SIDNEY — To kick off this year’s Art of Recovery exhibits, the Tri-County Board is presenting a unique opening musical concert Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Historic Sidney Theater. The concert features Sidney native Bruce L. Moon, performing “Four Lives: Welcome to the Studio,” songs and stories about his experience as an art therapist.
Moon is a singer-songwriter, active painter, and performance artist. According to a press release from Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services, h e has logged years of stage time performing at colleges, dive bars, open mics and concert venues. For the last 25 years he has performed solo in a range of settings, including WVIA Public Radio in Scranton, Pennsylvania; The Roisin Dubh in Galway, Ireland; a street festival in Savannah; a coffeehouse in Seattle; the Riverwalk in San Antonio; Bishop Hill Creative Commons; and street festivals around his hometown, Bloomington, Illinois.
The Art of Recovery Concert is a homecoming of sorts. Bruce is a native of Sidney, but moved away after high school in pursuit of his career in art therapy and teaching. Bruce said in the release, “You know, I’ve played in 17 states and four foreign countries, but never in my hometown – at least not as an adult.”
“Four Lives: Welcome to the Studio” is a performance that blends original music, poetry, and spoken narrative depicting three clients and their relationship with an art therapist working in a studio in a psychiatric hospital. Sara is an angry, self-destructive adolescent. John is a middle-aged man struggling with addiction and depression. Lenore is an elderly woman facing the inevitable losses and challenges of that phase of her life. Each story is told through art.
In addition to the songs and stories in “Four Lives,” Moon will perform a set of songs from his newest album, “Hometown Stories & Songs (Live),” released July 16. The album features songs about being in and being from Sidney, including “Sidney Ohio Blues,” and “Big Z and the Stingrays.” The album cover art will be familiar to Sidney residents, as it features the heavily graffiti-ed wall near the E. North Street bridge and Custenborder Field.
“Good music ought to comfort people who have been afflicted and afflict people who are too comfortable,” Moon said, reflecting on his approach to his original compositions that challenge convention and celebrate underdogs. People he’s met and experiences from the places he’s been are woven deeply into his music.
He said, “Everybody has a story and I hope my songs honor and comfort the folks I’ve encountered.”
After graduating from Sidney High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree, a couple of master’s degrees from a Methodist Seminary and a PhD in creative arts from the Union Institute in Cincinnati. He spent 22 years working as an art therapist at a psychiatric hospital in Columbus and another 20 years as a college professor in Scranton, PA, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Bruce has more than 20 LPs available on Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music and videos of his work can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/bclunar123.
The concert is free to attend, but reservations are required. Reservations can be requested at www.tcbmds.org/studio or by calling Brad Reed at 937-761-2443.
