***Mike Mennard***

Feelin' particularly swashbuckling today? Well, Mike Mennard has just the thing for you! Pirates Do the Darnedest Things is his swaggering, silly, singalong collection of tunes dedicated to a rogue's life on the sea. Historic tunes, originals, and classic covers are tied together by short skits, limericks, and goofy jokes, all celebrating the joys and trials of being a pirate.

Mennard kicks off his fourth kids' CD with a roll call of pirates in the title tune, followed by "Yo Ho Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)," the old theme song from the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney. Silliness ensues with "ARRH!" "Buccaneer Singing on Broadway," "Ramsey the Pungent Pirate," and "Silly Willy Walla Walla Wary," in which the land-bound buccaneer laments that "it's tough to be a pirate in Nebraska."

Another highlight is the great tune "Captain Blake," with music by Mennard and lyrics by Kelsey Hulsman, an elementary school student who won Mennard's inaugural Pirate Poetry Contest. And check out the funky medley "Early in the Morning/Blow the Man Down," the mostly a cappella version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest," the homesick ode "Fiddler's Green," and the sweet "Pirate Moon."

Hey, it's only 358 days until the next Talk Like a Pirate Day, so start collecting your pirating stash with Mike Mennard's Pirates Do the Darnedest Things.