Since the 1960’s the world’s population has doubled, and within the next 20 years another 2 billion people are expected to join us. How can a world of finite resources and fragile ecosystems deal with an ever-growing population? This often-controversial question is examined in the award-winning documentary Mother: Caring for 7 billion being shown at Rote Fabrik tonight. The film follows Beth, an American mother and child-rights activist, as she explores and attempts to offer positive solutions to this thorny subject. The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Balthasar Glättli, National President of Grüne Schweiz.
Thursday 7.30 pm, Rote Fabrik

Sylvia Day is billed as Zurich’s favourite comedienne, and although this is admittedly her own words on her own website, this American expat surely has the funny bones to back it up. Each Christmas she puts on a special seasonal show and this year’s is called I’ll Be Home Alone for Christmas at the Boulevard Theater. Being home alone for Sylvia means her one-woman show is littered with special guests including Tina Turner, Lady Gaga and Barbara Streisand but before you get too excited, Sylvia’s comedy is not only of the stand-up variety but also impersonations and singing.
Thursday & Friday 8 pm, Boulevard Theater

Choreography and dancing at the highest professional level takes years of training and dedication, not to mention blood, sweat and a few tears along the way, but as the saying goes - the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single rhythmic side step. This Friday and Sunday at Theater der Künste, first year students who are studying for a Bachelors Degree in Contemporary Dance at Zurich’s University of the Arts (ZHdK), will be putting on a show called With Love from Zurich. What they lack in experience I’m sure they make up for in energy and imagination. Entry will be free.

Friday & Sunday 8 pm, Theater der Künste

If you have one eye cast to American musical history then you’ll know that Detroit is known as Motor City, home of Motown and a centre for black musical culture, but Europe also has its own Motor City (Mercedes, Porsche & Bosch) in Stuttgart, Germany and is home to Motor City Drum Ensemble a young dj who is combining the sound of retro soul and RnB with house, minimal and techno rhythms and creating a hybrid that might just be something new. He’ll be playing at Zukunft on Saturday alongside djs Alex Dallas and Tony Sylvester.
Saturday 12 am, Zukunft

Last week I wrote to you about a Tom Waits tribute evening and since then I’ve been seeing a few more legendary and/or dead acts (although not in an ‘I see dead people’ type way) going on around town, so I figured I’d let you know about them. On Saturday at Theater Rigiblick a Bruce Springsteen evening is taking place celebrating his Born to Run album, also at Rigiblick on Wednesday, to mark his 80th birthday, is a Leonard Cohen tribute evening. Both these evenings have a number of singers and artists interpreting and performing songs. On Saturday at Alte Kaserne you’ll find The Doors, Janis Joplin and Santana doing their thing and on Wednesday at the Tank Bar & Grill you can catch Jimi Hendrix wigging out in a cloud of purple haze. These acts are more look and sound-a-likes than the Rigiblick events.
Saturday 8 pm, Theater Rigiblick (Springsteen) & Alte Kaserne (The Doors)
Wednesday 8 pm, Theater Rigiblick (Cohen) & Tank Bar & Grill (Hendrix)

The phrase ‘From little acorns, mighty oaks grow’ may have been written, in some extremely obvious and yet still cute way, for the band Mighty Oaks. The three individual members of the band each grew up in different parts of the world (US, Italy and the UK) but have now come together as a band to create uplifting music with an acoustic heart and ear-tingling harmonies. They’ve played Zurich once before at the petite Hafenkneipe, since then they opened for Kings of Leon among others and now have a live show at the rather more sizable Komplex Klub on Monday.
Monday 8 pm, Komplex Klub

In August last year, I told you about a little green oasis in the middle of the city: Gärtnerei (greenery). A place, where salads and sandwiches don't come cheap but taste wonderfully fresh with only regional, carefully chosen ingredients. I loved my Oma's Classic Chicken Salad. The bread on offer (for free), is itself worth a trip to the green island. It isn't just me who likes their food so they just opened a second branch last week at Sihlstrasse 21. They also deliver within Kreis 1,2,3 and 4.
Gärtnerei, Stockerstrasse 55, 8002 & Sihlstrasse 21, 8001. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 7 am- 9 pm, Sihlstrasse also Saturday 9 am to 6 pm

No Fashion, no convention, no boundary: I was intrigued by Onoda’s by-line. It’s a little atelier shop with women’s wear and design craft, located in the old town. You see, shopping doesn’t have to be shallow. Especially this weekend when Onoda hosts a pop-up store from Friday to Sunday. Two Japanese architects will introduce you to their culture through carefully designed products while you can also browse through Onoda’s collection of wear items (not fashion!).
Onoda, Predigergasse 18, 8001. Pop-up store opening hours: Friday 6-10 pm (with apéro), Saturday & Sunday 11 am to 7 pm

Are you staying in town over the holidays? If you’re looking for a fir tree, here are the best places to get one.  From Zurich’s forests: The city offers Christmas trees straight from the city’s own forests. Selling points are Stadtgärtnerei, Werkhof Höngerberg and Forstgarten Albisgüetli. At the latter two you can also cut your own tree on 20th and 21st December.  Coop & Migros: The two main food chains in Switzerland sell FCS certified spruce trees. A list by WWF shows the selling points in town.  Rent a tree: if you don’t want to cut a tree then you might like «Ecosapin».  They deliver the tree in a pot a few days before the holidays and pick it up again. Afterwards the tree will be replanted. The Singing Tree: A little bit off topic but a nice Zurich tradition is the Singing Tree at Bahnhofstrasse. Until 23rd December various choirs (mostly children) will sing Christmas songs at Werdmühleplatz. They are all dressed in green and red and the stage looks like a fir tree. Hence the name.

While browsing the net I came across this helpful article on Buzzfeed «27 ways to make lazy gift wrapping look like a master piece». Sounds great to me, as I always struggle to make my presents look, well, presentable.  Some ideas are still a bit too ambitious for me, but I really like the idea of making my gifts look nice while getting rid of my never-worn woollen hat at once (sorry, gran!).  And if all of this is too much for you, keep in mind: It just gets ripped open in the end anyways.