It’s mid March and that means Guiness fuelled mayhem and fun. This week St Patrick’s day falls on a school night so many of the Irish pubs of the town will be celebrating hard this weekend.

But as the corona virus continues its spread across the globe there has sadly been two high profile casualties in the Arosa Electronica and m4music festivals although the latter hopes to still stream events. But there are also reasons to be optimistic. According to the Johns Hopkins CSSE interactive dashboard China has seen a slowing of new cases with 72% having recovered. Stay frosty, keep washing you hands and…

Give my love to the city

Starting this Thursday and running for the whole week Yesh are going to be showing a whole series of films which have Jewish history, religion and culture as a thread. Cinemas Houdini, Riffraff and Arthouse Uto/Le Paris play host to the event with a wide variety of films, many with guest speakers (if they are not quarantined.) As Sean Connery would say, «Yesh!»

«Might trick me once, I won't let you trick me twice.» So sang US chanteuse Kelis and whether my chums at allblues had to trick her once, twice or (as I suspect,) not at all she is certainly going to be playing at the Kaufleuten this Friday. This tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of her album Kaleidoscope which, believe it or not came out two decades ago.

If you like soul and blues then you could do worse than check out young singer/guitarist Flo Bauer. As well as being a fantastic guitarist he is an amazing singer and songwriter. On Friday night he is playing the intimate Jazzkeller which is hidden away in the Binz area of the city.

What better time to buy a bike than now? Good for the environment and no more cramming into the public transport with other filthy disease bags. Another good reason is that Helvetiaplatz is the location for the Velobörse which is great opportunity to pick up a new set of wheels or ditch the old set.

Snoop Dogg famously sang about «Gin and Juice» but gin and cheese? Well, if you are not sure whether the two might work together then this is the weekend to find out as the British Cheese Centre of Switzerland are holding a gin tasting on Saturday afternoon. Eight different types of gin from the UK will be represented as well as some wonderful cheeses. Bottoms up.

If you are suffering from the disappointment of Arosa Electronica being cancelled stay in the city and shake off some the doom and gloom with a bit of a party. Frieda’s Büxe are beaming down two UK DJ’s to entertain you on Planet Frieda. Hopefully they haven’t got the bloody corona virus on Planet Frieda yet.

In terms of drinking holes, Zurich has many hidden gems and if you can tear yourself away from the Irish pubs and sports bars there are some great place to drink a beer or two and chat with friends, often with great music and food available. The other day a friend of mine suggested that we meet in Exer, near to the Langstrasse so i thought i would share it with you. Firstly, the music style was great. Old school Hip-Hop, funk and soul. Secondly it was really friendly and i was really well taken care of. Thirdly, on a Tuesday and Wednesday they serve fried chicken as well. If you are looking for a nice bar to meet for a few drinks i can highly recommend it.

Perhaps the worst thing to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis is the sense of fear and worry. I mean, the fear must be strong if people are actually going to the trouble to wash their hands regularly. But as with (almost all,) these global problems it brings out the sense of humour in people, particularly

those who take the time to make memes. I’ve made a list of my favourite memes from the last few weeks…