joke and beat them to death with a rock. He loves rocks.

(7:01) Tony – Wait, so the Joker’s used this hideout before, and he was surprised that Batman remembered where it was? I don’t even think Cesar Romero would have made that goof.

(7:29) Tony – Apparently they’re exploding clubs.

Dw. – That’s why they issue liquor licenses. (What? Too soon?)

(7:55) Tony – Then why didn’t he just say “Holy Smoke!”?

Dw. – Where’s the Tea Party when you need ‘em? Someone should declare war on Holy Smoke.

(8:22) Tony – Arkham Asylum has a swimming team?

Dw. – An effective one too. They all take turns trying to drown each other. Last one alive is champion.

(9:11) Tony  – Well, sure. A super villain who’s already killed two men is completely helpless in three feet of mud. Go get ‘im, officers!

Dw. – Felled by grime! Curse you, Batman! You’ve summoned two of the elements against me!

(9:47) Tony – I thought I heard somebody singing “Clementine”!

(10:17) Tony – Of course it’s hot. It’s been stolen! (Rimshot)

Dw. – It’s so sad that, by comparison, the museum guy makes Mulligan look like a genius. Oh, Mulligan, you drunken Irish dunce, what would we do without you and your convenient stereotype?

(11:11) Tony – I don’t remember there being a Joker in the Game of Life. Just a cool spinner and those little cars that you couldn’t stick all your peg children into.

Dw. – Imagine the possibilities though. “Batman, you sank my battleship!” or, “Yahtzee, Caped Crusader!” or, “Why I’d love to play a round of Naked Twister with you and Robin.”

(11:58) Tony – Yeah, frontal lobotomies solve everything!

Dw. – Indeed! Frontal lobotomies for everyone! First brain-scramble’s on me!

Tony – What a fun story, but I was disappointed that we didn’t get any good jokes from the Joker though. No exploding jack-in-the-boxes or joy buzzers that actually shock people or anything like that. For an arch criminal, he didn’t do anything very arch, did he?

Dw. – No, but he did off a couple people with a powerful nerve toxin so, there’s that at least. Speaking of which, I just sliced off some Gielgud. We’ll see how it turned out.

(Chews. Grimaces.)

Yuck. A slab of Kasem probably would have been less salty.

We’ll first feature the song “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?” originally written and performed by Hurricane Smith. This really isn’t too much of a stretch, since the song had an old-timey feel anyway. They only push the tempo a little bit.

The Ragtimers – Oh Babe What Would You Say

Next we have “Those Were the Days,” made famous by Mary Hopkin (although the song was actually recorded as early as 1926). As you can see, the Ragtimers weren’t straying too far from the original here. They just take it from a wistful feel to more of a celebratory one.

The Ragtimers – Those Were the Days

Next we have the biggest hit from a group that played on nostalgia for a number of their songs, Tony Orlando and Dawn’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree.” After hearing all three of these of these songs, I wonder if these guys could play any song at a slower tempo. I believe it was Steve Martin who said that you can’t play a sad song on a banjo, and that certainly seems to be the case here!

The Ragtimers – Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree

Finally, to show that they can play older songs just as well, here’s “Second Hand Rose,” which was originally done by Fanny Brice (and later Barbra Streisand). It’s nice but, for some reason, they feel the need to add these silent movie whistling noises in it. It seems pretty unnecessary to me, but your mileage may vary. (Obviously theirs did.)

The Ragtimers – Second Hand Rose

If you’d like to take a listen to this entire album, you can find it over here. See you next time!

I’m back with another classic from the Way Out Junk archives, this one featuring the story of Puff and Toot, along with other songs and stories about trains as well as circuses (because why not?). This was most likely gathered from a number of sources although, if that was the case, you’d think they’d be able to find enough songs about trains to fill up a record on its own without tossing circuses into the mix. But who am I to argue with the Twinkle Orchestra and Chorus?

We’ll start with the story of Puff and Toot himself. P&T was a train whose mission was to take the children riding inside him to camp. He chugs along as the animals all say hello to him, but is stopped by a cow sitting on the tracks, apparently so she can sing a solo. He asks her to move (or would that be to “MOOOVE”?), which she does, thankfully avoiding P&T having to give an explanation of how ground round is made. Then a couple of men stop him to inform him that the track ahead was washed out due to a storm. He’s told there’s an old track that runs up a steep and dangerous mountain, but that Puff and Toot would be too small to make it up there. So the wise train finds a safe place for the children to stay until the track is safe, right? Heck no! Screw these kids, he’s gonna make it up that mountain! Will he? SPOILER ALERT: yes.

Puff and Toot

Any album of train songs wouldn’t be worth its salt if it didn’t include “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” and this record follows suit with this good solid rendition. I wonder how many people these days even remember all the verses to that song. Well, if you forgot, here’s your chance to learn them again.

I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

Moving along to the circus portion, here’s a little song about a happy little clown named Squeegee, and it’s just as cheerfully annoying as your average clown!

Squeegee the Happy Clown

Going back to our original motif, we have “Chocolate Rain.” Wait, make that “Chocolate Train” (although I don’t know if that’s much better)! And just to make sure we don’t get any smart remarks here, we have Mighty Mouse making a guest appearance!

Chocolate Train

These old kids records can be lots of fun to listen to, and they do tend to strike a chord among those who might have grown up with these songs. And if you need something else to sell you on this record, just read this great hard sell on the back cover of the album (all spelling and punctuation is correct) :

Hi there, the jolly conductor of Twinkle Records tells us that he is all set to take us on an imaginative trip to adventure land with Puff & Toot.

We can’t wait . . . First we’ll ride the Red Caboose and we’ll see Squeegie the Clown and stop Down By The Station. But Oh then . . . we can ride the Chocolate Train . . . isn’t that exciting? Just think a Chocolate Train all for us. I can’t wait can you. Well climb on cause here we go…”ALL ABOARD”.

Pretty convincing, huh? If you’d like to hear the rest of this album (which really is better than the above quote would have you believe), you can find it here.

In the first song, “Sad Day, Lonely Day,” he sings about how unhappy he is because there’s nobody around to play with him. As the song continues, however, we start to learn why he’s so alone and how his predicament may have been self-inflicted.

Sad Day, Lonely Day

“The Gimme Pig” is about a kid who wants everything he sees and chants, “Gimme this! Gimme that! Gimme gimme gimme what I’m pointing at!” Yeah, it’s a “lesson” song, but it’s not as annoyingly preachy as most songs of this type.

The Gimme Pig

The song “Picnic” illustrates what happens when a child plans the events of a picnic, including spots for mice, garter snakes, and spiders, as well as a bull to chase his father!

Picnic

In “Since You Went Away,” the singer tells his friend of all the current news while that friend was sick. Apparently there was a big argument among the kids as to abolishing all weapons in the neighborhood, including baseball bats, slingshots, and harpoons(!), but everybody was talking at once and nothing got accomplished. By the time it was all said and done, everybody was too scared to go outside.

Since You Went Away

Finally, in the title song, Thor does an imaginative variation of the typical cowboy song. He’d prefer to ride a dinosaur, even if there weren’t any cows around!

Galloping on My Dinosaur

One thing I enjoy about having a blog is the comments I get from my readers. In this case, I actually heard from Thor’s son Cameron (who’s pictured here on the back cover with his dad). He had people ask where they could find a copy of this album and was delighted to send them my way. If you’d like to hear the rest of this fun album, you can find it here.

Now before we start, let it be said that I have no problems with interesting or unusual cover versions of songs as a rule. Heck, my blog is full of these kinds of albums. But when you have music based on a popular Off-Broadway show (which is itself based on an extremely popular comic strip) from a group calling itself the Kid Stuff Repertory Company, I think it’s natural to expect the songs to be more or less faithful to the source material. That’s definitely not the case here!

Allow me to demonstrate:

We’ll start with the title song. In the original show, this is performed as a loud, boisterous march.  In this instance, it’s closer to how the song might be performed at Charlie Brown’s funeral!

Your a Good Man Charlie Brown!

This version of “Suppertime” isn’t too crazy, although it could stand to be faster. Bongos give it a bit of a South American feel. I never remembered Snoopy’s meals being quite this exotic!

Suppertime

In the musical, the song “Snoopy” is normally performed as a sort of wistful ballad until the “jungle animal” fantasy where it speeds up, only to slow down again at the end. They sort of do the opposite here. Not bad as such, just not what you’d expect if you’d heard this song before. (Extra points for the electronic bird noises.)

Snoopy

Next we have “The Kite,” Charlie Brown’s song about the frustrations he has flying his kite and the (short lived) success he achieves when it finally catches the breeze and flies. The song starts out sort of frantic and slows down when the kite starts flying. In the hands (vocal cords?) of the Kids Stuff Repertory Company it sounds like the theme song for the “KSRC News Brief.” (In a somewhat related piece of trivia, did you know that there is a DC super villain called Kite-Man and his civilian identity is Charles Brown? It’s true!)

The Kite

Here’s Linus’s song “My Blanket and Me.” In the original version, it’s a sort of playful soft-shoe number. Here it sounds like a 70s cop show. (“Van Pelt! Blanket! They’re cops…with a difference!!!”) Now, while I’m quick to diss the odd arrangements, I have to admit that there is a nice jazzy guitar solo in here. I just have no idea why it’s there!

My Blanket and Me

We end with the play’s finale “Happiness,” which is normally done as a sweet ballad, but in this case is a poppy synthesized number.

Happiness

And that’s the entire album (minus a reprise of the opening song, which is just the same recording cut off at the end of the first verse). You can find the whole thing here. Maybe I was too hard on this record. Maybe, just like the kid on the album cover, it just wants to be loved. But when you’ve heard the originals as often as I have (and I’ve even played Snoopy in a local production), this just sounds really off! Take a listen and see what you guys think!

We’ll start with the ’60s classic Spider-Man. The cartoon wasn’t really that great, but what a jazzy theme song! Everybody knows it, even Homer Simpson. (By the way, this gives me a good chance to air one of my anal retentive pet peeves that I’m noticing quite often now that he’s in the news again: It’s “Spider-Man,” people. Don’t forget the hyphen, please. If you don’t like it, don’t blame me. It’s Stan Lee’s and Steve Ditko’s fault!)

Spider-Man

If you’re more of a DC comics fan, here’s the theme to Super Friends. This is a bit of a rarity because it’s an extended instrumental version so, while you won’t get the sonorous tones of Ted (Ted Baxter) Knight, you do get a lovely wocka-chicka wocka-chicka verse in there!

Super Friends

If you like your heroes a bit more on the silly side, here’s the theme to that Jay Ward classic, Super Chicken.

Super Chicken

And if you prefer a moodier hero, here’s the one from Batman: The Animated Series.

Batman: The Animated Series

If your tastes run more toward action adventure (and really really big eyes), here’s the original Speed Racer theme.

Speed Racer

Speaking of really big eyes, here’s the theme to the anime classic Astro Boy. I’ve never seen a single episode of this cartoon, but I love the song. If I ever had command of a marching band and a children’s choir, this is the first song I’d teach them.

Astro Boy

If you’d rather have your heroes on a half-shell, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme ought to work for you.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Some theme songs are more famous (or more infamous) then the cartoons they accompany, like this one for The Mighty Hercules. (“Iron in his thighs?”)

The Mighty Hercules

…as well as this one for Hong Kong Phooey, featuring the great Scatman Crothers.

Hong Kong Phooey

We’ll end the festivities with The Tick. Everybody sing along now: “Dah DWEE dah dah dah DWEE dow…!”

The Tick

If you want to hear this entire album, you can find it here. (And if you liked this post, you will. As many great themes as I featured here, I inevitably missed your favorite.)

Any good album of Popeye songs has to start with the song “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man,” and this one is no exception. I find it interesting that in this song (as well as the others) Captain Paul makes no attempt to imitate Popeye’s voice. He simply sings the song in his rousing baritone voice, accompanied by the bells, whistles, and toots of his band.

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man

Captain Paul also sang songs performed by other characters, like “Hamburger Mine,” originally done (as you might expect) by J. Wellington Wimpy. Vegans will probably be none too happy with the line, “A hamburger lives for the pleasure it gives.” The arrangement is especially odd here with the inexplicable inclusion of a slide whistle.

Hamburger Mine

“Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor” was probably one of the most popular of the old Popeye cartoons, due to it being included on nearly all the public domain videotape cartoon compilations. There’s nothing wrong with that, because it’s a pretty cool cartoon in its own right. The song “I’m Sindbad the Sailor” is prominently featured in it. The odd thing about this version is that Captain Paul sings all the parts himself, so at one point he’ll mention “You, Sindbad the Sailor” and later he’ll sing, “I’m afraid of nobody under the sun.” There’s an musical arrangement here that’s more in line with the source material, giving it the faux-Arabian (Fauxrabian?) feel of the original.

I’m Sindbad the Sailor

Some of the songs on this album were actually not in Popeye cartoons at all. They just talk about Popeye or other characters. These songs (and the others on this album) were in a 1936 songbook called (oddly enough) The Popeye Song Folio. The song here is about Alice the Goon. You remember Alice, don’t you? She was a tall, odd looking creature that talked in weird unintelligible noises. Alice the Goon is represented here by the kazoo. A lot of kazoo. I don’t know if Alice was ever featured in the original old theatrical cartoons, but I know that when new Popeye cartoons were made for TV in the ’60s, Alice was a part of the cast. And guess what they used for her voice? A barking dog. (No, really it was a kazoo. I just wanted to see if you were still paying attention.)

The Looney Goon

I think “I Wanna Be a Life Guard” is my favorite song of the lot. It’s just this fun little song about how great it would be to be a lifeguard. You can even hear the band blowing bubbles through a straw. I don’t know why I like it so much. I don’t even swim that well!

I Wanna Be a Life Guard

And if you want this entire album, you can find it here! And as a special bonus (and as if this column isn’t late enough), here are the cartoons where these songs are featured. Please feel free to compare and contrast!

Hamburger Mine

I’m Sindbad the Sailor (apologies for commercial at beginning)

I Wanna Be a Life Guard

…and a cartoon with a different song about Alice the Goon!

It’s time for another “Way Out Wednesday,” and this time we’re celebrating Turkey Day with “Thanksgiving Songs to Tickle Your Funnybone” (rescued from the library’s booksale, as the “withdrawn” stamp will attest to). Unfortunately I don’t think this album is related to the original “Songs That Tickle Your Funnybone.” What the singers do here is do silly songs relating to Thanksgiving using tunes you should be familiar with already. It’s not the greatest kids’ album in the world but hey, how many Thanksgiving children’s records are there?

We start with the song “It’s Thanksgiving,” sung to the tune of “Oh Susannah.” This song cuts to the heart of what the holiday is all about: being invaded by relatives and everybody eating until they puke. (All right, that’s not literally what they sing, but it’s close.)

It’s Thanksgiving

The next song, “Thanksgiving’s a Wonderful Thing,” uses the music from “My Bonnie.” It’s about…well, it’s about being invaded by relatives and everybody eating until they puke (although it could imply that there’s more than turkey on the menu with a lyric like “My brother is covered in gravy.”)

Thanksgiving’s a Wonderful Thing

“The Alburquerque Turkey” actually doesn’t feature the same theme as the previous two songs here. It’s about a person (or possibly an entire city) owning a pet turkey. He’s a great pet, but is he good enough to survive Thanksgiving?

The Alburquerque Turkey

Finally, we have the song that came the closest to tickling my funnybone, “I’m a Poor Little Cranberry Bush.” The aforementioned shrubbery will agree to tell you his tale “if you shush,” while using as many rhymes for the word “bush” as it possibly can.

I’m a Poor Little Cranberry Bush

If you’d like to hear the entire album, it can be found here. Sorry this seems sort of rushed, but we’re preparing to be invaded by relatives and…you know the rest!

We start with the upbeat theme to the show You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, performed by Connie Zimet and Ron Marshall. The only reason I know they’re singing it is because I own the album it was taken from. This children’s album doesn’t identify anybody.

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Next we go back probably a good 20 years or so for this performance of “Happy to Be Me.” I’d love to tell you who’s singing this, but the record doesn’t say. She sounds like she sang a lot of radio jingles in her time.

Happy to Be Me

Next at about the same vintage we have “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” I like this one because it doesn’t shy away from the real lyrics of the song, mentioning things like cigarette trees and a lake of gin. Pretty daring for a kid’s record, don’t you think?

Big Rock Candy Mountain

Finally we have the song “The Sidewalks of New York,” sung by a very enthusiastic children’s chorus. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I love choruses like this, that just sound like a bunch of kids singing their lungs out and having a great time. And then, as if they hadn’t won me over already, they bring out the kazoos!

The Sidewalks of New York

If you’d like to hear some more from this fun album, you can find it here!

And speaking of an adorable little boy (which I was way back in the first paragraph), let me give you an update on Brenden Baker from my last column. As a quick review, Brenden is a sweet little boy that suffers from a rare form of dwarfism. His teacher nominated him to win a trip to Morgan’s Wonderland, an amusement park specially set up for special needs kids. Firstly, thanks to all of you that went to the website and voted for him, as well as my fellow Popdosers who plugged the contest on your Twitter feed. That meant a lot to me and to his family.

At the original deadline for the contest, Brenden had lost by 30 votes. However, after the votes were verified, it turns out that Brenden was the top vote-getter after all! Now the fine print on the contest stated that a committee would choose a grand prize winner from the top ten candidates, but it was still nice to see my buddy Brenden get first place. Thanks again to all of you for helping to make that happen!

UPDATE: I just wanted to let you all know that I found out this evening that Brenden won the trip! Again, thank you all for your votes and good thoughts.

The first song I have here is the classic “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” performed by Jonas Nordwall. While the song itself is great, the thing I like most here is the train sound effects performed on the organ. It adds a nice touch.

Jonas Nordwall – Chattanooga Choo Choo

The thing that these guys had to keep in mind was that they had to attract young people as well, and songs like this probably wouldn’t do it. That explains the next songs I’m sharing here. Here’s “The Hustle,” made famous by Van McCoy and reinterpreted on the pipe organ by Nordwall.

Jonas Nordwall – The Hustle

You’ve got to have some slow tunes to balance things out but, unfortunately, the pipe organ isn’t really known for its romantic subtlety. Hence, this boisterous (but soulful) rendition of Englebert Humperdinck’s “After the Lovin’,” performed by Paul Quarino.

Paul Quarino – After the Lovin’

And finally, what pipe organ recital would be complete without the song “Y.M.C.A.” (performed again by Quarino). I don’t know. I give them points for style, but it sounds like a disco in a haunted house to me.

Paul Quarino – Y.M.C.A.

If you’d like to hear more from this blast from the past, you can find the entire album here.

Before you wander off, I’d like to ask you all a favor. A friend of mine named Brenden Baker has been nominated for a chance to win a trip to Morgan’s Wonderland, an amusement park in San Antonio for special needs kids. He’s a sweet seven-year-old boy that unfortunately suffers from a rare form of Dwarfism. Voting is easy, and it doesn’t cost a cent. Here’s all you have to do: go to this website (or click on Brenden’s picture over here) and click where it says “Vote Now” next to Brenden’s name. Voting deadline is Wednesday, October 20. If you don’t want to do it for me or because he’s a nice little boy that deserves it, do it because he’s got some wicked dance moves! Thanks for your consideration, and I’ll see you next time!