One thing the Big Apple is famous for, apart from the Yankee Stadium and the ubiquitous yellow taxi, is the amazing music scene. Apart from perhaps Tennessee or Seattle, there is no other place that is more entwined in the great music tradition of the USA, staring with the likes of Cab Calloway in the 50's right up to Jay Z today. It has been at the epicentre of a great movement, which came out of neighbourhoods like Harlem and the Lower East Side.

It follows then that New Yorkers have a special place in their heart for one of their own, and one lady who is held in particularly high esteem is the songbird Alicia Keys. Keys was born in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan and even as a child it was clear she was different. By the age of 14 she had mastered the piano to an extremely high level and could play the works of Beethoven and Chopin. When the schoolgirl from Hell's Kitchen grew up, her R&B style was perfect for the mainstream USA charts and there was great interest to sign her to a major label. She was eventually signed to Columbia Records in 1995.

Peter Edge, who worked with the singer during her early career working as part of Arista Records said: "I had never met a young R&B artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that." The combination of her powerful vocals and soulful lyrics speaking about real life and heartache proved very marketable, and she has gone on to sell over 35 million albums and another 30 million singles across the Globe.

Now the native New Yorker is coming back to the place she calls home. And how can anyone deny Alicia Keys a ticker tape parade for her return, after she eulogised about her home city in her song with Jay Z, entitled Empire State of Mind. Keys will be performing at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn on the 5th of April. You can get your tickets here:

http://www.5gig.com/concerts/Alicia+Keys-Brooklyn-NY

Grand Final Rodeo

The USA has a deep affinity with horses that goes back to the time of the Pilgrims. The horse is a great symbol of the wildness of the American landscape and it goes right to the heart of the American identity. Nobody personifies this special relationship between man and horse better than the cowboy, like you see in old Western movies like Shane and A Fistful of Dollars. Today, modern day cowboys can be found in one place, the rodeo.

You can see the kind of passion the people have for their equine friends in any huge rodeo event. The biggest and most successful rodeo is the national finals in Las Vegas, Nevada, right in the middle of the desert. This is an annual event which takes place every December and is run by the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association).

There are all sorts of events at National Finals Rodeo to get the adrenaline pumping such as the bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and barrel racing. The team roping event can be spectacular as two mounted riders (split into "Headers" and "Heelers") chase and lasso a steer. But the one that all the people come to see is the bull riding, which sees a cowboy get on the back of a bucking bull and hold on until he is thrown off.

Every year at the Thomas & Mack Center which is situated in the University of Nevada they hold the grand rodeo final which is the biggest event in the cowboy calendar. It has all the glitz and glamour of a huge international sporting event and has been dubbed the ‘Super Bowl of Rodeo'. The event lasts 10 days and brings together the top 15 USA talents who compete for the overall crown in each rodeo discipline.

Puyallup Fair

The capital of any country is typically blessed with some of the most iconic landmarks and architecture that the nation has to offer. It is also commonly the greatest source of national pride and togetherness, where the biggest rallies of people collect in protest and in celebration. In Washington D.C, they are particularly blessed with instantly recognisable buildings that are huge adverts for tourism in the USA. But it is interesting to note that the biggest tourist attraction in Washington is not a building at all, it is a market: The Puyallup Fair.

The Puyallup Fair (formerly the Western Washington Fair) is the widely held to be the biggest single tourist attraction in the Evergreen state. In terms of its scale there are not many other fairs that can compete with it, and it regularly features in the list of top 5 fairs in the world. The event is split into two separate occasions, both of which are organised by The Western Washington Fair Association. The first meeting lasts 17-days through September and is known as the official Puyallup Fair. The next is a four day extravaganza that happens in April, the Puyallup Spring Fair.

There are all kinds of activities to enjoy on the day ranging from rollercoaster rides, food stalls, carnival games and petting zoos, so it is very child friendly. But perhaps the biggest lure is the amazing music acts who headline the Grandstand stage each year. A huge bonus is that you can go and see all of these amazing acts without breaking the bank. The gigs here are a lot cheaper than similar events in the local area. For instance, the KeyArena and the Paramount are far pricier. As an added incentive people who buy admission into the concert get free access to the fair.

Today, the Puyallup Fair can expect to attract well over 1million people in search of fun and good times. For more info please see:

http://www.thefair.com

White House Easter Egg Roll

Barack Obama has embraced popular culture and social media more than any other figurehead before him in the USA. If you want to be pedantic you could argue that social media wasn't available in the past so this is a nonpoint; but regardless, it is true to say there has been a huge shift in the way people communicate and he has taken advantage of it. The President has had to adapt to these modern times and when he has an opportunity to connect with his people on a national holiday he never misses his chance to shine.

Now that Easter is particularly special to the 44th President of the United States and he has sent a heart-warming invite on social media for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The video has gone viral and has been viewed by over 2.5million people on YouTube. Every year the Whitehouse opens its doors for a community egg hunt and this year is going to be bigger and better than ever, with 35,000 people expected to take part.

But sometimes even the president needs help to get the message across to the target audience and that is where Robby Novak comes in. Novak has a huge internet following as the "Kid President" and he spread the word about the event to his followers. The little star has been rewarded for his efforts and has got a personal invite from the President himself to attend the annual Easter Egg roll as the guest of honour. The White House Easter Egg Roll has been a tradition for over 130 years and takes place on April 1st on the South Lawn of the White House grounds.

It promised to be a day of pure fantasy and fairytale, and the lucky guests can even get close to some of their favourite cartoon heroes (albeit in costumes) such as Bugs Bunny, Dora The Explorer and the Power Rangers.

Earlier this week it had been suggested that the event could be cancelled due to the latest round of budget cuts which came into effect on March 1st, but a spokesman for the Whitehouse brushed off these rumours as untrue.