Catholic that I am, I must begin by confessing: I was more than a little bit starstruck. As a child growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, about 100 miles from New York City, sitting on the floor of my family’s living room and listening to the records my older brothers and sisters would play on the big Magnavox stereo—records like “The Wanderer,”“Tell Me Why,”“Teenager in Love,”“Runaround Sue” and, later, the record that broke all of our hearts in that heartbreaking year of 1968, “Abraham, Martin and John”—I never imagined I would share a stage with the singer-songwriter who performed those songs.

But this is exactly what happened at Fordham University recently, when the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies hosted the legendary Dion DiMucci. I introduced him to the sold-out audience, who were eager to hear an evening of storytelling, conversation and music.