Tucson Homes for Sale with Faces of Tucson AZ with Randy Peterson

Good afternoon, this is Tony Ray Baker. I'm with thefacesoftucson.com, and today we are here with Randy Page. Welcome, and, uh, super honored to have you here. You were nominated by Sandy Mailer. Sandy, uh, did a lot of work with, uh, Second Saturdays way back in the day when it was invented, pretty much.

Yeah, yeah.

And you knew her then?

And that's, that's how I first met Sandy, actually, was the relaunch of that celebration that had been downtown Saturday nights many, maybe a generation prior.

Those were the days when the streets were closed down.

Yes.

And people partied in the streets. And I partaked one time. I remember that, those nights. It was fun. So flash forward, Sandy Mailer now works with us. She's the ambassador for the Tucson Art Gallery that we have. And you'll see that here in the background where we are today in downtown. And Sandy somehow ran into you again?

Yes, we were making a connection through my job. I'm currently at Imago Dei Middle School, which is downtown here on 6th Avenue. And we connected over something else. And she started to tell me about this series and about your work and put my name forth for this interview.

So now I'm just now getting this whole story. So it's pretty fun. That's awesome. Okay, so let's start. So we always do the same questions for the Faces of Tucson for everybody. So for you, the viewer, it's very fun to go through and see the different places they like and what they talk about, and you can compare. So that's really fun. So let's start with who is Randy?

Well, Randy is a longtime Tucsonan. I moved here in 1999 to take a job initially with KXCI Community Radio. And thought at the time, you know, oh, Tucson's a nice town. I'll probably be here for a couple of years, but I don't think I, you know, want to be here forever. And 20— September 16th will be 24 years later. I'm still here and still thinking— no, I'm not thinking that anymore. I know that this is the home. Yeah. And will continue to be.

Can get a vacation home in a cooler spot.

Exactly. Exactly. But came here in '99, fell in love with with the community radio station, fell in love with the weather and the community in general, you know, the culture of this town, and have just always wanted to stay and try to be an active part of it and do what I could. I've been blessed in the sense that since with KXCI and then with all my subsequent jobs, I've only ever worked for nonprofits in Tucson. Oh, wow. And I'm honored to be able to have that opportunity.

That's amazing. Yeah, that is really amazing. Um, you're nominated because, uh, for what you do for our community, and you do a lot of things for our community from what I understand, but more specifically, uh, you're— you volunteer with Big Brothers.

I do, uh, volunteer as a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona. Um, soazbigs.org, they'd want me to get that in.

Wait, say it again.

S-O-A-Z bigs.org. Is that new?

Did we change that name recently?

No, they were Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson until maybe about 15, 20 years ago. Okay. But they wanted to incorporate the larger geography, so they switched to Southern Arizona.

Okay, so we got that in.

I had actually been a Big Brother in Michigan prior to moving here for two different boys, which started as a college experience. I was on a full-ride scholarship that required meaningful community service in the community in which the college was located. And, you know, I looked at a couple of different opportunities, and Big Brothers— being a Big— just seemed like the good fit for me at that time. So I initially had a boy named Abe who was 9 years old, and I'm not going to give away too many secrets, but he's now in his 40s, married with children, engineering degree from the University of Michigan. So I've been doing this for a little while. And was also then matched with a boy named Brandon. I had a good relationship there. Fast forward a couple of years, moved out here to Tucson, got heavily involved in work, so took a few years off being a Big, but I've pretty much done it now since, I believe, about 2023. I've had 5 more young men, little brothers, over that time. Wow. And I think it's just one of the best and most fun ways to give back.

Yeah. It's amazing. It seems for me this keeps coming around in my life right now is maybe because I just finished watching all 3 seasons of Ted Lasso.

Okay.

And the whole plotline is the relationship with young sons and how we treat them and how important it is for dads to take care of those kids.

Absolutely. Or whatever father figure can be in these young men's lives. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, so that is a really neat thread that's happening a lot. I'm seeing it a lot. Tell us a little bit about your family.

I'm single. I have one great dog named Buster Keaton, named after the Hollywood film star. I used to have Charlie Chaplin as well, but he left us 6, 7 months ago. All of my family is still back in Michigan. I get the chance to go back and see them usually, you know, over the summer. It's a great time to go somewhere else when you live in Tucson, right? And they've all, you know, taken the time to come out here and visit and things like that. But I don't have any, you know, direct family here in town. That's to me preferable. I like— I'm very much an individual and I like just being able to chart my own course and do my own thing. Obviously have that family there as a back, you know, support. And everything like that. But I actually only have one relative in the entire city of Tucson as a second cousin. So, and we've just gotten to know a little bit. I had never met him until I moved to Tucson.

Wow. So, I like that you like, I like that you know what you like. That's super important to be okay with that.

Absolutely.

A lot of people get tied up with, family in the world for the wrong reasons. So tell us a little— we kind of know a little bit, but tell us more about your current, past, future career. What do you love the most about what you do?

Well, again, I moved here, as we start to talk about the past, for KXCI. I got a chance to come on board in a variety of roles for them for about 15 years, including the last 5 or 6 years of my tenure there as general manager. Great station, great people to work with, great volunteers, and, you know, play an amazing role in the community and have continued to. I'm a big supporter of them, even though I no longer get that paycheck from them. Yeah. From there, moved on to the Humane Society, worked for them for 6 years as their director of development and also oversaw marketing and public relations, things like that. Helped them get that new campus built over on Roger Road. And again, absolutely amazing nonprofit to work for, tremendous amount of impact here in the community. Worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters for a couple of years toward the tail end of the pandemic as a volunteer recruitment manager, trying to get more Bigs, more Big Brothers and Big Sisters involved in the program, which, as you can imagine, was an uphill battle during COVID right? A lot of restrictions in place. And then just about 10 months ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to join the team at Imago Dei Middle School, a middle school that actually I had been a math tutor at, a volunteer math tutor, between 2012 and 2016. And we just stayed in touch over all these years. And, you know, 6, 7 years later, I got the, you know, the invite to come join them as their first full-time fundraising professional.

That's awesome. And isn't it— KXCI is here too, right?

Yeah, KXCI is right over, uh, main house right over on 4th Avenue. And as we kind of point, because you can't see it in the camera, satellite studio opened since I was with them over in Congress. Yeah, in the old barber shop. So everything is kind of all wrapped back in here for you. Absolutely. I've always felt like downtown was home. I've, you know, I've lived downtown at various times. Right now I live just a couple miles north of downtown, but getting to work with Sandy and all the great people that brought Second Saturdays back and helping to promote the streetcar when it was first being developed and working with the, you know, the Folk Festival folks and doing a little bit of volunteer work over the years with the Jazz Festival and just everything like that. It's such a dynamic place to want to be, you know, at and eat and live and celebrate and, you know, learn. I just love downtown and it's come so far in the last 20 years.

It sounds cliché, but, and I'm digressing off of our questions, but there is some strange magical micro, cosmic thing going on in this downtown area.

Absolutely.

The people that are down here, the people that are living and breathing in this area, like, just have enveloped it as their own, like a child. And everybody is acting in that same unison behavior to help it and develop it. Yes. Make it better.

Yes.

And it's beautiful. It's like I can imagine in the old days a small town where everybody loves their small town.

Yes.

And it feels like downtown is that small town in Tucson, which isn't a great big town, but still it is like this little small town.

Absolutely. And I always tell people I grew up 5 miles outside of a town of 500 people. So I do think Tucson's a big town. But yeah, and downtown is that one, one centering element of all of it. But wherever you're at in Tucson, it feels very much like neighborhoods and you run into the same people and you get a chance to get things done and people seem to always be pulling for each other. And that's just a great feeling.

Yeah, 'cause it keeps, I think, a lot of us in Tucson. We just love the people here, right? And you'll always hear, "What is it about Tucson?" "The people." The people. It's always the same thing. Okay, this is more speed round stuff. You ready?

Okay, ready when you are.

Okay, couple of your favorite restaurants in our community.

Brother John's Barbecue up on North Stone, absolutely one of my favorites. Zio Pepe out on the East Side. Chef Devin Sanner there just competed for Iron Chef. He came in second place, but hey, there's always next year, right? And then just a lot of the, you know, again, that downtown vibe. I love going to The Hub. I love going to the Cup Cafe over at Hotel Congress. And I'm not the biggest foodie in the world, but I'm at least open to the idea of people talking me into trying new things. So any of the friends out there that want to invite me, I'm down for a yes.

That's awesome. Yeah, I love the same restaurants. They're very good. So how long have you lived? Well, we've already gone over this, but how long have you lived and worked in our community? So now it's been 20—

September will be 24 years. Gotcha.

What is the most interesting person? Who is the most interesting person that you've met in our community?

One of them. Yeah, no, in my position again with KXCF for a lot of years, you meet a lot of very individual and special folks.

But give us just one that pops out in your mind like that.

Someone that I got to know a little bit when I worked for the Humane Society and have gotten to know a little bit more over that time is Chris Edwards at Tucson Appliance. People like to think of him as that funny guy in the commercial, but he is, as we talk about, absolutely authentic people that are just out trying to you know, run a successful business but make a tremendous difference in the community. And Chris is just one of those guys that's just fun to be around and someone who, you know, bends over backwards to say yes to things. And, you know, as a nonprofit fundraising guy, I'm often asking people for things.

Yeah.

Um, he's just been super to work with.

Yeah, yeah, he's a good guy. Uh, so if you could travel anywhere in the world right now Where would you go and why?

I have always wanted to visit Rome and really the entire country of Italy. So if I could just magically be whisked there right now, I love ancient history. I love, you know, the exploring the foundations of democracy and all that sort of thing. And that would be very high on the list. I will get there eventually.

Yeah, get there. Italy's amazing.

Wait till October-ish. Yes. Yeah, I'm not sure I want to go right now.

It might be the same temperature as here. And they don't have AC in a lot of places. Yes. Let's go with what is one of your favorite movies?

Wow. One of my favorite movies. Okay, I'll give you two answers. Classically, I love the great comedies, the play on words sort of thing. So I'm going to go with the film Airplane because I can see that just come randomly on and sit there and watch for 10 minutes and laugh. You know, 70 or 80 times, right? Yeah, great, great film there. Um, of recent films, I have to admit, I, I went to the Loft Cinema to see that 70mm version of Oppenheimer, and I can't imagine not having seen it in all its glory like that. Great film.

Uh, one of your favorite TV shows?

One of my favorite TV shows, um, again, I'm gonna revert back to the classics. It's been off the air for a while, but Parks and Recreation with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman and that whole crew. I mean, they were just, they were so well-written.

Yeah, so it's fun. What advice would you give to people?

You know, when I've been asked this question, I usually steal a line from one of my favorite musicians of all time named Warren Zevon, and he used the phrase, enjoy every sandwich. And to me, that's just a simple way to look at life, that you can just take that moment and just enjoy that sandwich right now, but enjoy whatever that element is.

Yeah, that's awesome. What's something on your bucket list?

Bucket list? Oh, there's— I'm trying to get to all of my favorite musicians. I tend to like music that goes back in time. So I'm always feeling like I need to get to see these musicians because it could be the last time, you know. So Ringo Starr is coming to Tucson next month. I'm absolutely— I've had the chance to see Ringo a couple of times, but that would absolutely be on my list. But I, you know, went and saw Frankie Valli. I went and saw Paul Anka when he was in town. So it's always trying to get those next artists on my list. So if Stevie Wonder's watching, you've got to go back out on tour, man, because that's one of the big ones I've never gotten to see. Stevie.

That's awesome. Uh, all right, so let's go with that. What— let's go to this then. What's your go-to band, uh, when you can't decide what to listen to?

Go-to when I can't decide to listen to, um, just a, you know, a sound that I was introduced to when I was a young kid. I, you know, I had great brothers and sisters for that sort of thing. Um, and even as a little kid, I just loved Billy Joel.

I do too.

And he's amazing. He hasn't put out a ton of new music in the last, you know, 15, 20 years, but I'll be going up to see him in Phoenix in a couple of months. Puts on a great live show and it's just, you know, such a, you know, library of great music. You know, there isn't a bad Billy Joel song. Right. In my opinion.

That's, yeah, you're very right. What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?

Ah, that makes me nostalgic about our community. Yeah. Okay, that's a tough one. I'm gonna put that back in the realm of, you know, you'll often get asked that question, you know, what's the restaurant you miss the most? And of all the things that have changed downtown, the one thing that I do miss, we used to have that great diner named Grill with the red room. And I didn't go there a lot. But every time you went there, it just had that vibe that you were just part of this family, part of this culture, part of what was going on downtown. And Grill's been gone now for, you know, many, many years. But that vibe though still, I think, continues and lives on in other properties.

But yeah, somebody just brought that up the other day. They were in here. That is so funny.

I never walk down the street and not think, oh, this is where Grill used to be.

Yeah, somebody just was— we were just in the gallery last week and somebody brought it up. That's so funny. If you could choose anyone that's alive today and they can't be a relative, with whom you would— which— sorry, who would you love to have lunch with?

I didn't think— Okay. Yeah.

So anyone that's alive today, not a relative, who would you have lunch with? Why? And why?

Alive today, not a relative. Okay. My dad. Edit out this while I think here for a second.

Who is one of the people I should always say?

Sure.

One of the people you'd love to have lunch with.

Um, I'm going to go with Bill Clinton.

Okay.

I had the briefest opportunity to meet him when he was running for president. You know, I actually got to shake his hand on a rope line. You know, say a few words of encouragement while he was quickly being whisked away. But I just think that he's lived an interesting life. I think he's got, you know, a lot of great stories to tell. And I think it would just be fun to sit down and, you know, have a burger and a beer.

Where would you go? Well, where would you be having lunch with Bill?

Oh, probably somewhere that he can get us into that I can't.

So I think you can get in there anyway. Yeah. What's your favorite thing or something unique about our community?

Um, me. You know, unique and something that I just never miss and coming up again very shortly is the Tucson Meet Yourself, Tucson Eat Yourself Festival that happens in October because that just really brings all these different elements downtown to one location. I've had the good fortune to have to work it a couple of times over the years for a different, you know, nonprofit or something that I might be with. But I find that I enjoy it much more when I'm completely free to take in the cooking exhibitions and the food and the dance and the music and everything. And it just reminds me that I'm part of something bigger in this town. And it's just everybody having so much fun. I think it's just one of the— I mean, Tucson has a million great festivals, but I think that's probably a number one in my book.

Nice, nice. Uh, where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?

Uh, 5 to 10 years, I'd love to think that I'm still making a difference at Imago Dei as part of the leadership team down there. We're hoping to expand the school and serve even more kids. Uh, we just started back to school last week and for the first time in our 17-year history, added a grade. And I think that's something that we want to look at strategically, being able to serve more grade levels and more kids and more families. So I would love to be a part of that success story 5 or 10 years from now still.

That's nice. Even for friends and family, what is something interesting that most people don't know about you?

Usually when we're playing this game, you know, somewhere you have to tell that story. I always tell about the time that I met a very famous person that I did not know who it was at the time, and she kept interrupting me. I was trying to make a presentation to a group, and she kept walking up saying like— and I was in college at the time— Oh, it's great to see young people here, and it's so great. I'm like, oh yeah, thank you very much, but we're in the middle of a meeting right now. So I wasn't rude or dismissive or anything, but I just didn't know who it was, and I just kind of missed the opportunity to really take that moment in time. It was at a political convention, and not 90 seconds after I finished talking to her, they gavelled the convention to order. The mayor of Detroit got up and said, "You know, I want to start these proceedings, but before we do it, I need to get a spotlight on someone in the crowd right here. We have Rosa Parks with us today." And as soon as he said it, I said, "That's who I was just talking to not 2 minutes earlier." A tip for people out there: if you meet historic figures, they don't always look like that famous photo that you remember them from, right? Yeah. This was, you know, mid-1990s, and I got to meet Rosa. I didn't know it was Rosa Parks at the time. Wow.

So that's a—

that's a story I love to share. It's much more interesting than the time I went skinny dipping. We don't talk about that.

Um, wow, Rosa Parks. Um, what's the most beautiful place you've ever been? Just one of them.

Sorry, we have a bug. Yes, we have a fly there.

And it's like driving us both crazy. We're both diplomatically trying to ignore it.

Yes, I'm going to say getting to see the sun, both sunset and sunrise at Lake Huron. Growing up in Michigan, we actually grew up a couple of miles inland from the lake. And if you ever get a chance to travel to that part of the country, A lot of beautiful scenery, but just seeing all that crystal clear blue water. And then we lived in what was known as the, the Thumb. So it was a peninsula. So you could catch both the sunrise and the sunset over the water.

Wow. So that's more speed round stuff. Ready?

Okay.

Favorite month?

Favorite month? April. It's the start of baseball season.

Start of baseball. Favorite holiday?

Christmas.

Best single day on the calendar.

Best single day on the— ah.

Dizne de dezembro. Same, my birthday.

You tripped me up on that. I'm going to go with July 1st because that's the start of the fiscal year for a lot of nonprofits.

There you go.

Everything's wiped clean.

It's interesting how people connect to dates. I just love that question. What would you rate a 10 out of 10?

10 out of 10. Mm. You stumped me on that one.

It can only be one thing. I mean, I'm sure there's others.

Yes. Yes.

One thing, 10 out of 10.

One thing, 10 out of 10. A great slice of pizza.

Yeah.

If you can do it right, it's perfect.

What's your favorite pizza in town?

One of them.

We don't want to insult anyone.

Yeah, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.

The one that comes to mind first.

On Zio Pepe again, out there on the East Side, because I think they just do a fabulous job with creativity, right?

I have to tell you a secret about Zio Pepe. I just won at a charity event. I won a catered dinner by Zio Pepe. The chef's going to come to our house and feed us.

Excellent.

Yeah. So I'm excited about that. And you keep talking about it. So I'm like, I'm getting more inspired to call. Who inspires you to do better?

Um, everybody I meet, but, but I'll, I'll narrow it down for you right now. The opportunity to work with the kids at the school. Uh, these are, you know, to, to a man, you know, 100% of the kids we work with come from low-income families, a lot of refugee, a lot of immigrant status, and they're here just giving it their best because they want an education and they want to grow and make a difference and make their make their family stronger and make their world around them better. And that's actually where I draw a lot of inspiration is that kid, you know, we go to school from 7:30 to 5 o'clock. Wow. The kids are often there before I get there and often there after I leave. And so I do draw inspiration from them and from all the great teachers then that are working with them, you know.

I wish all our children went 7 to 5.

Yes.

We treat our children as if they're stupid in this country and we don't give them the time to educate Many of these children aren't even getting but a few hours a day. Yes. And I love to hear that 7:30 to 5:00 is amazing.

7:30 to 5:00 and Saturday once a month.

That's amazing. I think all kids and kids— when I was a kid, I was a giant sponge. I just wanted— I couldn't get enough. I just wanted to learn. And I think that kids should all have that opportunity. Absolutely. It would change our country 100 times. Okay. What is one or two of your favorite smells?

Fresh baked bread. I mean, it's hard to beat that. I owned a bakery many, many moons ago, briefly with my family. And that, yeah, that smell of fresh baked bread. And to go back to April being the favorite month, fresh cut grass at a baseball field.

Yeah.

And just that feeling that everything's possible on day one of the season. The teams I root for, it doesn't last.

And the grass dries out.

Yeah, the grass dries out and you play on fake grass a lot now anyway. But yeah, fresh cut grass at a baseball park. Absolutely. Things like a lot of things.

Like you just said, the fresh baked bread in my— like it instantly transported me to the smell and the place and the And the anticipation of putting some of that Kerrygold butter on it.

Oh, sure. Yes.

Finally, 3 words or phrases that come to mind when you think of the word home.

Home. Family, safety, and love. Yeah.

And who better to describe that? I mean, with And that's something you're providing in the work that you do and you're helping to bring that. And I thank you for that.

Absolutely.

I love this project. I've always loved Big Brother Big Sisters. I think it's just so important.

Absolutely. And I always tell people, and I did this when I was working for them briefly, but just spreading that gospel for 30 years, if you're not sure if you can really be a big, the answer is yes. Yeah. If you had to be perfect, they would never have taken me. But I've gotten to change 7 lives over the course of about 31, 32 years now. And, you know, I can see the difference that it makes for these kids and how it's changed me in this world as well. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you for the honor.

Thank you. Congratulations to be on the Faces of Tucson. And thank you for everything you do for Tucson. And thank you for watching. And if you want to nominate somebody, please go to thefacesoftucson.com. There's a nomination button and there's a committee that looks at the nominees and then we pick who is going to be interviewed and then you get to see these great interviews.

That's very wonderful. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you.