On this Season 10 opener of KJZZ's Word podcast hosted by Tom Maxedon, it’s all about anecdotes.
In this episode, we feature conversations about minor league baseball, the only Latino governor of Arizona, Raúl Héctor Castro, affectionately known as Raúlito, plus tales on the road about legendary troubadour Bob Dylan.
Guest list
The regular season is winding down for baseball, so we wanted to check in with sportscaster Tim Hagerty who has a new book filled with humorous anecdotes about the minor leagues titled, "Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball."
Hagerty used to call games in Arizona and currently serves as a broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas.
His work "has been honored with national Edward R. Murrow Awards and by the Alabama Associated Press, Idaho State Broadcasters Association, Vermont Associated Press, the Society for American Baseball Research and the Society of Professional Journalists. Hagerty was voted El Paso Sportscaster of the Year in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Baseball America named him an MLB broadcast prospect in its Best of the Minors feature. He attended Vermont State University and was his class Graduate of the Year," according to his web bio.
Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford is an award-winning author who recently released a bilingual biography about Arizona’s only Latino governor, Raúl Héctor Castro.
It’s titled, "Raúlito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona,” and was chosen by the Arizona State Library’s Center for the Book to represent the state on the Great Reads from Great Places list for the 2023 National Book Festival of the Library of Congress, which occurred in August in Washington, D.C.
According to her web bio, "Rivera-Ashford is an accomplished international bilingual award-winning author. Roni has the ability and natural gift to relate to children and adults in English, as well as Spanish. Born to a pioneering Jewish family, she grew up in Nogales, Arizona, on the U.S. - Mexico border. Her great-grandparents came to the U.S. as immigrants from across the ocean: France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Russia. Her previous stories come from her childhood days growing up in the Sonoran Desert, in a bilingual, multicultural world. She's spoken Spanish and English from birth and sometimes dreams in Spanish, too. For nearly 30 years, she was a bilingual pre-school and elementary teacher, as well as a translator/interpreter. She also taught community college courses, earned her Bilingual Endorsement at the University of Phoenix and Librarian Endorsement at the University of Arizona."
Many know the Bob Dylan song, "Pledging My Time," from his 1966 "Blonde On Blonde" album.
The iconic singer/songwriter has been entertaining audiences for decades, and he seems to have no quit late into his life.
Reluctant for the majority of his time to be interviewed, our final guest took a different tactic to examine Dylan’s music through the words of those who have played with the troubadour.
Ray Padgett is a music journalist who recently released his new book of conversations titled, "Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members."
Padgett is a music writer based in Burlington, Vermont and is also author of, "Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time," and, "I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen." He writes the Substack newsletter "Flagging Down the Double E’s," about Bob Dylan in concert, and is the founder of the cover-songs blog, "Cover Me."
His writing has also appeared in, "The New Yorker," "SPIN," "Vice" and "MOJO."
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We’re back with another episode Sept. 26, when we launch our first contest of the season.
In the meantime, email us with a comment about this show or ideas for a future one.
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