IF MUSIC ROUNDUPS BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON!

SHORTLIST, LONG JACKET
Beck, Macy Gray, Mos Def, Dave Grohl, Aimee Mann, Trent Reznor, Lucinda Williams, ?uestlove of the Roots and eight record producers and journalists will select the winner of the first ever Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music. The process for determining a winner begins with each "Listmaker" nominating five albums for the award. Early nominations include Air, Joe Henry and the Dandy Warhols. The Listmakers will vote on their 10 favorite nominees for the "Shortlist," to be announced on Sept. 14, before reconvening on Oct. 30 to select the winner. The award will be presented at a Halloween party and concert in Los Angeles, featuring collaborative performances by Listmakers, Shortlist artists and special guests. Beck and Macy Gray on stage together? This, we have to see.

AT LEAST HE’S NOT SINGING KARAOKE
A compilation of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s favorite Elvis Presley standards, "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs," hits record stores Wednesday (8/22), according to BMG Funhouse’s Katsumi Miyata. The 25-song compilation will be released in Japan only and contains songs such as "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "It's Now or Never." Proceeds of the CD, priced around $20, will go to charity. Noted the PM, "Elvis is King. Not Carl Perkins. ‘You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog’ is most happy sugar candy fun-time entertainment." Meanwhile, the country’s Emperor Akihito is learning the words to "Jailhouse Rock" for next year’s highly anticipated LP, "The King Sings The King."

SATCHMO’S FIRST UP FOR GRABS
The cornet on which Louis Armstrong learned to play will be sold in an Internet auction, beginning October 1. The horn, which is expected to bring up to $100,000, had been on display at the Louisiana State Museum from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s. It was on loan from owner George Finola, whose estate will be selling the cornet. Finola bought the instrument from the family of Armstrong’s first music instructor, Peter Davis, in the early 1960s and even preserved the saliva in the cornet’s spit valve for authenticity.

WEEZER EMPLOYS A SHRINER
With current bass player Mikey Welsh at the head-shrinker in Boston, Weezer has chosen a substitute player in L.A.-based hard rocker Scott Shriner, SonicNet.com reports. Shriner is currently playing bass with the band Broken, whose website describes the band as "rock and f**king roll from hell." Shriner confirmed that he was filling in for the ailing Welsh. "It’s not permanent," he told SonicNet. "It’s just kind of a temporary job." Weezer’s tour in support of its third album kicks off in San Jose, CA, on Sept. 11.

BONO’S FATHER DIES
Bob Hewson, father of U2 lead singer Bono, has died, a spokesman for the group confirmed today. Hewson, who was in his 70s, had been fighting cancer for some time. Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, had been flying back to Dublin every night during the band’s current Elevation 2001 tour to spend time with him. At a weekend concert in London, Bono dedicated the song "Kite" to his father. The band was just gettting ready to play the first of two dates at Ireland’s Slane Castle on Saturday (8/25), which will be the band’s first stadium concerts on its home soil in four years.