It seems like every 5 years or so the UK throws up a young guitar band that’s anointed to become the new Kings of Indie Mountain. It was The Libertines at the start of the century, and then mid-Noughties came Arctic Monkeys. Now it’s the turn of Palma Violets. They’ve got all the right ingredients – 4 skinny white guys playing new wave/punky anthems with melodies that sound great shouted from the middle of a seething mass of sweating bodies. They play at Exil tonight and I have 2 x 2 tickets to give away. E-mail me.
Thursday 7.30 pm, Exil

Think positive, my friends, and spring will come. In this sense, it makes sense to get your bike checked after letting it rust away for the past months enduring cold, snow and rain. Until Friday you can bring your bike to Limmatquai, tram stop Rathaus, where experts will have a look at it and check your tires, grease the chain, examine the gears and give it an overall check-up. Small repairs will be taken care of, for the rest you’ll have to find a bike shop. Cycle safely!
Thursday & Friday, 12 am to 7 pm, Limmatquai/Rathaus

Juggling – some people can be quite negative and think it’s just men wasting time playing with their balls, whilst others are less harsh and think of it as men playing with their balls while offering entertainment. Whatever your opinion, the 4 guys of Belgian juggling company Ea Eo offer you amazing juggling full of humour and spectacle with their show, m2, at Gessenerallee. As the show progresses not only will you see some great visual feats but the stage grows smaller and smaller as strips of wood are removed, leaving the 4 jugglers to fight over the remaining space, both air and ground.
Thursday, Friday & Saturday various times, Gessenerallee

Nation Records is based out of Chicago and specialises in a music and sound they call Jakbeat, a combination of jackhammering industrial noise, sweeping string melancholy and acidic basslines. It basically drags the original Chicago house music into the 21^st century. One of their main artists is a guy trading under the name of Traxx, and he’ll be playing at the Longstreet Bar this Friday. Djs Walid El Barbir & Siegwart, Sebastien Verdon and Zora Vipera will be supporting.
Friday 11 pm, Longstreet Bar

Every Friday and Saturday throughout April, the Zurich art collective Friction will be transforming Perla Mode into an art and performance festival called Reality Check. Across the month there will be 48 artists, producing visual and performance art as well as film and music, all exploring the boundaries between reality and art. You’ll need to check out the website to see the full program but these caught my eye – the opening party (Fri 5^th, 11 pm), a live jukebox by Magella auf Reisen (Fri 12^th) and Alien Abduction (Sat 27^th).
Friday/Saturday throughout April, various times, Perla Mode

If the idea of heading to a festival this early in the year doesn’t really excite you, then maybe you can gently ease yourself into it by getting to the Cosmic Animals micro-festival at Amboss Rampe on Saturday. Playing live are an eclectic mix of artists – Berlin’s Pilocka Barney with some techno tunes, The Rich Man’s Kitchen Orchestra will be playing calypso blues (yes, you read that correctly) and Lubomir & Crang, are a synth band from Zurich. Djs Botico and Rosp will play across genres and They Live! will be providing a surprise interactive installation.
Saturday 11 pm, Amboss Rampe

Brauergarten, the urban gardening project in the middle of the Langstrasse area, invites you to coffee, croissants, music and sowing on Sunday. All guests are invited to bring along an empty milk carton. Brauergarten offers soil and seeds and shows how to turn a carton into a seedling box. Afterwards you take it home, place it on your window sill, water and nurture it until it grows into a strong seedling. In May, all seedlings will reunite at Brauergarten turning the area into a green oasis.  
Sunday 11 am, Brauergarten

Zurich is finally home to a Crêperie that deserves this name – Chez Toi. When entering you feel welcomed like when visiting a good friend. The crêpes are simple but tasty; my choice was the classic Complète with egg, ham, cheese and salad, my drink, fruity cider, also from Northern France. As a dessert I recommend one of the sweet crèpes, my favourite so far: chocolate cream.
Meinrad Lienert Strasse 1, 8003

Looking in the mirror this morning, I slightly regretted all the chocolate and sweets I enjoyed over Easter. Spring is coming soon and I’d like to get back in shape. So hello to Bootcamper, who bring a new training form to town. You train outdoors in a group with a personal trainer. And as they offer training sessions all around town, you won’t have to go far. I have one half-year training subscription to give away. Send me an email if you need to get back in shape too.

New York is known today for art, design, restaurants and economy, but only twenty years ago, the city was filled with rats, drugs, crimes and sex shows. Recalling 1993 is a project by the New Museum, remembering that time. Call from any NYC pay phone to hear athletes, celebrities, journalists, dealers and hippies telling stories about what was happening on that block in 1993. If you don’t have any plans to visit New York soon, the project is also available online.