I’m talking about Keith Urban, who along with his lovely wife Nicole Kidman, just bought a $10 million penthouse inNew York that has an ELEVATOR FOR THEIR CAR.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  I used to live in New York, and I can tell you if you have a parking space within 10 blocks of your apartment and your paying less than $500 a month for it you are feeling pretty lucky.  So how bout an elevator that brings your car right up to your door?  It’s kind of mind blowing.

Not that we hold it against our pal Keith.  In fact, he was just recently talking about how poor he was when he was a kid…says they had a “rubbishy car” and a “rubbishy house” that was attached to the corner store his parents ran.  He and his brother slept on little horsehair mattresses on the floor.  So now he’s all rich.  Good for him!  Especially since he and the wife are so generous with their dough.

If you were worried about where the Kidman-Urban family would rest their weary heads when they visit New York City, worry no more!  They’ve just bought a pretty fantastic penthouse in Downtown Manhattan for about $10 million.  Asking price was $12.5 mil, so they actually got kind of a bargain.  Here’s a peak at the place before they move in:

This Sunday on A&E, you might want to check out “A&E Private Sessions,” which is all about Brooks and Dunn and includes live performances, an interview with the boys, and a few video surprises like this one:

This year it seems like the Teen Choice Awards added more trophies just so they could give more to Taylor Swift.  She got four total, including Female Country Artist, Country Album and Country Song.  Keith Urban managed to beat her out for Male Country Artist, and Lady A for Country Group, but sheesh!  Oh, and her fourth one was the Breakout Female award in the movie category for her role in “Valentine’s Day.”  None of the country acts who won were able to be there (Taylor was in Japan) but they all sent thanks in one way or other.  Here’s Lady A’s thank-you video from London:

Forbes magazine released their annual Celebrity 100 list, which rates famous people based on their earnings, how much they’re in the public eye, etc.  This year, the highest ranking country star by far is Taylor Swift.  Not only did she pull in about 45 million bucks, Forbes says she’s one of the few music acts who can still actually sell music.  Kenny Chesney is the next country star on the list, but he’s slipped from #31 last year to #54 this year.  Forbes says Kenny makes about $1.6 million per show, which is almost double his closest $-per-show competition, Keith Urban.  Rascal Flatts also make the list at #62, Toby Keith’s at #67 and Keith Urban clocks in at #76.  See the full list here.

This week’s People Mag will have Tim on the cover as the hottest guy in country music.  But Tim says he’s downright embarrassed to get the honor, like it must have been rigged or something.  Tim’s vote for the hottest country guy would have gone to Keith Urban. In fact, he says he and Faith were out to lunch recently with Keith and Nicole Kidman, and when the subject of the upcoming cover photo shoot came up, Tim was totally embarrassed to tell Keith what it was for!

The Eagles/Keith Urban/Dixie Chicks show is one of the biggest tours this Summer.  So why do they keep cancelling shows?  As of now, they reshuffled a DC show, then cancelled 2 shows in Pennsylvania, with the usual “scheduling conflicts” given as the reason.  Two rumors are circulating about the real reason.  1)  That the Chicks are being divas because they’re opening, and they’re not happy that not everyone is in their seat yet  2)  That Eagle Timothy Schmidt is having drug problems again that are affecting with his ability to perform.  It’s possible that neither are true, but there you go.

All week on Jimmy Fallon’s show, he’s been paying tribute to the Rolling Stones album, “Exile on Main Street,” which is going to be re-released next week with new tracks added after almost 40 years.  If you like the rockin’ side of Keith, you will definitely LOVE this performance from last night.

Keith Urban was a great ambassador for Nashville yesterday as he chatted with CNN’s Rick Sanchez about the flooding in his hometown. While he talks about all of the equipment he’s lost (millions of dollars of country stars’ equipment was lost in a storage facility), he very clearly makes the point that what he’s lost is nothing compared to other victims who have lost everything they own. It’s worth watching this, just to see this reporter melt into a puddle over Keith, gushing about how handsome he is. Makes us, who like to talk to Keith about Australian yodelers and whatnot, seem like hard-hitting journalists! (Click here to listen to that, by the way)

This is a one-time only deal, and it’s happening in the NW:  Keith Urban and John Mayer, who just recorded a “CMT Crossroads” episode together, had so much fun that they decided they wanted to do a live show together.  And lucky for us, it’s not too far away!  August 28th at the Gorge in Washington.  Tickets go on sale May 8th, but here are a few links to some pre-sale opportunities:

A pre-sale window via CMT.com will run from 5/3 at 10am PT thru 5/7 at 10pm PT.

Fans will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public exclusively offered by each artists by visiting www.JohnMayer.com and www.KeithUrban.net. Both artist presales begin on Saturday, 5/1 at 10am PT.