We can all use a little routine in our lives, especially routine that comes in the form of free live music, outdoor fun and alcohol on a Friday night. The MidPoint Indie Summer Series continues to rock Fountain Square, this week featuring Cincinnati native Yoni Wolf and his band Why? as well as State Song, Fists of Love and Kasparov.  

In the early '90s, there were few bands in the Chicago Punk scene with bigger audiences or more cred than Smoking Popes. But they split up in 1998, returning in November 2005 for the Flower15 Festival at Chicago's Metro, a show that was filmed and released on CD and DVD.  

During his six-year run with Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell contributed a great deal to the band's song coffers. And yet he also diverted a number of songs to a solo project he called Sirens of the Ditch, which he released after leaving the Truckers. Isbell subsequently started his own band, the 400 Unit, and dug even deeper into his personal influences for the new songs.  

Last Friday marked the kick-off of the free MidPoint Indie Summer series on Fountain Square, a jammed-pack affair headlined by Scottish Indie Pop troupe Camera Obscura. This Friday, Cincinnati's The Minor Leagues and for algnernon join national buzz bands Neon Indian and Wild Nothing. MidPoint Music Festival three-day passes are available at all Indie Summer shows for $29 while they last.   

In their 14-year history, Scottish Indie Pop collective Camera Obscura has benefited from high profile endorsements — legendary DJ John Peel was an early champion and Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch produced CO's debut full-length in 2001, 'Biggest Bluest Hi Fi' — while stuffing their press kit with glowing praise for each successive album. With the departure of co-lead singer John Henderson, Tracyanne Campbell is alone at the mic, but she clearly has risen to the occasion.  

Cincinnati doesn't mess around when it comes to Earth Day. Events take place at the Cincinnati Zoo, Sawyer Point, Fountain Square and more. If you're looking for a little green inspiration, there are plenty of area events to get involved in.  

Deer Tick coalesced in John McCauley's Providence, R.I., bedroom five years ago. After discovering Hank Williams, the 18-year-old dissolved his duo project, My Other Face, and wrote and recorded songs at home for a year, making CDRs that he sold at basement/bar gigs. Deer Tick headlines the free Fountain Square St. Patrick's Day party, which kicks off at 1 p.m. (following the parade). Also scheduled to perform is a plethora of excellent local bands: Buffalo Killers, The Tigerlilies, The Tillers, Magnolia Mountain, The Super Desserts and Mount Pleasant String Band.  

Big changes are on the horizon for this year's LGBT Pride Parade and Festival including new organizers, more events and a change in location. As with many things that evolve, however, the changes bring with them a fair amount of growing pains.  

This time of year casts a bright, if cold, light on the many traditions that converge in America. Our shopping sprees and hectic schedules are time trial races and affectations that keep our eyes off the meaning — if there is any such holy grail to be found — of the holidays.  

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.