26. "The Art of Looking: Rebecca Wood (R. Wood Studio) on Color, Clay, and Nature”
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
Release Date: 07/28/2026
31. "Remembering Bobby Poss: A Classic City Legacy”
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
Some conversations feel less like an interview and more like sitting on a porch swing, and that's exactly what this episode offers. This episode was recorded on June 4th, 2026, and it is shared now with heavy hearts — Bobby Poss passed away just days ago. He was a beloved figure in Athens, known and cherished by so many, and this conversation stands as a warm tribute to a life fully lived in this community. Bobby, whose family name is stitched into Athens history through food, football, and decades of hometown hospitality. Bobby takes us back to a childhood spent selling peanuts and...
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30. Mark Clegg “The Crimson and Gold “ Football & Integration in Athens, Ga.
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
In this episode of Classic City Rewind, host Lesley Platek sits down with Mark Clegg, an Atlanta native who moved to Athens just over a year ago, is here today to discuss "The Crimson and Gold: Football Integration in Athens, Georgia," published by the University of Georgia Press. It's Clegg's third book — he didn't start writing until age 59, beginning with a memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail — but this story had been with him even longer. Clegg shares how his family's ties to Athens, including his father's firsthand account of the 1961 UGA integration riots, planted the seeds for...
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29. The Last Resort Grill — Keeping an Athens Institution Alive
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
Grab a seat at the bar and settle in, because this episode is a warm trip through nearly 60 years of Athens history. We're heading downtown to 174 West Clayton Street, home to The Last Resort Grill — a building that was once a legendary music venue before it became one of Athens's most beloved restaurants. From hosting touring folk and blues legends in the 1960s and 70s to serving Southern and Southwest-inspired cuisine since 1992, this space has quietly shaped the soul of downtown Athens for generations. In this conversation, current owners Tom and Kelly Call share the story of how a chance...
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28. From San Juan to National Championships: Coach Manny Diaz's UGA Tennis Journey
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
If you've ever wondered what it takes to build a legendary sports program this episode of Classic City Rewind will feel like sitting down with an old friend who has quite a story to tell. Host Lesley Platek welcomes Manny Diaz, the former longtime head Mens tennis coach at the University of Georgia, whose journey from a tennis-obsessed teenager in San Juan, Puerto Rico to the winningest coach in SEC history is full of warmth, humor, and hard-earned wisdom. The conversation is especially timely: Diaz was just inducted into the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame alongside an all-star class...
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27. Bertis Downs on R.E.M., Athens, and a Life Built Around Music
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
Bertis Downs' life reads like a map of the last sixty years of American music culture — and if you've ever wondered how a law student ends up managing and giving legal advise to R.E.M. this episode is for you. Downs traces an extraordinary arc: a childhood shaped by his missionary family's years in Taiwan and the sudden loss of his father in a plane crash, followed by his mother raising three young boys alone. He landed in Clarkston, Georgia for his teenage years, then Davidson College, where a college radio show devoted almost entirely to the Allman Brothers Band planted the seed of...
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26. "The Art of Looking: Rebecca Wood (R. Wood Studio) on Color, Clay, and Nature”
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
"The Art of Looking: Rebecca Wood on Color, Clay, and Nature” There's something deeply comforting about sitting down with someone who has spent their entire life following what genuinely brings them joy, and this conversation with Rebecca Wood is exactly that kind of gift. Host Lesley Platek welcomes listeners into a conversation about creativity, patience, and the slow, unglamorous work of building something meaningful from scratch — a reminder that the most beautiful things in life rarely happen on a fast timeline. Rebecca Wood came to Athens in 1975 during the city's legendary...
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25. Terri Moody Hancock, From the Fairway to the Pickleball Court: A Conversation with Athens, Georgia Golf Legend.
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
This episode offers a warm and inspiring window into one of Athens' most celebrated athletes. Host Lesley Platek sits down with Terri Moody Hancock for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from golf fairways to pickleball courts — and reveals the quiet, quilting heart behind one of Georgia's greatest champions. Terri Moody Hancock is a true Athens original — a two-time All-American at UGA, the 1981 Broderick Award winner and National Golfer of the Year, the first woman in Georgia history to earn a full athletic scholarship and the first women at UGA to win a National...
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24. The 90 year History of Dick Ferguson's Clothing Store
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
Dick Ferguson III shares the remarkable story of a family business that has weathered nearly a century of change, beginning with his grandfather Richard John Ferguson, who opened the store on Clayton Street in 1934. When his grandfather passed away unexpectedly, Dick's grandmother Mary Cloud stepped in to run the store — an extraordinary feat for a woman in that era — earning deep respect from the Athens community while raising her family and keeping the business alive. Episode Highlights: Dick's grandmother Mary Cloud ran the store as a widowed woman in the 1940s and '50s, a trailblazing...
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23. Karen Morgan from a Trial Attorney to Nationally Touring Stand Up Comedian
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
This episode is going to feel like sitting down with an old friend. Host Lesley Platek welcomes Karen Morgan, a born-and-raised Athens, Georgia native who has built a remarkable life straddling courtrooms, comedy stages, and now, Hollywood screenwriting. Karen Morgan is a former trial attorney turned nationally touring stand-up comedian, known for her two Dry Bar Comedy specials and her comedy album Shiny Happy People Laughing — recorded in her hometown and aired on four SiriusXM channels — with the title recorded with special permission from R.E.M. Karen and Lesley take a winding and...
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22. Legendary UGA Women's Tennis Coach Jeff Wallace
Classic City Rewind with Lesley Platek
What better way to close out Season One of Classic City Rewind than with this conversation — especially with the NCAA Tennis Tournament coming to Athens May 14th–17th. Classic City Rewind returns with Season Two in July. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when passion, purpose, and place all come together, this conversation is for you. Host Lesley Platek sits down with legendary UGA women's tennis Coach Jeff Wallace — a Portland, Oregon native who arrived in Athens as a transfer student, fell in love with the Classic City, and never left. Jeff's journey from junior tennis player...
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"The Art of Looking: Rebecca Wood on Color, Clay, and Nature”
There's something deeply comforting about sitting down with someone who has spent their entire life following what genuinely brings them joy, and this conversation with Rebecca Wood is exactly that kind of gift. Host Lesley Platek welcomes listeners into a conversation about creativity, patience, and the slow, unglamorous work of building something meaningful from scratch — a reminder that the most beautiful things in life rarely happen on a fast timeline.
Rebecca Wood came to Athens in 1975 during the city's legendary arts and music boom, earned her art degree from UGA in 1977, and never left. What started as hand-painted fabrics and jewelry sold out of a Saturday shop on Dubose Street eventually grew into R.Wood Studio, now one of the largest pottery studios in America. Along the way, Rebecca shares the winding, often penniless path that led her there — from wanting to be an archaeologist and a weather girl, to painting portraits in Atlanta, to a life-changing $19,000 check from a Neiman Marcus buyer who believed in her before she'd even mastered ceramics.
- Rebecca's early life in the woods outside Atlanta, and how that unstructured freedom shaped her as an artist
- The scrappy, joyfully broke years in 1970s Athens, when $100 a month covered rent, food, and art supplies
- How a chance order from Neiman Marcus and an 18-year partnership with Sundance Catalog helped R.Wood Studio grow
- Her hiring philosophy (she hires for spirit, not resumes) and the tight-knit, supportive culture at the studio
- Her deep love of Japanese ikebana flower arranging and why staying connected to nature matters more than ever
The conversation closes on something quieter and more personal: Rebecca's lifelong pull toward nature, her monthly "Love Notes" essays, and her belief that beauty and stillness are things people need now more than ever. As R.Wood Studio celebrates its 35th anniversary, this episode is as much a portrait of Athens' creative spirit as it is of one woman who built a life around color, craft, and looking closely at the world around her.