Season 2 of "Papa Ray's Vintage Vinyl Roadshow" will air in October, 2025.
August 14, 2025
Featured on the August 14th, 2025 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:
- Tom “Papa” Ray grew up in the deep South, and soon acquired an abiding love for soul and R&B records. Today he runs a thriving record store in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also the creator and host of the PBS series “Papa Ray’s Vintage Vinyl Roadshow”, which has just been picked up for a second season. Mark talks with Ray about his experiences traveling the US and the UK, finding places where record collectors gather to celebrate a music format that was once thought to be outdated, but has since made a strong global comeback.
VIEW LARGER Tom "Papa" Ray with a mural outside of his Vintage Vinyl store in St. Louis, Missouri. courtesy of Tom "Papa" Ray
Papa Ray's Vintage Vinyl store is located in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Learn about a new public arts project called “Say One Thing”. It is designed to encourage community conversations about topics including harm reduction, recovery from substance abuse and mental wellness, guided by volunteers who share from their lived experience. Lead artist Elizabeth Burden tells how her multi-disciplinary projects tie it all together.
VIEW LARGER Elizabeth Burden in the AZPM Radio Studio. AZPM / Zoe Juliano
"Whereas/ As If" (2024) by Elizabeth Burden.
Elizabeth Burden
VIEW LARGER "Carceral Archipelagoes: The Blossoming" (2023) by Elizabeth Burden. Elizabeth Burden
"Box Stack 1" (2022) by Elizabeth Burden.courtesy of Elizabeth Burden
- Nature writer Rebekah Doyle returns, with an essay about getting to know a frequent visitor to her backyard, a female hummingbird with a personality far larger than her tiny size would suggest.
This female Costa's hummingbird has become a regular visitor to Rebekah Doyle's yard.
Brad Boyle
Costa enjoying her bird feeder.
Brad Boyle
Nature writer, Rebekah Doyle.
courtesy of Rebekah Doyle
- And, visit the innovative Raptor Free Flight Program at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Amanda Timmerman, a collection specialist, takes us behind-the-scenes to share some secrets about the birds of prey that call the museum home.
Arizona Illustrated
Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Friday at 8:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.
Webpage by Zoe Juliano.
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