An Olympic Concert Lineup That Just Might Win a Medal for Demographics

The lineup of athletes who will be going for the gold at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in February is still to be determined, based on trial competition.

But the musical lineup for the surrounding festivities is starting to take shape, and it’s looking like two weeks of rock in the Rockies, with the Dave Matthews Band, Creed, Stone Temple Pilots and Foo Fighters among those booked to play 16 nightly concerts in an area being called the Olympics Medal Plaza.

The concerts are being put on jointly by the Salt Lake City Olympics Organizing Committee and NBC, which will televise the Olympic events.

One song from each musical performance will be telecast as part of the network’s coverage, with Matthews kicking it off Feb. 9.

Olympics officials, who will make a full announcement of the Medal Plaza concerts at a Salt Lake City news conference Tuesday, would not comment about the plans. But some in the music world who have been contacted about the shows said it seems clear that the focus was on getting rock acts with a young, male appeal. For NBC, that would provide a demographic counterbalance to the heavily female and slightly older audience of the Olympics’ biggest viewing attraction, figure skating.

Other acts that were approached but were unavailable include No Doubt.

If NBC gets to round off its audience this way, the performers get solid prime-time exposure--key for such acts as the Foo Fighters, who will be launching a new album in spring or summer. But it seems the attraction for the bands is more the Olympics themselves.

“We were asked to play one of these outdoor shows and it seemed like probably the weirdest request for a gig I’d had in my life,” says the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. “But you can’t refuse the Olympics. I remember being a kid and watching the American hockey team in 1980 on TV. That year the Olympics really got to me, and [goalie] Jim Craig became my hero.... I’m bringing my family out, so we’ll stick around. I’ve never been to an Olympics.”

These concerts are separate from the lavish opening and closing ceremonies, which will characterize the overall tone of the games. Musical acts expected to be involved in those include mainstream pop dominators ‘N Sync and Christina Aguilera.

ADD MATTHEWS: Dave Matthews’ band will start work on a new album in January, in part returning to some of the songs from the unreleased, widely bootlegged and Internet-transmitted sessions done in 2000 with producer Steve Lillywhite. Those tracks were shelved in favor of the Glen Ballard-produced “Everyday” album.

This time, though, neither Lillywhite nor Ballard will be producing. The band will co-produce the new album with Steve Harris, who has worked on previous DMB projects as engineer.

The album could be out as soon as summer. Matthews will also play a brief acoustic set at the People for the American Way’s annual Defenders of Democracy Awards dinner Tuesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Sam Phillips and T Bone Burnett (who, though married, rarely perform together) will team for a short set, with Rufus Wainwright also set to play a few songs. Among those being honored at the event is Neil Young, who will receive the Spirit of Liberty Lifetime Achievement Award.

DEATH ROCK: With the two albums of music from “The Sopranos,” HBO had hits honoring the dysfunctional family that plugs ‘em. Now there will be an album for the dysfunctional family that plants ‘em. A CD of music from “Six Feet Under,” which is set in a funeral home, is scheduled for release from Universal Records on March 5, two days after the HBO series’ second-season premiere.

Produced by series music supervisors Gary Calamar, host of “The Open Road” on Sundays on KCRW-FM (89.9), and Thomas Gobulic, the album will center on the shimmering title music composed by Thomas Newman, who teamed with series creator Alan Ball for the Oscar-nominated score to “American Beauty.”

Calamar and Gobulic have also commissioned remixes of the theme from producers including Rae & Christian, Kid Loco, Fila Brazillia, Zero 7 and Photek, with at least one to be on the album and a possible future EP featuring all of them.

The rest of the album is being whittled down from a long list of tracks either used in the first season (reruns of which will air weekly starting Wednesday) or being planned for new episodes. The tunes range from the rare PJ Harvey track “One Time Too Many” to Julie London’s improbably sultry version of the Ohio Express’ bubblegum classic “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.”

Other mood-setters include songs by Pete Yorn, Peggy Lee, T-Bone Walker, the Classics IV (“Spooky,” of course) and English electronica act Lamb.

BETTER THAN QUAD: It’s still a little too early to tell whether the 5.1 surround sound technology will fully catch on for music, but Jeff Trott, guitarist in Sheryl Crow’s band and co-writer of several of her hits, believes in it enough that he’s become the first person to record a full new album specifically for the format.

“Dig Up the Astroturf,” due in February from Trott’s own Black Apple Records label, will also be the first new album released through 5.1 systems manufacturer DTS, which is also releasing 5.1 remixes of such classics as Queen’s “A Night at the Opera.”

This is the first solo effort for Portland-based Trott, who was in the ‘80s Bay Area band Wire Train, and also has played in World Party and Tears for Fears.

The question is how many people will be able to hear it. The 5.1 disc will only play in new DVD units equipped for the format, and the true surround effect will only be experienced by people with the full five-speaker home theater setups.

“Remember when CDs came out and no one had CD players?” says Gigi Gerard, Trott’s manager. “We really resisted, and then overnight, it seemed, we all caved in. That’s what’s happening with DVD [for music].

“Within 18 months, all new SUVs will be equipped with 5.1, and home systems will be one system that can play it all.”

A regular old stereo version of the album will also be available for us Luddites.

SMALL FACES: After working with Woody Guthrie lyrics for the two album collaborations with the band Wilco, Billy Bragg is finishing the first album of his own songs with his band the Blokes since 1996’s “William Bloke.” Titled “England Half English,” it’s due from Elektra Records on March 5....

R&B; singer Kelly Price has just started work on her fourth album with songwriter-producer Warryn Campbell, with sessions to take place in L.A. and Price’s hometown, Atlanta. Campbell also just finished producing the second album from duo Mary Mary--and recently married one half of the duo, Erica Atkins....

Having discovered and produced Nelly Furtado as part of the team known as Track & Field, Jarvis Church is readying his debut album, “Shake It Off,” due in April from RCA. Furtado guests on one song.