A longer view for Shortlist

THE Shortlist just got longer -- at least in name.

After four years as a music awards show honoring artists perceived as being under the radar or ready for a breakthrough, the Shortlist is evolving into the NewPantheon Music Prize.

It’s also gotten deeper, with a committee of nominators for its inaugural edition under the new name including Elton John (long a champion of emerging artists), Dave Matthews, country star Keith Urban, Beck and actor-music enthusiast Elijah Wood.

And it’s making a change on the calendar too, shifting from the fall, when the Shortlist was held, to a date to be determined in the week leading up to the Grammy Awards in early February. The winner will be announced at a Los Angeles concert event featuring performances by several nominees.

Co-founder Tom Sarig, carrying on without partner Greg Spotts (who has moved into documentary filmmaking with the acclaimed 2004 “American Jobs” examination of labor issues), says the intent for the NewPantheon is to become a complement to the Grammys similar to the way the film world’s Independent Spirit Awards have become an adjunct to the Oscars.

“There are so many stars and industry folks in town then,” he says of Grammy week. “I’d like for this to happen a few days before, to help make this a more mainstream event honoring left-of-center music.”

That was also part of the motivation for broadening the roster of nominators, to draw from across a wider spectrum of tastes than typical of the Shortlist, which tended to skew to the alt-rock world. To date the winners have been Sigur Ros, N.E.R.D., Damien Rice and the band TV on the Radio.

The Shortlist had made progress in its time, drawing media partnerships with XM Radio and MTV2, which aired programs built around the event. Sarig hopes to be able to expand the appeal.

“I’ve reached out to people I know are into new music,” says Sarig, who manages Cake, Le Tigre, Blonde Redhead and other acts and serves as an A&R; consultant to Universal Records.

Others signed up for what he expects to be a total of 30 on the committee -- a big increase over the nominating group previously -- include Cars founder Ric Ocasek, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, R&B; singer-producer John Legend and comedian Margaret Cho.

The criteria remains the same as for the Shortlist, though: Albums must have been released in the U.S. during the eligibility period (July 1, 2004, to Oct. 30, 2005, an extended time in consideration of the scheduling change) and must have not reached “gold” status for sales of 500,000 at time of nomination.

That last element is being kept for NewPantheon despite having been somewhat controversial with the Shortlist, drawing some swipes that the venture was a reward for failure.

“This is really about the best music that has not reached a large audience yet,” Sarig says. “And records are not selling what they used to. Nominations that are already coming in include albums that would have gone gold in other times. This will really be a representation of the most creative and artistic records out there.”

Keeping Grammy campaigns clean

IT’S that time of year again: time for Recording Academy officials to crack down on what the organization considers improper lobbying for Grammy Awards votes as the initial rounds of balloting take place.

In recent years efforts to raise awareness among Grammy voters about specific candidates seem to have become more brazen, with mailings and advertising directly defying or at best skirting the academy’s policies against such campaigns. One particularly forward example this year is a note mailed to academy members from veteran singer-songwriter Carole King in support of teen performer Jesse McCartney (who is managed by King’s daughter), listing categories McCartney is eligible in.

Asked for comment by Pop Eye, academy President Neil Portnow issued a statement that also has been e-mailed to the organization’s 18,000 members sternly reminding them about the policy.

“Please know that the Academy does not authorize or condone any kind of direct vote solicitations,” the e-mail states, noting specific prohibitions about giving out specific ballot information such as selection numbers and handing out eligible recordings at academy functions.

Academy spokesman Ron Roeker elaborated, “The music needs to speak for itself, not through a marketing campaign. We’re not against folks celebrating their nominations. We just don’t want our members being solicited directly.”

Though the academy reserves the right to revoke membership for violations, Roeker said that action has never been taken.

King, through her publicist, declined to comment.

They admit it, the rap’s not kosher

GEORGE SEGAL, rap star? That’s the premise of “Chutzpah,” a mockumentary DVD/CD project featuring the veteran actor as Dr. Dreck, member of the “first Jewish rap supergroup.” The venture, being distributed independently, is the brainchild of producer Tor Hyams, who was behind the children-oriented Kidzapalooza annex to the summer’s Lollapalooza revival in Chicago and who is featured in the project as MC Meshuggennah.

He’d once recorded Segal for another project and reached out to the actor for this, built around a 35-minute film heavy on improvisation and purposefully blurring the identity of the real Segal and his rapping character, a direction it took at Segal’s suggestion.

Hyams stresses that this is not meant to evoke comparisons to “This Is Spinal Tap,” in part because that film set an impossible standard to meet. He also acknowledges that this is not the first Jewish rap satire, with Two Live Jews and M.O.T. (Members of the Tribe) preceding. And there are those who would say the Beastie Boys qualify as the first Jewish rap supergroup.

But Hyams says, “The Beastie Boys don’t sing about Jewish things.”

For equal ecumenical time, Hyams is also producer of “Christmas Means Love,” a new seasonal album by singer Joan Osborne.

Small Faces

* The Eels’ 2005 tour with a string quartet backing E (Mark Oliver Everett) and his band has been captured for a CD/DVD release. “Live at Town Hall,” recorded in Boston, includes versions of Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country,” Johnny Rivers’ “Poor Side of Town” and the Left Banke’s “Pretty Ballerina” (and on the DVD, Prince’s “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”) as well as 19 Eels songs. Both audio and video versions are due Feb. 21 ....

* English singer-songwriter Beth Orton’s fourth album (and first since 2002’s “Daybreaker”) is titled “Comfort of Strangers” and will be released Feb. 7. This is her first teaming with producer Jim O’Rourke, who produced Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and has been a member of Sonic Youth in recent years.