The bleak midwinter is here, and there's only one way to cope:

Eat.

A lot.

Two upcoming foodie events in Ann Arbor will offer the succor your brain (and tummy) needs to get through this season.

Theater is communal by nature, with different departments—costumes, set design, acting—coming together to create something of artistic value.

But Ann Arbor's Forge Theater is built entirely on community.

Creatives become members to gain access to the space; once their productions and performances are ready to go, Forge supports the artists with ticketing, marketing, and house management duties, among other things. (Nonmembers can also rent the space, but members get a discount and additional support.)

The idea for Forge Theater came from the mind of local theater vet Catherine Zudak, but its success will be the result of artists rallying around the plan.

The collaborative studio space on Packard Street soft-launched in the fall, and it recently announced its initial 2026 performances.

The Telegraph Quartet, which formed in San Francisco in 2013, has been in residence at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) since fall 2024. 

David Gier, dean of SMTD and Paul C. Boylan Collegiate Professor of Music, said at the time of the announcement:

I’m delighted that the School of Music, Theatre & Dance is engaging the Telegraph Quartet for this residency, which will beautifully complement the dynamic work of our resident faculty in the Departments of Strings and Chamber Music. Our students will benefit significantly from sustained and focused interactions with this gifted professional quartet that will help them develop as chamber musicians and envision and plan for their lives as working musicians.

Eric Chin and Joseph Maile (violins), Pei-Ling Lin (viola), and Jeremiah Shaw (cello) have worked with student chamber-music groups and conducted studio classes/seminars for the most part, but there have also been several opportunities for the public to see concerts by the group, which The New York Times described as “full of elegance and pinpoint control."

The Telegraph Quartet will perform again at U-M on Friday, January 23, at 7:30 pm, at Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Drama Center. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets required. (A livestream will also be available.)

The Radar tracks new music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week:
Kat Steih, Mark Braun (Mr. B), Ani Mari, Matteo Sohn, The Sea, The Sea, Duburban & Krugah, Reckless Manner, and Kylee Phillips.

Ben Lorenz, co-founder of the Washtenaw County-based recording studio Willis Sound and the Ann Arbor-based eCommerce and digital marketing agency Human Element, died on Saturday, December 27. An announcement was made on the Human Element Facebook page.

David Roof, who runs Rooftop Recording out of Grand Blanc and has been friends with Lorenz since 11th grade, wrote this in a post on the A2 Music History Facebook page:

We lost a pillar of the Ann Arbor music community this weekend. Ben Lorenz, drummer for the Restroom Poets and October Babies. He founded the musical collective Oddfellow Music with his long time musical partner Jason McGee and a number of other awesome creative individuals. That eventually closed in order to refurbish and create Willis Sound. Ben was a kind, generous soul who was positive about the potential of others. He will be sorely missed.

You can read more tributes to Lorenz on his Facebook page.

Lorenz was also the drummer for 16 More Miles, which featured members of Restroom Poets and October Babies. Below is a selection of recordings and videos from Lorenz's various musical projects.

The Radar usually tracks new music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels. But for this edition, we've discovered 12 songs by artists who namechecked the county seat in their song titles. Only two of these creators live in the area, but for this Ann Arbor songs edition of The Radar, we've made them all honorary Tree Town-tonians.

This week: 
Max Langlinais, Paul Whetstone, Bats & Mice, Anson Seabra, Gostbustaz, Great American Ghost, The Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns, Shigeto, Dead Schembechlers, The Get Up Kids, and Cavity.

Know of any songs that mention specific places in Washtenaw County—whether those we missed with Ann Arbor in the title, or perhaps a buried reference to an Ypsilanti location from a noise-rock band that disbanded in 2009? Send your suggestions to pulp@aadl.org.

The Radar tracks new music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This week: Ness Lake, Rik Strange, Schmaltz, Stucchi & The Shepherd, Lantern Lens, N8., and The Missing Cats.

If you're an Ann Arbor District Library cardholder, you receive a weekly email newsletter listing news, upcoming events, and a slew of recommendations from the catalog. Those recs are also available at aadl.org/reviews, and we're always happy to make suggestions for books, audiobooks, streamable content in the catalog, DVDs, board games, tools, etc., if you visit us at the branches.

But our 2025 Staff Picks allow the AADL crew to go beyond the library catalog—and the calendar year.

We don't limit our year in review to things that came out in 2025 or items that can be checked out from AADL; the staff comments on whatever favorite media and events they experienced this year, no matter when or where they originated. Maybe a favorite album of 2025 came out in 1973, or the best book someone read this year is so old that it's out of copyright. It's all good, and it all counts.

Here are the categories of AADL's 2025 Staff Picks:

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Screens
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Audio
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Pulp Life
 

AADL 2025 STAFF PICKS: WORDS
Books, audiobooks, graphic novels, comics, websites, and more:

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Words
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Audio
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Pulp Life
 

AADL 2025 STAFF PICS: SCREENS
TV, movies, DVDs, video games, YouTube, streaming, etc.