Once again it’s the Street Parade this weekend and if you’re looking to get involved I have a few entries for that, if on the other hand the idea of parades on streets brings you out in a nervous rash, well, I also have a little something for that too. 
Give my love to the city, Ron 

I’m not sure what secret ingredient the Swedish add to their Vodka but it seems to produce a never-ending parade of electro-pop delights.  Next out of the North comes Tyst, the alias of Andreas Fock. His music mixes flourishes of guitar and synth over soulful drum loops to create songs that have a languid urgency, and with a voice of pure melancholy singing the sweetest melodies it seems as if the Swedes have upped their Vodka rations once again. He plays at La Catrina tonight.
Thursday 10 pm, La Catrina

Of all the open-air cinemas that pop up around town during the summer, my favourites are the free ones. In fact, being free generally improves any event in my humble estimation. The area around the Rosengarten at Kalkbreite is currently a construction site and apparently this makes it the perfect location for an open-air cinema. This Friday they are showing Shaun of the Dead, one of the best British comedies of recent years, which also includes 1 or 2 zombies for good measure. Entry is free and rain will stop play.
Friday 9 pm, Kalkbreite-Areal, Kalkbreitestrasse 2, 8003

As the Street Parade takes over Zurich, the best festival during the parade – Lethargy – takes over the Rote Fabrik for 3 nights. If you’ve never been let me break it down into 6 words - great people, good music and brilliant decoration! My highlights on Friday include: Bonaparte & Ulli and Maesoo; Saturday: Solar Bears & Dubexmachina Soundsystem; Sunday: the legendary after-hours party. Along with the music there are also the performance artists and designs to stimulate the eyes. I have 2x1 tickets to give away. Email me.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 9 pm, Rote Fabrik

If you’re actually in the town and looking for some of the best parties to go to, here’s a small selection of places where I’ll be certainly Ron-ing it up: the Future Sound Stage at Bürkliplatz and the Swiss Innovations Stage at Limmatquai both have new and avant-garde electro sounds and djs; the Bar3000 open air block party with Drumpoet Community and friends soundtracking it and finally, the Cityfox Poolparty at Rimini, I would recommend getting early to this one as they have limited space and it’s not as secret as it used to be.
Saturday, see links for times and locations

If the thought of Zurich full of electro music and a million extra people has you wishing you could be elsewhere this weekend, let me tell you about the Schlauer Bauer Openair in Wetzikon.  It’s located in a beautiful organic farm half an hour from the city, with lots of traditional workshops and activities taking place, organic food from local farms, a musical line up of bands stretching from Americana and Folk to Reggae and Poetry. You can camp there for the weekend and kids under 12 get in for free. This might be the polar opposite of the street parade and that may be all you really need to know.
Friday to Saturday, see link for times, Hof Eichholz, Wetzikon

Open Air Gampel in Valais generally symbolizes the end of the open-air festival season in Switzerland. If you didn’t get around to going to any open-air concerts so far (or if you could do with one more), then this is the place to be from 16 - 19 August. Especially as the line-up features bands such as Foo Fighters (Thursday), Placebo (Friday), Bernese Patent Ochsner (Saturday) and French Swiss Bastian Baker (Sunday). I have 2x2 tickets to give away for Friday. Email me if you’re a Placebo fan and I’ll cross my fingers for you.
16-19 August, Open Air Gampel

Summer is here, summer is gone. This year we’ll have to enjoy the hot days whenever they arrive, however brief. And when the temperatures rise you may feel the urge for an ice tea. This will be a sign of how Swiss you've become, as the Swiss are world champions when looking at their ice tea consumption per head. If you want to be not just Swiss but a local Zurich guy or gal, try the local brand Chaya. It’s a small company that started out in Altstetten, though they moved their production out of town now. No reason, I think, to turn my back on them too.

As the summer has been a little damp so far, I ended up coming to Ron HQ with a wet bum more often than I liked - because my bike saddle got soaked the night before. Using a plastic bag didn’t work out either, as it had holes after a few days – and my backside became wet once more. Therefore I’d like to share some news with you that brightened my day (and those of my jeans): The city of Zurich is giving away saddle protections (those plastic thingies you can pull over your saddle) for free. Only condition: You have to live in the city of Zurich. Well, I do! I’m sure my bottom will be grateful forever.

Marcel Everett, sweet sixteen and better known as XXYYXX, shakes up the music scene at the moment. There is hardly any music blog that hasn’t posted a song of this youngster. And I agree with their praise. In his debut record he caught the current vibes of electronica and turned them into a thirteen-part eargasm. Listen

Interesting, shocking, amusing and sad – the website 9-eyes compiled a selection of the weirdest google street view images on earth (or a strikingly similar universe). Some pictures will make you laugh out loud, some will make you rub your eyes in disbelieve – and some you’ll wish you could scrub from your brain. Curious? Then have a look.