The Kids of Widney High is an American music group composed of students with mental disabilities from the special education J. P. Widney High School in Los Angeles, California, United States.

History

The band consists of students with physical and cognitive disabilities on vocals, with the instruments played by non-disabled teachers and friends. The group originally began as a song-writing class in 1988 taught by Michael Monagan, and has evolved since into two groups, one made up of graduates that performs in local clubs and the other a group of current Widney students in the songwriting class. The group gained a cult following, primarily thanks to their frequent live performances at larger Los Angeles venues like The Knitting Factory and Amoeba Music, as well as smaller venues such as Chain Reaction in Anaheim and

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in downtown LA. As a result, the group often plays at a number of ska and pop punk shows, including a stint on the Vans Warped Tour. The group has also opened for The Melvins, Fantômas, and

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, and have been included on several editions of the Kevin and Bean's KROQ Christmas Albums. The group's first CD, ''Special Music from Special Kids'', was on Rounder Records in 1989. Their second CD, ''Let's Get Busy'', was on Mike Patton's Ipecac Records label in 1999. The group's third CD, ''Act Your Age'', was released on Moonman Records in 2003. Moonman also released a live CD, ''Live at the Key Club'', in 2007. Such notable musicians as

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, and Adam Horovitz have all cited themselves as fans of the band. In 2005, the Kids of Widney High were featured in '' The Ringer'', a comedy wherein Johnny Knoxville's character pretends to be developmentally disabled in order to fix the Special Olympics and gain financially through betting on it. The group is seen performing "Pretty Girls" (which was also written by several members of the group) at a dance, and again towards the end of the film singing a version of the popular 1960s song, "

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...

" in which the lyrics have been rewritten so that it becomes an anthem for those with disabilities. The Kid Cudi song "Girls" from his 2013 album Indicud contains an

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

of "Pretty Girls". In addition, their songs have been covered by such groups as The Aquabats and Osaka Popstar. They are chronicled in the feature-length documentary ''Act Your Age: The Kids of Widney High Story'' directed by

Mathew Klickstein Mathew Klickstein is an American screenwriter, journalist, author, arts therapist and playwright. Career Klickstein was the writer of the 2009 American horror film ''Against the Dark'', starring Steven Seagal and served as a casting producer o ...

and Jesse Alba. Starting in November, 2020, a remastered tenth anniversary edition of the film began streaming on Troma's streaming service Troma Now. Klickstein also authored ''The Kids of Widney Junior High Take Over the World!'', released in September 2020 by Schiffer Publishing. Thanks in part to direct promotion by Mayim Bialik, the book quickly became a bestseller on Amazon.

Discography

* ''Special Music from Special Kids'' (1989)

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

* ''Let's Get Busy'' (1999) Ipecac Records * ''Act Your Age'' (2003) Moonman Records * ''Live at the Key Club'' (2007) Moonman Records

References

External links

*
Widney High's page for the group
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kids of Widney High American vocal groups Musical advocacy groups Outsider musicians Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups from Los Angeles Ipecac Recordings artists