'Somebody wrote a song about me': Concert honours 5 young people who met challenges

A performance at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton on Thursday night is expected to be an emotional one.

"You may cry, I'll tell you that," said singer-songwriter Shaun LB, who is performing in the show, Songs of the City.

The production of the United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern New Brunswick will feature five young people who have been helped by organizations funded by the United Way.

They were each paired with one of five local musicians, who wrote original songs based on their stories. On Thursday, the young people will share their stories with the audience and help perform the songs they inspired.

"It's a completely free event so it's really just to say a huge thank-you for your support over the years," said Kayla Keenan of the United Way.

"Sometimes I think we are under the impression that we live in this little small town and bad things don't happen, and it really opens your eyes to what's really going on around the corner or next door."

Bullying has life-long impact

When Jonathan Brun steps onstage at the Capitol Theatre, many in the audience will likely be surprised to learn that this confident young man was bullied for most of his childhood.

"The bullying started back when I was very young, in Grade 2, and then it prolonged all the way until about high school."

Brun knows he looks like a "big tough guy," but the only child of divorced parents said growing up was very lonely.

"When I was in school I used to be bullied mostly because of my weight because I'm a pretty big boy and also I have this nickname. It's called Boboul.

"It's not a word, it's just a name. It says kind of like ball at the end of it, so it's like a round shape, circular snowman."

Brun said as a child when he was picked on, he would "just bully back" and never told anyone what was happening.

"You don't realize how much it affects you until later on, when you have to think about it."

Songwriter relates to bullying experience

Brun has been thinking about his experiences as a child and how staff at the Dieppe Youth House or Maison de Jeunes helped him.

"I got involved pretty deeply with the Youth House doing a lot of volunteer work and also just being involved with all the other kids and activities."

Now Brun is a full time musician with the band Countryside. He can't wait to play guitar on stage with singer and songwriter Christine Melanson at the Songs of the City show.

Her original song, "Demain Peut-être," or "Maybe Tomorrow," tells Brun's story of being bullied as a child, which was an experience Melanson could relate to.

"I was the smart kid in class so I was bullied for that," she said. "And I wasn't really good at … sports and that's what the cool kids do so I really related to that kind of a story.

"I'm basically putting myself in Jonathan's shoes and the first verse is like, 'Push me again. Do you think I'll feel it this time?'"

As the song progresses, Melanson said, it challenges the bullies with a chorus that plays with the idea of being invisible and says, "Maybe tomorrow I'll find my voice and maybe tomorrow I'll be able to tell them that I'm here."

'They just walk by us'

Musician Kevin McIntrye said that as the dad of a teenager, being paired with a 17-year old teenage girl for this project really threw him "off balance."

"We have people in the city that live pretty traumatic things and we don't know about it — they just walk by us and we don't know their stories and we think everything is all good and sometimes it's not."

The teenage girl McIntyre was paired with has benefited from a United Way program called YOU-Turns.

It's an initiative with the local school district that offers support to students who are chronically absent from class.

"She's only 17 years old but she went through a lot of bad things … she grew up in a bad situation with sexual aggression and bullying … and she ended up living on the street."

While he struggled to create something poetic from her difficult and dark story, McIntyre is hopeful his song, "Riding Out the Storms," represents the battles this teen has already won.

"Now she's better and that's what I focused on. I saw some hope, some courage in her eyes … and I figured it would be better to look forward instead of looking back."

McIntyre even wrote the song around a drumbeat he thought the teen would like and has suggested she take up drumming. He is hoping she might play the beat onstage at the show.

"I figured maybe it would be a good way to vent some of that frustration that she has, because you're hitting things with sticks. I'm hoping that it represents her and that she can see that there's people listening out there and she's not alone."

Safe Spaces Drop-In offers acceptance

Shaun LB was paired with a young high-school student who has benefited from the Safe Spaces Drop In, a service for members of the LGBTQ community that's offered by Ensemble, formerly known as SIDA-AIDS Moncton.

"It's all about acceptance," LB said of the teen's story. "It could be family, it could be friends and once you find yourself it's all about that fear … that others will understand or at least accept you for who you are."

LB said his student talked about moving from Miramichi to Moncton. As he listened to his story, LB was struck by the importance of finding a place of warmth, love and acceptance.

"I'm a new dad, my son is two years old, and I just couldn't imagine him coming to me with whatever he wants to become or how he feels and not accepting it."

Artistic director expects moving show

Melanie LeBlanc, the artistic director of the show, said as the person who matched the young storytellers and musicians, she feels her instincts have paid off.

"You're going to see this complicity between the storyteller and the songwriter and the audience, and this willingness to just open their hearts and share with the community."

Earlier this week, the songwriters shared their compositions with their partners, and LeBlanc said there have been a lot of tears.

"I think for the storytellers, it probably helps them to process even what they've been through — they're seeing, 'Wow …that's my story and somebody wrote a song about me.'"

While this is the third annual show of its kind, LeBlanc said it is the first time that all of the storytellers are young, and the first time they will take part in performing the songs they inspired.

"All the storytellers are musical, so they're even going to participate in their song. So that's going to be, I think, a very moving moment, to see that coming together of the two parts."