In the past 12 months I’ve seen some of the world’s most famous figures come to Dubai.

George Bush, Tiger Woods and Bon Jovi to name just three.

But a chance sighting at Festival City might be the biggest name yet.

Sesame Street legends Elmo, Bert & Ernie and The Cookie Monster are in Dubai.

For families overdosing on Modhesh this summer it is a welcome relief.

After all, if Robert De Niro likes them so much (see the video below) the Sesame Street gang can’t be all bad.

Sesame Street will be performing the 30 minute 1-2-3-Imagine! show  until August 3 at Festival City on Dubai.

Bollywood megastars Amitabh Bachchan, Abishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinita will perform an unforgettable concert in Dubai.Amitabh Bachchan, known to legions of fans as The Big B, is regarded by many as the world’s most famous actor and will be leading his family out for the superstar Unforgettable world tour, reports masala.com.

The Unforgettable concert will be held in Dubai in January 2009 as part of the second leg of the tour, which will be from December to February. It will put the stars on stage across Middle East, South East Asia and Australia.
The concert is further proof, if it were needed, of Dubai’s Bollywood love affair. Just last month Yash Raj Films, a prominent entertainment brand in India, announced its intention to build an entertainment theme park with Indian stars as its ambassadors.

Abishek Bachchan, the Big B’s son, and wife Aishwarya Rai (the former Miss World and Hollywood star) are known to have bought a villa at the exclusive Jumeirah Golf estate resort earlier this year.

Click here to visit masala.com and get details on this story and more Bollywood gossip.

American rappers have it easy. Rapping about life in the ghetto, police harassment and living in constant fear of being shot was part of daily life for N.W.A. If Dr Dre and Ice Cube needed more material, looking to the street corner and watching the police brutality was enough to fill an entire album.

They were just keeping it real.

Keeping it real, however, is not something Dubai does well.

Unless, of course, your version of real involves rotating skyscrapers and dragon-shaped shopping malls.

I used to feel a bit sorry for rappers in Dubai because they have nothing to rap about.

Until I heard Desert Heat that is. Keeping it real, they say, means being true to where you live.

So if you don’t have violence and swearing and shooting you don’t have to rap about it.

What do you do instead? Keep it desert of course!

Check out the video here:

If you like what you see and hear check out the band at Chi on Tuesday.

Read Time Out’s interview with Desert Heat here.