For the next two weeks, several free or mostly pay-what-you-can music fests will dominate the schedules of adventurous Washtenaw County listeners.

In addition to the A2 Jazz Fest (September 27-28) and Refugia music fest (September 28, all day) in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti will host two events that lean into experimental sounds and indie/punk rock: Totally Awesome Festival (September 25-28) and Freak Fest (October 3-5). And if an one-evening-only fest is more your speed, there's the Fred Thomas-curated "Three Mirrors: Excursions in Collaborations" in association with UMS on September 27 at the Ypsi Freighthouse. (Plus, there's the pre-Zach Bryan festival Down on Main Street in Ann Arbor on September 26.)

Totally Awesome—celebrating its 20th birthday—and Freak Fest—now in its third year—have sprawling artist lineups (and more) in various venues; below you can see the full schedule with links to as many artists as we could find so you can plan your visits. (You can check out Pulp articles on A2 Jazz Fest here and Refugia here.)

Additionally, on September 24, WCBN's Local Music Show did a spotlight on this year's artists at Totally Awesome, Three Mirrors, Refugia, and Freak Fest.

Burnout Society Film Club (BSFC) members are advocates of the B-flick, the cult classic, the lost gem, and they show their love at a free monthly screening event called 8 Ball Movie Night.

What started as an indoor gathering at The Blind Pig's basement bar, The 8 Ball Saloon, morphed into an outdoor event during the warmer months of COVID. But BSFC didn't return to a strictly indoor schedule for its movie night after vaccinations opened up the world again, and the group continues to show VHS-era and old-timey flicks outside when the weather allows.

The last outdoor event of 2025—now on the patio outside The Blind Pig rather than on the roof—is scheduled for Tuesday, September 30, at 8:30 pm. Dubbed as "A Future Cop Double Feature," this edition of the 8 Ball Movie Night features films by two '80s and '90s action megastars: Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer.

Here's the info listed on the FB event page:

Jay Platt thought he'd be an engineer. The boat lover moved to Ann Arbor in 1963 from Alexandria, Virginia, to study naval architecture at the University of Michigan.

But a different career called out to him after he visited a bookstore in New York City:

"I had always been interested in older things, for one thing, and books—I wouldn't say I was a collector, but I would make a point of getting an earlier edition," Platt told Elizabeth Smith and Amy Cantu in an episode of AADL Talks To that was published March 30, 2024. "Then in early, I think, '71, I believe it was, I was in New York City with a good friend of mine, and he was into book collecting. We visited some bookshops ... but one we went into and he asked for this book by—I forgot what the title was—but the book dealer went way up in, knew right where it was. I said, 'How did he know that? There are thousands of books here,' and now I know, because you know your stock. You have to, and that's what got me started."

Platt worked for a couple of bookstores in Ann Arbor before launching his own business here in 1975: West Side Book Shop at 113 West Liberty Street. He and his partner at the time held an opening party on September 21, 1975, at the store, which is located on the street level of the John Haarer Building, which was built in 1888.

Fifty years later, West Side Book Shop is still going strong inside the Haarer Building.

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

This week: Ancel Fitzgerald Neeley, Sacha, Levona, The City Lines, Bekka Madeleine, Mark Zhu, Normal Park, Gee Floyd, The DayNites

The A2 Jazz Fest began as a one-day event in 2016 and highlighted the area's deep talent pool. It ran for four years, took a break from 2020 to 2022, and resumed in 2023 with the longtime touring trio of Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart as headliners. The fest expanded again in 2024 with superstars Joshua Redman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Bill Charlap headlining the four-day event.

For the 2025 edition, the A2 Jazz Fest is going back to its foundations. It's two days, free, and focuses on Michigan-residing artists, with a special set from international trumpet star Theo Croker, who also performed at the fest in 2019. His influences run from modern-day hip-hop and R&B, 1970s fusion, 1960s experimental, 1950s hard bop, and even the Dixieland swing of his influential grandfather, trumpeter Doc Cheatham.

The 2025 edition of the A2 Jazz Fest runs Saturday and Sunday, September 27-28, at two downtown Ann Arbor locations: First Congregational Church on East William Street and The Ravens Club on Main Street.

Another key aspect this year is education, which is a passion for bassist, Blue LLama Jazz Club artistic director, and A2 Jazz Fest originator Dave Sharp.

"Dave wanted to blow out the educational programming, so that was very attractive to me," said Dr. Anna C. Gersh, who has worked extensively in education and joined her husband in organizing this year's festival as the administrative director, along with drummer-educator Sean Dobbins and Jennifer Pollard, a jazz vocalist and creator of the Lifting Up A2 Jazz page on Facebook.

"Professional musicians are running the educational workshops on both days of the festival," Sharp said, "so Anna's experience. fits really well with those elements of the festival. And you know, in jazz, in general ... is very mentorship heavy." (Students can sign up here to participate.)

Below is the full lineup of the 2025 A2 Jazz Fest, as well as music from some of the featured musicians:

Press Release:

Downtown Ann Arbor will come alive this fall with the launch of the Down on Main Street Music Festival, a brand-new celebration of Americana, country, and rock music. The festival will take over Main Street on Friday, September 26 from 4 pm to 10 pm, transforming the downtown corridor into a vibrant, walkable stage for an unforgettable evening of music, food, and community.

At the heart of the festival is Matthew Altruda, a beloved Ann Arbor music curator and radio personality known for championing local and national talent. With Altruda’s expertise, the lineup features a carefully selected group of artists that embody the spirit of Americana and rock: The Michigan Rattlers (headliner), Louie Lee, Audrey Ray, and The Minor Pieces.

Nick Baumgardner has a front-row seat to University of Michigan football. That's partly because he's an Ann Arbor resident, but it's mostly because he's a senior football writer for The Athletic.

Over the past few years, when Baumgarden hasn't been providing NFL Draft analysis or other football coverage for The Athletic, he's been penning books on the Michigan Wolverines, including 2023's Mountaintop: The Inside Story of Michigan's National Title Climb and 2025's The Program: Michigan, A Curated History of the Wolverines.

The Program is a collection of in-depth essays that focus on pivotal moments that have helped shape the Wolverines' legacy as the most successful college football team of all time and the first to reach 1,000 wins.

In an interview with Booksweet to promote his August 29, 2025, appearance at the Ann Arbor District Library, Baumgardner said The Program "is like a magnifying glass. My other writing and podcasting is more like a 20,000-foot view of what’s going on. The book is going back and really trying to zoom in as much as you can on people, on dates, and on context and trying to find out why certain things happened on a deeper sense, as opposed to sort of chronicling what’s going on in real time."

Baumgardner's Wolverines football talk is the second he's given at AADL: He debuted with a January 10, 2024, event to discuss Mountaintop, which he co-wrote with Mark Snyder. The book covers Michigan's 1997 National Championship, which had some mystery about it due to a few factors, Baumgardner told Pulp:

“A lot of it has to do with Lloyd Carr, who doesn’t like to talk about himself a lot. That’s a big part of it. … The other thing, too, is a lot of these [former players] … they’re protective of it, and they aren’t very trusting about people getting their stories right, so it’s a hard group to crack.”

You can watch both of Baumgardner's AADL talks below.

A roundup of recent Washtenaw County arts and culture stories from local media outlets Life in Michigan, WEMU, Concentrate, Current, Ann Arbor Observer, WCBN, The Sun New Times, The Saline Post, and Ann Arbor City Lifestyle. 

Last October, Ann Arbor record label 1473 put out he great Alike Untils album by Chicago vibraphonist Ben Zucker, which we described in Friday Five: "Drones and glitches bang against vibraphones and bells, creating a haunting industrial atmosphere that evokes walking in a city after midnight. Good headphones are a must to catch all the details floating around in these four immersive and resonant pieces."

Headphones were not necessary for Zucker's recent concert at the Ann Arbor District Library. On August 9, Zucker brought his vibes and interactive software to the Downtown branch for a 40-minute performance of ghostly sounds that mixed improvisation and electronic effects. Here's the full concert video:

Ann Arbor's Peter Siers was born in 1961.

Ypsi's Kenji Lee graduated from U-M in 2019.

But the drummer in his 60s and the saxophonist-bassist in his 20s have teamed up for two cross-generational jazz showcases in different parts of Ann Arbor.

Siers and Lee recently started the Ann Arbor Jazz Workshop on a revolving date every month at the Elk's Lodge, 220 Sunset Road. The duo is encouraging everyone from high school students to longtime musicians to join the session, which next occurs on Saturday, March 22. Doors open at 5:30 pm, the jam starts at 6 pm, and then the Pete Siers/Kenji Lee Quartet performs at 8 pm. Cost is $10.

Just a few days later, Siers and Lee are at it again across town with a new concert series at Mothfire Brewing, 713 West Ellsworth Road. Starting March 26 and continuing every Wednesday from 5-8 pm, a local jazz group will perform at the Pittsfield Township pub known for its locally brewed IPAs, sour ales, pilsner, and dark beers as well as the food trucks that operate in its parking lot.

The first three concerts will feature: