Kidman, Urban to get married in Sydney
SYDNEY, Australia, June 24 (UPI) -- Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are expected to get married in Sydney, Australia, Sunday in a traditional, Catholic wedding.
The pair came to Sydney last Monday and the New York Daily News reports they will tie the knot at Cardinal Cerretti Chapel at St. Patrick's Church.
The church overlooks the ocean and the ceremony will be performed by Rev. Paul Coleman.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph said more than 20 women were hired to snip the stems of 150,000 pale pink and white roses that will cover all four walls of the chapel.
Kidman's adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, 11-year-old Connor and 13-year-old Isabella, flew in for the wedding.
Naomi Watts will be a bridesmaid and her sister, Antonia, will be the maid of honor.
Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch were among those invited.
Country star Keith Urban held a bachelor party at a yacht club while Kidman and friends camped at a day spa.
Online music takes off, away from CDs
WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- U.S. online music stores are seeing a boost in traffic, especially for the more rare tracks, as music trends evolve and CDs become outdated like vinyl.
Older tracks, newly discovered by younger fans, are now available at online sites, like Verve Records' new program called Verve Vault, The Washington Post said.
Whereas before records would only be pressed when a company thought enough people would buy them, today music need only be uploaded onto a Web site, and fans from around the world can pick and choose their favorites, the newspaper said.
Ian Rogers, the 33-year-old director of Yahoo Music's product marketing, said the new way of finding music bypasses an industry that saturated the airwaves with commercials for music.
He said: "You end up consuming what's marketed to you. With the Internet, you consume exactly what you want."
The Post said Web sites and blogs are indicating genre-specific samples of what the Internet has to offer, along with label sites like Verve's.
Kevin Arnold, founder of the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, which helps 2,500 labels put their music online, said the word is getting out about this new way to find music and the industry will never be the same.
Ronny Scott's reopens after remodeling
LONDON, June 24 (UPI) -- London jazz club Ronnie Scott's will reopen with cleaner floors and better food but promises to keep up the tradition of music greats on the stage.
The famed Soho club went through a major remodeling after theater owner Sally Greene bought the place from Pete King.
King and Ronnie Scott opened the joint in the 1960s. It stayed packed with good music and plenty of customers but the floor was sticky with spilled drinks -- and Dizzy Gillespie's throw-up -- so Greene decided it was time for an overhaul, The Telegraph reports.
Aside from the carpet, changes include a slightly redesigned bar, which was also moved to another part of the venue to help the flow of customer traffic.
The red table lights and low ceilings remain, which is intended to keep much of the same feel and all of the same high-quality acoustics.
It will cost at least $46 just to get in the club now though -- $82 in August for shows with Wynton Marsalis and Chick Corea.
Ronnie Scott's reopens Monday with the Monty Alexander Trio.
St. Louis art served with a dash of iPod
ST. LOUIS, June 24 (UPI) -- The iPod revolution has even reached the fine arts -- visitors to the St. Louis Art Museum can use the devices to learn more about exhibits.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said each visitor to the gallery receives the loan of the device for a 40-minute podcast. Visitors who aren't museum members must produce a credit card, which is billed $400 if the iPod isn't returned.
Artists talk about their work on the podcast as images of that work stream by.
The newspaper said the experience may be something of an overload for some people, as looking at a tiny screen and listening to the podcast may distract from seeing the actual art on the walls.
But the podcasts have one big advantage -- they can be turned off, at least temporarily. And the Post-Dispatch said museum officials hope the iPods attract the younger set.
