The upcoming MidPoint Indie Summer concert series on Fountain Square (three bands for free every Friday) opens with Scottish Indie Pop darlings Camera Obscura June 4, the much-buzzed about Neon Indian June 11, MidPoint vets Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit June 18 and reunited Pop/Punk Chicago band Smoking Popes June 25. And that's just the first month.  

"Nick Spencer Cincinnati" — the results of this Web search yield a litany of news and critical opinions surrounding the now 31-year-old former co-owner of alchemize bar, two-time candidate for City Council and founder of the one-off Desdemona Music Festival in 2006. Buried in that search, though, is news about Spencer's latest venture: writing comics.  

As we approach the beginning of a new decade, I decided to try to think of 100 reasons why I've enjoyed covering Cincinnati music over the past 3,650 days. At first I was worried I might not be able to come up with enough. A couple of hours into an "off the top of my head" list, I considered changing it to 1,000 reasons. After some hard editing choices, I've managed to squeeze the decade down into 50 items.  

Local Indie Pop duo Bad Veins has been steadily touring the country since the summer release of its self-titled debut album on Dangerbird Records, and they get a little break. Still, they'll be performing Saturday at aliveOne in Mount Adams with Electro pals You You're Awesome (fresh off an appearance at the CMJ conference in New York City). DJ Matt Joy and DJ K-Smuv will spin as well.  

If you did the zombie dress-up thing for Halloween and grew so attached you want to sport your costume again this weekend, you'd probably fit right in at Covington's Molly Malone's this Friday. That's when local singer/songwriter Beau Alquizola puts on the show "Dead Musicians Society," his annual benefit for the local Stop AIDS organization that features local bands covering their favorite deceased artists.  

Early fall is starting to shape up as "music festival" time in Cincinnati. After another spectacular MidPoint Music Festival, you'd think folks might want some down time. Instead, they have plenty more "fest" choices this weekend: Popopolis, Clifton Heights Music Festival, Pharaohfest and a Jake Speed-led tribute to Woody Guthrie.  

On Friday and Saturday Fountain Square keeps the good vibes from MidPoint and this summer's MidPoint Indie Summer concert series going with a new incarnation of the "Popopolis" event, which was founded in the late '90s as a way to bring the best in Power Pop and other versions of melodic Pop/Rock to Greater Cincinnati. Friday is "reunion night," featuring sets from some of the festival's original performers, while Saturday has performances by Bad Veins, Wussy, The Seedy Seeds and other current acts.  

They've spent the past couple of years working their orchestral Indie Pop magic to music fans and the music industry around the country, and now Bad Veins finally has a record label home. They're soon to become Dangerbird Records recording artists; the deal is in place, and papers just need to be finalized.  

The J. Dorsey Blues Band formed three years ago as a duo and morphed into the quartet it is now, featuring Josh Dorsey on guitar and vocals, drummer Andrew Karas, bassist Mike Gregory and Kristen Kreft on keys and vocals. The band's evolution continues with a recently announced 'slight' name change; you can soon call them The J. Dorsey Blues Revival.