When he goes back to Chicago to finish his senior year at Loyola University in a couple of weeks, Colin Caulfield will have quite a story to tell about how he spent his summer vacation. Among the highlights are prepping his first album for a prominent New York indie label and opening shows for Dawes, Local Natives and Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow. "It's been going really well for a first go-round like this," said Caulfield, 21, who records and performs under the rather generic but fitting moniker Young Man. The St. Paul native was back in town visiting his family last week and returns Wednesday on his mini-tour with Barlow and Wye Oak, coming to the 400 Bar.

A drummer throughout his tenure at Cretin High School, Caulfield realized drum kits don't fit too well inside dorm rooms, so he picked up an acoustic guitar and keyboards instead. He started learning some of his favorite songs and turning them into lo-fi music videos that he posted on YouTube, including tunes by Animal Collective, Bon Iver, Beach House and Deerhunter. Caulfield's organ-hazed cover of the Deerhunter track "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" caught the attention of Deerhunter frontman Brandon Cox, who posted a link to the clip on his own blog, declaring, "[It's] fantastically superior to the original. It actually sent shivers up my spine."

Caulfield shrewdly posted his original songs alongside the covers on YouTube. The attention culminated in a deal with French Kiss Records,which will release Young Man's debut EP Tuesday on iTunes and Oct. 12 everywhere else. Titled "Boy," just like U2's debut -- a fact Caulfield is probably too young to know -- his first batch of music blends the soft and (yep!) boyish indie-folk sound of Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine with the more atmospheric, harmony-looping recording style of the acts he has covered on YouTube. He wrote the songs last summer at home in St. Paul before heading off to college, resulting in such titles as "Home Alone" and "Just Grown."

"They're all relevant to that moment in time where you're sort of forced to let go of childhood," he explained. "I've moved past that period already, but I can still relate to those songs, and I think most people can."

Since recording "Boy," Caulfield has turned Young Man into a full band with classmates from Chicago. They plan to perform at New York's CMJ Fest in October and a smattering of select gigs until school lets out next summer. He's written enough songs to issue a double album next year, although he admitted, "I don't think the label likes that idea." Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, young man.

A moan of disappointment rent the steamy Minnesota night when Bravo judges booted homeboy Miles Mendenhall off the TV reality show "Work of Art" after nine episodes. A couple hundred art students, faculty and Friends-of-Miles watched the show's finale last week on an outdoor screen behind the University of Minnesota's Regis Center for Art.

The 23-year-old Lakeville native had been favored to win the $100,000 prize and a career-boosting show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, but he ended in third place when the judges declared him to be "an amazing artist" but not the winner.

The winner was Abdi Farah, 23, a University of Pennsylvania grad. "I'm such a fan of Miles that I think you guys" -- Minnesotans, that is -- "should be really proud," he said in a phone interview.

Competitors learned their fates in February when filming ended, but were contractually silenced until the last episode aired. Aside from telling his parents the results, Mendenhall kept mum. "Like any secret, it was hard to keep," he said.

The Twin Cities bar scene moves in cycles. For a time, glitzy nightclubs were the style du jour. Then ultra lounges. After that, down-and-dirty party bars. Yee-haw: Now it's country bars. Be they rootin'-tootin' cowboy joints (Toby Keith's I Love This Bar) or just cowboy chic (Cowboy Slim's), the wave of country-themed bars is only growing.

Peter Hafiz -- owner of Sneaky Pete's, the Gay 90s and Deja Vu -- says he will open this country-rock bar in November in the old Sawatdee/Koyi Sushi building in downtown Minneapolis. The ever-provocative bar owner said the concept will be "Sneaky Pete's on steroids."

Also in downtown, Gene Suh, owner of the Lyndale Tap House, will open a country-themed bar in October in the old Lodge Bar near 5th and Hennepin. Suh is in the midst of remodeling the space with Shea Inc., the design firm responsible for the sleek looks at Barrio, Crave and Solera. Both in style and music, Suh admitted that Whisky Park won't go too country. Like Hafiz, he will experiment with a sound more in tune with Southern rock. And "don't be surprised if you hear a Jay-Z song on a Saturday night," he said. Still, he'd like to try line dancing at least one night a week.

When the owner of Envy, Deepak Nath, decided he wanted his birthday party to be the "Ultimate Freakshow," he knew only one celebrity could host it. On Friday night, Dennis Rodman will play ringleader for a party that will include fire eaters, contortionists, stilt walkers and more. The NBA-great-turned-reality-TV-veteran ("The Apprentice," "Celebrity Rehab") has been on a tear lately, hosting club nights all over the country. Apparently, he's also started a new career as a "celebrity DJ" (his words). Nath said the rebounding machine will definitely get inside the DJ booth on Friday. The night will also feature a ridiculous $2 special on shots of hot new tequila, Ambhar, a company whose ownership has a Twin Cities connection.