Andrew Rogers was an improviser. Not in a strict jazz sense, but as someone who accompanied silent films without sheet music, much of what he played was composed spontaneously in response to what was happening on screen.

“The thing about doing silent films," he told Pulp in 2023 for an article about theater organs, "I’ve got the outline in my head, and I’ve got the certain themes, but how I knit it together each time I play it could be different. If I played a film for you now and then played it for you tomorrow, it wouldn’t be exactly the same.”

Rogers was the lead organist at the Michigan Theater, where he had performed since 2008 in addition to other vintage movie houses in the state and elsewhere. He died on November 13. Rodgers was 74 years old. You can read his obituary here.

There will be a memorial concert at the Michigan Theater on December 4, according to Rogers' friend Maria Calabrese, though it's not currently listed on the Marquee Arts website.

You can read Marquee Arts' lovely remembrance of Rogers here, and listen to a short remembrance of him on WEMU. Below, you can watch Rogers' virtual concert at the Michigan Theater for Memorial Day 2020, and read his bio:

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

This week: Disciples of Noise, God Gotti with Prod. P, Blou Reed, Atlas the Kid, Frontier Ruckus, Tymbals, How to Draw Monsters, Darrin James Band, John Beltran, Orka Veer featuring Zakoor, Cloudburst, and Stephen Kemsley.

When an opportunity to open a pair of sold-out shows in Chicago for the English band Dry Cleaning came up for Fred Thomas’ Idle Ray project in 2021, it was an easy “yes.”

There was only one slight problem: The Ypsilanti songwriter’s latest alias for writing and recording lo-fi indie rock was a solo project, not an actual group.

“It was, ‘Yep, no problem, we'll be there,’ without actually having a band at all,” Thomas said. “It was just me, and I hadn't played these shows for a couple of years. So I just asked everybody whose instruments I'd been borrowing if they’d play with me at those two shows.”

More than three years later, the individuals Thomas found to play the shows, guitarist Frances Ma and bassist Devon Clausen, have taken on official roles in Idle Ray, with each providing their own unique contributions to the band’s two 2025 record releases.

The Ann Arbor area is flush with great jazz concerts right now. High-profile artists hosted by UMS and Blue LLama; excellent shows at intimate venues such as Kerrytown Concert House and Ziggy's; third-space concert venues across Washtenaw County, such as Mothfire Brewing, the Elks Lodge, and Rancho Tranquilico, hosting gigs and jam sessions; plus the excellent student bands at U-M and EMU—plus whatever famous guest musicians sometimes join them—performing regularly, as well as annual events such as Edgefest and A2 Jazz Fest.

All this jazz wasn't the case 50 years ago, according to Michael Grofsorean in the September 10, 1976, issue of the Ann Arbor Sun:

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

This week: Griot Galaxy, Alexis C. Lamb, Moonmill, Fangs & Twangs, Alex Anest Organ Trio, deegeecee, The Boy Detective, Hemmingway Lane, 3Steez, Chris DuPont, Pat2Dope, Idle Ray, Dre Dav, and Splitfuse.

More than 25 years after starting the Ghostly International record label from his University of Michigan dorm room, Sam Valenti IV still feels the inspiration Ann Arbor provides the label, now based in Brooklyn, New York.

That includes one of its most famous small businesses, Zingerman’s Delicatessen, which Valenti describes as a good role model for young companies and one Ghostly looked to for inspiration in executing its vision as a trailblazing record label, famous for its diverse roster of electronic and experimental music and its wide range of branded merchandise.

“I think we were looking for inspiration, so to speak,” Valenti said. “[Zingerman’s is] independent, it's entrepreneurial, it's creative, it's quality-oriented, it's local. I brought the whole [Ghostly] team once to the class seminars they had and read the books.

“I love it as a framework, because it's not a lot of waste. So, we organized the company early on, kind of as these units. I'm not sure we were as successful, obviously, executing them, but it gives you something to sort of look at as like, ‘OK, most companies are just this hierarchical thing, but what if you create space, and you create safe space to do different things that self-serve the rest of the community?’”

Steeped in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan independent music lore, Ghostly International are commemorating the label’s story and the people who helped it grow with the release of its first hardcover book. The 488-page We'll Never Stop Living This Way: A Ghostly International Catalogue includes a visual history of the label's archives, exclusive essays by critics Michaelangelo Matos and Philip Sherburne, as well as unseen photos, original interviews, and oral histories with both musical and visual artists from across the roster.

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

This week: Kozora Quartet, T. Greens, Otherseas, Kylee Phillips, My Salamander, Manifest Zone, The Night Assembly, Brynn Hilliker, Atlas the Kid, and new music from the Intensity Recordings and AGN7 labels.

Singer and educator Willis Charles Patterson, who spent more than 30 years as a faculty member and associate dean at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), died on October 22. He was 94.

The Ann Arbor native, born November 27, 1930, was also a graduate of U-M, earning his undergraduate and master's degrees at the university before being hired by SMTD in fall 1968.

Patterson was the first Black faculty member hired by SMTD, and in a 2019 profile of the bass singer, Erin Lichtenstein wrote that the educator "did more to advance the cause of racial equity at SMTD than anyone else in its history, before or since."

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

This week: Janelle Haskell, Mista Midwest, George Mashour, Larkn, KUZbeats, Mei Semones, Shigeto, Disiniblud with Kelly Moran, State, Sex Change, Darrin James Band, and Winged Wheel.

This interview with Jim Manheim originally ran on May 23, 2018. We're featuring it again because his brother, Dan Manheim, posted on October 14, 2025, that Jim passed away "from complications caused by a severe case of pneumonia." The WCBN program "Living Writers" also interviewed Manheim in 2023; you can listen to it here.

Jim Manheim has the unique distinction of hosting both one of WCBN's most popular shows -- and, arguably, one of its most obscure. Since 1989 Manheim has co-hosted The Down Home Show, a classic country music program that often raises the most or second-most money during station fundraisers (WCBN's closest equivalent to more traditional listenership metrics). He also co-hosts a popular bluegrass program, Bill Monroe for Breakfast. But in three stints from 1996 to 1999, 2008 to 2011, and 2014 to the present, Manheim has also regularly graced WCBN's airwaves with the Drivetime Polka Party. 

Currently airing Wednesdays at 6:30 pm, the Drivetime Polka Party is a joyful and educational trip through the once popular, now largely forgotten art form of polka. While the music itself doesn't fit into today's sonic landscape, it's still difficult to resist its buoyant rhythms and surprisingly wild sense of experimentation. (For one particularly mystifying example that caught this writer's ear on a recent Polka Party, check out this hillbilly-polka crossbreed cover of "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra.) 

Manheim is a charming and engaging guide throughout this weekly journey, projecting a light-hearted, good-humored personality that matches the music (and is inspired by Buffalo, N.Y., polka DJs). He's also a treasure trove of information, providing background on each song while also placing it in the broader historical context of the genre. We chatted with Manheim on why he started the show, what keeps him coming back to the polka genre, and what his plans are for his WCBN shows as he mulls a move to Indonesia.