“Don’t forget your hat.”

That four-word interior monologue always rattled around my brain as I got ready to make my way out the door to host another live music event at the Borders flagship store on East Liberty. Lucky for me, the fruitful partnership between Ann Arbor’s 107one and Borders began just after I started to do the morning drive show at the radio station back in January of 2006. This arrangement made it possible for 107one to simulcast dozens of memorable mini-concerts at Borders, with yours truly as the Stetson-wearing Master of Ceremonies.

Singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik was the first to play at these Studio A2 on the Road/Live at Borders 01 events, and even a partial list of artists who followed in his footsteps is pretty stunning, including Patti Smith, James Taylor, Rickie Lee Jones, Suzanne Vega, the Avett Brothers, Joss Stone, the Barenaked Ladies, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Patty Griffin, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Natalie Merchant and Paolo Nutini.

To host these up-close-and-personal events in front of a live audience was thrilling, to say the least, and I can’t begin to express what a loss it is to the music community now that Borders is liquidating. Somehow, somewhere, I hope that these performances can continue at another venue.

Many happy memories come to mind as I think about all the luminaries who played upstairs at the downtown store, starting with one-man-band Andrew Bird. He was so astonishingly brilliant, both technically and artistically, that it brought everyone to their feet and brought me close to tears. As impressive as Patti Smith was during her reading at Borders of “Just Kids,” her award-winning memoir, I was also impressed by her very entrance into the store. I had just arrived myself and was standing near the doorway when she walked in by herself, unassumingly carrying her own guitar. No entourage, no PR flaks, no tour manager, no obnoxious record company reps…just Patti.

In the even-geniuses-have-their-moments department, Rickie Lee Jones drew a complete mental blank as she tried to begin her performance at Borders, suddenly unable to remember the words and music to her first song. After an uncomfortable minute or so, she quickly recovered to give stirring renditions of songs off her album “The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard.

I was worried that (Leslie) Feist wouldn’t draw the crowd she deserved, as her Saturday afternoon performance coincided with a Wolverines home game. But the second floor of the store was completely packed, and the Toronto-based singer-songwriter put on a delightfully idiosyncratic show playing solo.

From nodding frantically while pretending to understand Scotsman Paolo Nutini’s thickly accented English, to standing slack-jawed in awe as R&B belter Sharon Jones tore it up with her band the Dap-Kings, to completely losing my train of thought while being in the rapturous presence of Patty Griffin, memories of those glory days at Borders will stay with me forever.

Hats off to each and every one of the musicians who played there, all of you who attended the events, and above all, my thoughts and best wishes go out to everyone at Borders who’s being affected by the company’s liquidation.

Looking ahead

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival and Ann Arbor Art Fair may both be long gone, but that doesn’t mean that things go quiet on the cultural scene during August.

• First off, there are three more free shows at Bank of Ann Arbor’s Sonic Lunch concert series, including this Thursday’s swanky twin-bill of singer-songwriters Chris Bathgate and Theo Katzman, with the Ann Arbor duo Nervous But Excited following on the 18th and the closing performance by the fabulous ‘dancethink’ band Ella Riot on the 25th. These noontime shows happen at Liberty Plaza on the corner of Liberty and Division, and have become to place to be on Thursday afternoons this summer.

• The fifth annual Nashbash will take place at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market from 5-8:30pm on Thursday, Aug. 18, with the emphasis on, you guessed it, Nashville musicians. Paul Burch will headline, and other acts include Pam Kennedy Boylan, Steve Mitchell and longtime Ann Arborite Whit Hill, who’s now a Music City resident.

• And you don’t want to miss “Tabloid,” the latest from documentary film director Errol Morris (“The Thin Blue Line,” “Gates of Heaven,” “A Brief History of Time”). Opening at the Michigan Theater on Friday, Aug. 12, this one follows the strange, bizarre life of onetime beauty queen Joyce McKinney.

Martin Bandyke is the 6-10am morning host at Ann Arbor’s 107one, WQKL-FM. Follow him on Twitter and at www.martinbandyke.com.