Talent is one thing, but what one does with it is entirely another. Father Damian Ference, our resident music expert, examines Cincinnati band Walk The Moon, and advises a sound next step in ensuring longevity.
Lately I have been using my vacation time to visit friends from my first parish assignment, who at one time were in my youth group. It’s a great joy to maintain those friendships, as they are the kind of friendships that John Paul II had from his early years of priesthood and maintained throughout his life. Such friendships are precious to any priest.
My “dear young friends,” (as I call them in the spirit of John Paul II), are in their mid-twenties now, and although some have remained in the Cleveland area, others have moved on to Boston, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco and Washington DC. One of my young friends, however, lives and works in Norton, Virginia – the heart of Appalachia – where he does important and excellent work for the church. I went to visit him this summer.
My young friend was happy to welcome me and show me around Norton, but he, too, needed a couple days of vacation. So we decided to head south to Asheville, N.C., which is known for its breweries, galleries, farm-to-table restaurants, its history, nature trails, and for the beautiful basilica of St. Lawrence. Asheville also boasts one of the top music venues in the country, The Orange Peel. We had tickets to see Neon Trees.
The highlight of the night, however, was not Neon Trees – it was their opening act, Walk The Moon. The quartet from Cincinnati played a tight, fun, interactive, high-energy set that had the sold-out crowd jumping and smiling and singing and dancing – think secular Steubenville. And this was impressive, seeing that most of the crowd was there to hear the headliner and was unfamiliar with the music of Walk The Moon...