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Spoon Man performs at the Lincoln
Public Library
[June 13, 2026]
Thursday, June 11, Jim Cruise,
known as “Spoon Man,” entertained the kids and adults by playing
music with spoons at the Lincoln Public Library.
Before the performance, children’s librarian Donna Cunningham
reminded the kids to turn in their book logs and mentioned the other
programs offered during the week. She then introduced Cruise, who
lives in west Michigan and performs all over.
Spoon Man uses two ordinary household tablespoons as musical
instruments to create rhythm or percussion. When he was nine, he
wanted a drum set, but his parents would not buy him one. Cruise saw
his grandfather playing spoons along with the music on the radio,
and he told his grandpa it was cool then went to the kitchen drawer
and got a pair of spoons. He would turn down the radio and pretended
the spoons were a drum set. Cruise drove his parents crazy
practicing.
For his first performance, Spoon Man played the spoons and danced
along to the song “In the Mood,” which was one of his grandpa’s
favorite songs. He then had a helper come up and played the spoons
on the their head and stomach. Everyone clapped along to the last
part of the song.
Because Spoon Man listened to rock
growing up, he decided to become a rock and roll spoon player. Spoon
Man did an impression of a heavy metal spoon player by putting on a
long wig and long tongue then using larger spoons as he played along
to “Rock you Like a Hurricane.”
For the next song, Spoon Man chose
an adult to be an impartial judge. One side of the room had to say
“hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho” and the other “hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi” as Spoon
Man played along to the song “Minnie the Moocher.” He told the judge
there could not be a tie. As the song played faster, the kids had to
keep up by saying the words faster. First, she said the left side of
the room sounded better than the right side, and next she said the
right side sounded better. Then she said he sounded best. He told
her it was okay if there was a tie this time.
Next, Spoon Man told the kids three secrets to his success: he said
no to drugs, he listened to his teachers, he got an education and he
listened to and obeyed his parents. He said if you can do these
three things, anything is possible.
Spoon Man reminded the kids that reading is so important. At age
nine, after he went fishing with his dad, he checked out a bunch of
books on fishing and read them over and over again. Reading about
fish helped Cruise build up brain power, which made his schoolwork
in all subjects easier. Reading every day helps kids build brain
power, so he encouraged them to read at least twenty minutes every
day.
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In the hills of Tennessee, Spoon
Man said he met a mountain band and they all happened to be at the
library. He had three people come up and play bashful Billy Bob,
Brave Billy Birk, who was not afraid to be laughed at and Billy
Bill, also known as Billy Squirt. Spoon Man put blond pigtails on
Billy Bob, a gray beard and long hair on Brave Billy Birk and a gray
beard and hat on Billy Squirt.
As the song “Rocky Top” played,
Spoon Man played the spoons, Billy Bob hit trainer spoons against
his leg, Billy Squirt shook a maraca, and Billy Birk played a
washboard with a spoon. Spoon Man also danced around arm in arm with
Billy Bob during part of the song.
During the final song, Spoon Man
used large wooden spoons and tapped them on kids’ and adults’ hands
as the song “Happy” played. Everyone clapped along to the song.
Once Spoon Man was done performing,
he invited kids to come up and play some of the trainer spoons. He
had items for sale that included an instructional DVD showing how to
play spoons, trainer spoons to practice with and his book called
Spoonboy.
Thursday, June 18 at 10 a.m. Nitro Joe will provide science-based
entertainment for everyone.
The Spoon Man at the Lincoln Public Library photo slideshow
Spoon Man performs "In the
Mood" video
[Angela Reiners]
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