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Thank God it's Friday

On the first Friday of every month, the streets of Philadelphia's Old City are filled with people. They are there to patronize art galleries, which open till late, and watch musical performances.

The Old City area is home to about 50 galleries, which show a wide variety of works by local, national and international artists.

See more information on www.oldcityarts.org.

Bluegrass music

Visitors can expect the traditional bluegrass music at the historic 40th Annual RockyGrass from July 27-29 at the Planet Bluegrass Ranch in Lyons, Colorado of the US. The venue is located along the wooded banks of the beautiful St. Vrain River. The historic quarry town of Lyons is just 24 km north of Boulder in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The town is known for its antique stores, restaurants, artists, and musicians.

It's been 40 years since Bill Monroe met with members of the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society to found the RockyGrass Festival (originally called the Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival). www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass.

Montreaux Jazz

The Montreux Jazz Festival, which will be held on the eastern shore of Lake Geneva of Switzerland, is one of the most famous in the world. The extensive program now extends from jazz to blues, rock and pop. Many of the greatest jazz and blues performers have appeared at the event since its inception in 1967, including Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Charlie Mingus and Dexter Gordon. The festival attracts audiences of around 200,000 people each year.

Some biggest names appear at the Auditorium Stravinski. So far confirmed for the 2012 edition, from June 29 to July 14, are Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Herbert Gronemeyer. For more info, log on at: www.montreuxjazz.com/.

Open, Sesame

From this June, guests at Universal Studios Singapore will find themselves strolling right down one of the most famous streets in the world - Sesame Street - among characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie and others.

The latest Sesame Street theme park experience at Southeast Asia's first and only movie theme park includes a Sesame Street ride, special shows and character breakfast program.

For more information and to reserve tickets to Universal Studios Singapore, log on to www.rwsentosa.com.

China Daily - Agencies