Who will Rock the Garden?

A nerdy sport that's rising in popularity among Twin Cities musicheads, trying to name this year's performers for the annual Rock the Garden concert is entirely a guessing game at this point. Walker Art Center and 89.3, The Current staffers' lips are sealed as tight as Caleb Followill's jeans. They'll make the formal announcement April 19, and the concert itself is scheduled for June 18. Beyond that, we can at least make some logical guesses. So here goes:

Ruled out because they're already booked elsewhere in the Twin Cities this summer: the Black Keys, Florence & the Machine, Adele, Cee Lo Green (opening for Rihanna), Janelle Monae, Iron & Wine, Cage the Elephant.

Ruled out because they're playing elsewhere in the world that week: TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, Bright Eyes, Fleet Foxes, Girl Talk.

Ruled out because they're too big: Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, the Strokes, Radiohead, Kanye West (duh! on the last two).

Best guess for a headliner: Mumford & Sons are the most obvious top dog on numerous levels, including the fact that the Current was a supporter of the folky Brits from the get-go (and has kind of played them to death since then). The band has a show at the Telluride Bluegrass Fest in Colorado on June 19, the day after RTG; it's certainly doable by plane, especially if they go all-acoustic at either gig.

Other candidates: the National, Animal Collective, My Morning Jacket and Wilco (who headlined RTG in 2003, before the Current existed).

And some smaller bands that make sense: Drive-by Truckers, the Hold Steady, Cut Copy, Fitz & the Tantrums, Peter Bjorn & John, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Matt and Kim and, as is possible any year DJ Mark Wheat is at the station, the Fall.

Local candidates: Gayngs, Atmosphere, Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, Low, the Jayhawks.

Who else do you think would be good for the garden party? Weigh in with your picks on the vita.mn list.

• Chris Riemenschneider

P.O.S.' post- Warped project

Yet another side project involving P.O.S., the so-called Wharf Rats debuted a track last week on Spin magazine's site. The punk group also features Chris #2 of Anti-Flag, ex-Janis Figure drummer Chachi Darin and Wade MacNeil of Alexisonfire, all of whom met up in a mobile recording studio one day on the Warped Tour last summer and hammered out two tracks that will be issued as a 7-inch in May.

• Chris Riemenschneider

Atmosphere checks into 'therapy'

The promotion of Atmosphere's April 12 album "The Family Sign" continues online with the release of a second track, "She's Enough," and a series of dry-humored YouTube clips featuring "family therapy" sessions with the band. Look for the lineup announcement for the fourth annual Soundset festival any day now, happening May 29 at Canterbury Park.

• Chris Riemenschneider

Spin closes, Brothers expands

While its owners aren't talking, it appears the once mighty Spin nightclub has closed. The dance club opened in 2004, helping usher in a new era of VIP bottle service in the nightlife scene. Apparently, the club's Sunday dance night, which is called Cream, is still running (no word on who's operating it, though). Rumors are swirling that the building's owner, Ned Abdul, and his associate John Barlow (who runs Epic and Karma) are planning a new club in the space. Barlow said he couldn't comment on the deal, but said "we are in the process of acquiring the business."

In other downtown news, Brothers Bar & Grill is planning a massive party-bar takeover on 1st Avenue. Grant Wilson, the city's deputy director of licenses, said the chain's owners were approved last month for a liquor license at the shuttered Rosen's and District spaces. Management did not return phone calls. Brothers also received city approval to expand into the closed Refuge next door. Is this the makings of a frat-boy mecca?

• Tom Horgen

Soundbar, the sequel

That was quick. Four months after closing 414 Soundbar, Johann Sfaellos is back in the club business. The flashy club owner said he is moving into the vacant Visage space, which sits two doors down from his shuttered 414 Soundbar in downtown Minneapolis. Sfaellos walked away from that club in November after a dispute with his landlord. He and partner Enrique Delgado hope to open the slightly renamed 400 Soundbar by early April. At 8,000 square feet, Sfaellos said the new club (at 400 3rd Av. N., near the Twins ballpark) will be three times the size of the old Soundbar. He signed the lease on Monday and is working on getting a new liquor license.

Expect the same mix of Euro dance music and hip-hop (from DJs such as DJ Fresko, Alex Jarvis and Inno & Stash). Sfaellos is planning three distinct areas in the club. There will be two front rooms. He described one as having a "traditional Russian palace look." The other will be an "Asian opium den" (sans the opium). The large back room will be all modern, with a dance floor and nine indoor cabanas ("the size of small apartments," he said).

The Visage space is a homecoming for Sfaellos. He designed that club's original concept in 2006, but left soon after it opened. His 414 Soundbar had a three-year run starting in late 2007. After it closed, Sfaellos began searching for another downtown space, hoping to open a mainstream club called Deseo. He said he hasn't abandoned those plans, but will focus on 400 Soundbar for now.

• Tom Horgen

More sad news for Grant Hart

Talking to Grant Hart last Friday, we were surprised to find him sounding even more downbeat than he did after the house fire that temporarily left him homeless in January. And then he spilled the news: His mother, Annetta Hart, who also lived at the home in South St. Paul that caught fire, died Feb. 26 at age 86. Grant had put in her in a care facility just around the holidays, which wound up being something of a blessing when the fire hit. (Last Saturday at First Avenue, fans and friends put on a benefit concert to help Grant rebuild his house.)

"She had a good run," Grant said, smiling at memories of his mom's support throughout the years. "This woman, she attended all sorts of punk-rock events. It was all thanks to her Hüsker Dü got its first 7-inch out." As is known in Hüskers lore, Grant would print up fliers on the copy machine at the credit union where Annetta worked, which is also where the band got a loan to put out its first 7-inch.

Despite all the calamity, Hart is in the midst of something of a musical comeback, which started with the excellent 2009 album "Hot Wax." He headed off for another monthlong European tour after Saturday's show, plus he is in the thick of making a concept album based on John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost." Producer and Rank Strangers leader Mike Wisti, Hart's chief collaborator on the album, raved about the music in a separate conversation. Something to look forward to.

• Chris Riemenschneider