There was a period during the mid 80’s when Lloyd Cole & The Commotions were considered the best band in the UK. Along with The Smiths, they showed that jangly guitar-pop and intelligent lyrics could find a place among the neon and spangle of that decade. Lloyd Cole has been a solo artist for quite a while now and away from the limelight has developed into a singer/songwriter of subtle depths, with echoes of Dylan floating in the air. He plays at Restaurant Viadukt tonight.
Thursday 9 pm, Restaurant Viadukt

Exil, the club at Hardstrasse has become a home for many clubbers in Zurich. And Langstars, the backpacker hostel at Langstrasse, has been a home to travellers from all over the world during the last year. Therefore I find it a good match that both kids celebrate their birthdays this week. Langstars turns one and throws parties from Thursday to Saturday with various local and regional bands such as Osaka Tiger Frosties, The Vincenzo and The Doodes. International crowd guaranteed. Entry is for free. And Exil organizes an entire week of concerts for its third birthday bash, with Saturday being one of the highlights featuring Demolition Blues, Hard Coming Love and Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle. Entry: 25 francs.
Thursday to Saturday 10 pm, Exil
Thursday to Saturday 9 pm, Langstars

Love is in the air this Friday. It’s the day of the kiss and there will be a flashmob all over town at 1 pm with couples, friends and maybe even strangers kissing each other. And if that isn’t romantic enough for you, try one of the intimate open air cinemas in the evening: Wipkingen (ticket presale at L’Ultimo Bacio, 14 francs) or Röntgenplatz (collection). Keep the kissing spirit going under the open sky while watching (or missing) “This must be the place” or “Walk on Water”. Especially as half of the seats at the open air cinema at Wipkingen are comfortable sofas. So give my love to the city and spread some kisses!
Friday 1 pm, flashmob all over town
Friday & Saturday, 9.30 pm, Wipkingen (Guthirtstr. 3)
Friday & Saturday, 9.30 pm, Röntgenplatz

Just like Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse, I don’t really think of the Dalai Lama with an actual birthday, let alone celebrating one, and yet this Friday is indeed his 77th birthday (of course, if you add in the reincarnations he’s a lot older).  Zukunft, of all places, is celebrating the high lama’s special day with a Zukunft Für Tibet night. Tibetan singer Loten Namling will be playing live, with Tibetan artist Kesi Lamdark showing his work. Djs Ado, Tenz Sewo and Kelstroem will be supporting the flow of positive energy.
Friday 12 am, Zukunft

Not just love is in the air, but also Zurich’s summer radio. Rundfunk.fm will transmit their programme every night - for the last time from Landesmuseum. You can either tune in through your radio, via internet or enjoy the music live at Landesmuseum. Additionally, Stall 6 hosts parties each weekend to get you dancing. Dancing is also one of the main elements of the annual Caliente festival, where hot Latin rhythms will get your hips moving even while just strolling along the food stalls at Langstrasse.
Rundfunk.fm: Friday until 4th August, Landesmuseum & Stall 6
Caliente: Fri & Sat, Volkshaus, Helvetiaplatz, Kaserne

As familiar to the Zurich summer as bbq’s, lake swimming and sunburn/hypothermia (maybe that’s just this year), the openair cinema season will be getting into full flow soon. One of the first to get up a running is FilmFluss. Situated down at the Limmat, it’s a great place to spend a summer’s night watching movies and because the seating is undercover of the bathhouse, you can mock any attempt by the weather gods to spoil it. They have a selection of some great English language films (Snatch, In Bruges, Little Miss Sunshine) but are opening with a cult classic favourite of mine, Down By Law, starring Tom Waits; directed by Jim Jarmusch.
Wednesday 9.30 pm until 29^th July, Badi Unterer Letten

Though I try to test as many restaurants and bars for you as possible, I always welcome suggestions from my readers. So thank you Chris for pointing out Clarke’s to me: “It sells generous portions of excellent Jamaican food for around 10 francs - very cheap, and often very spicy. And the shop/restaurant's interior is an escape from Zurich, because you're surrounded by Jamaican paraphernalia, while Jamaican songs play on the radio”. I’ll definitely give it a try.
Clarke’s, Badenerstrasse 657, 8048 Zurich Altstetten

Last weekend, I went camping and experienced for the first time, what “mountain spring” entails: The explosion of nature. I saw flowers everywhere, in every colour and shape. Beautiful! So if you find time, head up higher and see for yourself. Whether the flowers’ beauty made me mellow or all that kissing and love stuff in this week’s newsletter – this clip I found online just melted my heart: “The proof that we are soulmates”. So for all the romantics and mellow hearted out there - I just couldn’t keep it from you. Watch

If you’ve ever travelled to some of the great cities of the world you know it’s always better to have a local insider who can point you in the direction of the cool stuff (that’s why you get my newsletter I hope!). Now a company called Nectar and Pulse is producing personal printed guides of various cities with content provided by, what they call, soulmates. You choose the person you want the recommendations from based on their profile. The guides look great and if you’re interested you can even approach them to produce your own guide to Zurich.

There are many tools to satisfy wanderlust. But I especially like the app Wander. After registration you get connected with a local from another city – which you most likely won’t know. If you both agree you become each other’s digital city guide for one week and lead each other with photo tasks through your towns.