Pitchfork

Kissing our validation-hungry asses since 2001, the Shortlist Prize had come to represent one of the indie community's most respected annual events, what with its all-star panel of musician, journalist, and celebrity judges (including such past ballot-casters as ?uestlove, Robert Smith, Jack Black, and Norah Jones) and its relatively well-informed winner's circle.

And while not always bowling 300 with their top selection each year-- Damien Rice anyone?-- the event's growing popularity had played an increasingly significant role in exposing more chart-happy music fans to the cozy home we like to call indie rock. (Aww cute, USA Today's entertainment section learned who Wilco is!)

That being said, it's with some genuine disappointment that we pass on this week's news that the Shortlist Prize has been officially cancelled this year, and possibly forever, due to infighting between its founders, Tom Sarig and Greg Spotts. What are we going to do with our vintage blue tuxes now?

Speaking about the duo's rift to AP, Spotts said, "I've tried very very hard to have a Shortlist this year. I think it's become an important cultural happening on the calendar. The only reason why we haven't this year is because Tom and I don't seem to be able to agree on how. It seems to be just like as bands get more successful, the egos get more complicated to manage. That same process seems to be happening with the management with our company."

Further complicating the matter, Tom Sarig seems to be moving on. He has taken his Shortlist vision, slapped a different name on it, and put together an entirely new awards show on his own. Going under the moniker New Pantheon, the proposed gathering appears eerily similar to the previous extravaganza-- so much so that his former cohort has threatened legal action. "That isn't something that I feel is legally possible for him," Spotts said. "You can't compete against a company that you co-own."

Sarig shot back by stating he never signed a non-compete clause with Spotts, and went on to explain his New Coke-like awards endeavor: "I thought starting with a new entity with a sort of bolder initiative would be a fresh way to do it. The idea is very similar. It's shining a light on and honoring the most creative and most artistic records of the new year. We (the Shortlist Prize) haven't penetrated the consumer world yet and I think with New Pantheon, with the initiatives that I'm planning, we can totally do that. I am more committed to this vision of trying to create a platform for left-of-center music than ever."

Sarig's consciousness-branding debut has been designed to push the musical confines of the Shortlist (which highlighted more commercially overlooked discs) by including a more varied panel of judges-- which will likely mean more varied nominees for the prize. And just so you know it's not all talk, this year's Iron Chef-style panel is set to include Garbage's Shirley Manson, actor Elijah Wood, the Roots' ?uestlove, Dave Matthews, country singer Keith Urban, and representing the key soccer mom demographic, Sir Elton John.

The list of nominees for the upcoming New Pantheon fiesta is expected to be announced this December, with the show itself likely to be held in early 2006. So until the Saddle Creek empire grows large enough to launch its own BET-style awards shindig, this is gonna have to do.