The newly remodeled, freshly reopened Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine is shaping up to be one of the hottest music venues in the city. Last evening, the every-Wednesday "Bandstand Bluegrass" series kicked off with Jake Speed and the Freddies; tonight is the debut of the park's every-Thursday "Jazz in the Park" series (7 p.m., with Chris Comer and Napoleon Maddox of IsWhat?!); and tomorrow marks the debut of the R&B/Soul "Friday Flow" concerts, which will take place each Friday and begin with an appearance by fantastic Neo Soul singer Dwele (Selectas Choice DJs Rare Groove, Apryl Reign and DJ Pillo, as well as Under New Orders and Darris Sneed & The Pulse also perform at the 7 p.m. event).And today it was announced that three of the biggest acts announced for September's MidPoint Music Festival will perform at Washington Park's new MPMF stage. A total of four acts will perform each night at the Park stage. The Washington Park shows will be accessible to those with MPMF All Music Access Passes or VIP Passes, or with "a la carte" individual tickets, which are on sale now. Andrew Bird headlines the Washington Park stage on Thursday, Sept. 27. Tickets for that show only are $25. Grizzly Bear is the main MPMF act on the stage for Friday, Sept. 28 (single tickets: $30) and Sleigh Bells headlines the stage Saturday, Sept. 29 ($30). Click here for your ticketing options. Early Bird All Music Access and Loyalty Presale tickets are sold out. A limited number of All Music Access Passes ($69) and VIP Passes presented by CVG ($169) are still available.

The MidPoint Music Festival returns to Over-the-Rhine (including inside the newly unveiled Washington Park, which hosts the main "Main Stage") Sept. 27-29. After weeks of speculation, we now we have the first lineup announcement for MPMF.12, which features, once again, top-line Indie artists — from new buzz groups and some current, critically-acclaimed favorites to a few true Alt music pioneers. Longtime supporters Dewey's Pizza had the scoop on the announcement this morning. Visit them here on Facebook. Below are the first 19 acts to be announced. About 150 to go! Stay tuned.Grizzly Bear The Dirty Projectors Sleigh Bells Dinosaur Jr.Best CoastCloud NothingsImperial Teen Willis Earl Beal Frankie Rose Tennis Julia Holter Laetitia Sadier Craft Spells Seapony Lord Huron The Black Belles Zeus The GrowlersJ.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound Be sure to visit mpmf.com for all the latest updates and to score your tickets. VIP and “Early Bird” (read: discounted) all-access passes are available now through cincyticket.com here.If you’d like some face time with the MPMF authorities, just head down to Fountain Square this Friday for the free MidPoint Indie Summer concert at 7 p.m. The event is a world tour of music, kicking off with local Ska/Reggae/Soul masters The Pinstripes, who join Malian artist Khaira Arby and Funk/Soul headliners The Dynamites.

Thanks to Facebook friends with good taste, my mom's stream of animal photo chain emails and my voracious appetite for gossip and craft blogs, I'm constantly exposed to some of the greatest items from the far-reaching corners of the internet. Here's what I just can't get enough of this week. "Bad Girls" OK, so M.I.A.'s video for "Bad Girls" came out a couple weeks ago, and despite looping it for hours on end since then, I cannot get enough of it. It's one of those tunes that makes me want to dance in public even without a (few) cocktails in my system. With a penchant for controversy, the video (filmed in Morocco) depicts what seem to be Middle Eastern women in traditional-yet-pimped-out garb racing cars in the desert and dancing to music with strong, sexual, pro-femme lyrics.Though it’s been said that the political standpoints M.I.A. makes in her music contradict her lifestyle, or sometimes don't even make sense, the “Paper Planes” singer is the queen of juxtaposition when it comes to her videos. It's also important to note that “Bad Girls” comes during a time when women in Saudi Arabia are banned from driving. So whatever her intended/implied/confusing statements may be, this video is a pretty hot way to say “F that.” Go here to watch her response to fans’ YouTube comments on the video. Bonnaroo The mega-fest’s initial lineup was released last week, boasting headliners like Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish and The Beach Boys. Every year I go back and forth on my decision to go: Can I afford the ticket plus all the cash and supplies that go into surviving there (screw anyone who says you just need water and a sleeping bag)? Can my poor Irish skin bear four days in the blazing sun? What if next year’s lineup is even better? I still haven’t quite decided, but 2012’s lineup looks good to me for less-than-obvious reasons.Ben Folds Five — As in, the original trio reuniting. One of my all time favorite bands. I’d die. The Roots — I’ve been a fan of the crew since I first heard “The Seed (2.0)” when I was in eighth grade. And their day job as house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has only solidified my love.Ludacris — Not ashamed.Of course there’s also this year’s #whoarethey Grammy winners, Bon Iver, Donald Glover’s alter-ego Childish Gambino, The Shins, jam band supreme Umphrey’s McGee and dozens more. Aziz Ansari (Parks and Rec, Funny People) is even confirmed to perform, though the rest of the comedy lineup is yet to be announced. It turns out most people go to ‘roo for music, but I will nerdily admit as a comedy fangirl, the stand-up tent was one of my favorite (and most air-conditioned) experiences during my trip to the fest in 2010. Ansari also appeared that year and Conan O’Brien, fresh off his firing from NBC, headlined. Taxidermy Art A friend on Facebook recently posted a link to Hi-Fructose Magazine’s blog, a page covered in creepy-cute taxidermy art. Netherlands-based art partners (artners?) Les Deux Garçons create whimsical pieces in which real taxidermied animals are embellished with knick knacks, toys and lush decorative ribbons. If that weren’t enough, many the animals are dual-headed conjoined mammals, or are transformed into unicorn-esque creatures with crazy horns. These (ethically-obtained) animals are transformed into their own art form that carefully walks the line between beautiful and grotesque. Observe: Arianna Huffington The media queen came to town Feb. 22 to speak as a part of the SmartTalk ConnectedConversations series, and boy, do I have a crush on her. She spoke (in a sexy Greek accent, BTW) on becoming fearless in love, work and life, providing many hilarious and interesting personal anecdotes along the way. Advice she gave included getting more sleep, turning off that negative voice, or “obnoxious roommate” in our heads and the importance of finding a “tribe” of friends we can all relate to and depend on. Fun Fact: She launched The Huffington Post in her fifties, thanks to help of a $100,000 loan from her tribe-mate Laurie David (former wife of Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David). Pretty inspirational. She ended the evening answering audience questions with Channel 12’s Cammy Dierking, who clearly also has a bit of a girl-crush on Huffington, and who nearly made me wet myself when she used the phrase “That’d go over like a turd in a punch bowl.” It was truly a fun femme-fest. Sleigh Bells on SNL Despite my undying love for Saturday Night Live, even I can’t deny the amount of lackluster musical performances on the show. Granted, it is one of the few “really live” shows left, details often aren’t finalized until the last minute, sound is often off and the tiny stage isn’t ideal, but who could forget Ashlee Simpson’s career-killing disaster on the show? This year, it’s all about hating on Indie songstress/mannequin Lana Del Rey’s performance. Personally, I don’t think the performance warranted such a backlash, but judge both for yourself. And check out SNL’s hilarious response to Lana-gate (with Kristen Wigg as LDR) here. Thankfully, Noise Pop duo (now touring with a third musician) Sleigh Bells killed it on last week’s episode. I wasn’t expecting the live TV format to do them justice, but they sounded great and were entertaining despite a nearly naked stage.