Have you ever sat in a nice restaurant and thought to yourself, ‘That lamp would look great in my boudoir, I wonder if I could carry it out of here without anyone noticing?’ No? Maybe it’s just me then! Well for any would-be kleptomaniacs out there, Bohemia and its sister restaurants are selling off much of their used and un-used stock over the next few days. At Two Spice in Oelikon, furniture, lamps, crockery, pictures and even some clothes from Wink are all up for grabs, with the added bonus of not having to look furtively over your shoulder as you leave.
Thursday to Sunday Thur/Fri 12pm – 8pm and Sat/Sun 10am to 6pm, Two Spice, Birchstrasse 230, 8050



The M4Music festival is back again. The annual shindig for all of music’s great and good to gather in our city and blow our little minds. As well as panel discussions, conferences and a democlinic for aspiring musicians there are, of course, a fantastic selection of bands, singers and djs to see play live. My highlights this year include The Maccabees, Mark Lanegan, Modeselektor and Christopher Christopher
Thursday to Saturday at various times, Schiffbau, Moods and Exil

The sun is shining, the birds are singing – it’s time to get back on your bike. If you don’t own a bicycle, be assured that it’s the easiest and often the fastest vehicle to get around town. This Saturday you can buy a cheap bike at the City Council Bike Auction. All bikes are second hand, have been collected in Zurich and which no one has claimed back. The city fathers have then kindly cleaned and fixed them. Bids start at 50 francs. If you don’t have time to go this Saturday, the next auction takes place on 28th of April.
Saturday 1 pm viewing / 1.30 pm auction, Limmatstrasse 114

The Night of the Flowers reminds party goers in Zurich of bygone times when gay and techno parties took place underground. Area, who organizes the event at Hive this Saturday, is also history but their Flowerparties are still an annual part of Zurich’s nightlife. Beautifully decorated with flowers everywhere you won’t doubt for a second that spring is here. So let’s dance until dawn for a beautiful summer to tunes by Don Ramon, Valentino, Jesse Jay, Mandeg, Cherie und Franco. I also have 3x2 tickets to give away. Email me
Saturday 10 pm, Hive

Listening to a Mayer Hawthorne song you might be forgiven for thinking his sweet falsetto belongs to a black man from 60’s Detroit rather than the nerdy looking white guy from LA that he actually is. He wears his retro record collection proudly on his sleeve and for one night only, at Hotel Rivington & Sons, will be bringing it with him as he plays, what I expect to be, a fantastic dj set. Entrance is free.
Saturday 11pm, Hotel Rivington & Sons

Café Bar Plüsch is a Zurich veteran. Plüsch means plush, which describes how this venue’s interior looked years back when I’d just moved to Zurich. It opened its doors 13 years ago and I’ve had many good times in there, but it was about time that a new lick of paint and polish were given to the old girl. In this new dress, they serve a range of breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday for the reasonable price of 10.50 francs per person (without drinks).
Plüsch, Aemtlerstrasse 16, 8003

Don’t forget that a short weekend lies ahead of you. At 2 am Sunday morning (Saturday night), the clocks are moved one hour ahead, as in most (but not all) countries worldwide. Well, at least our clocks will already be in summer spirit.

While researching the local music scene in Ghana on a scholarship from the US, Brian Shimkovitz would wander through the local street markets and began to buy cassette tapes of obscure African bands and musicians. After a time his collection grew to thousands of tapes and Brian had stumbled upon a musical underground whose sound was totally different to anything else going on in the world. This eventually led to his excellent blog, Awesome Tapes from Africa, where you can listen to all of his lo-fi, and totally unique, discoveries.

Despite the feral nature of the lead singer in the video, American Dream by Electric Guest grooves along like a West Coast trip-hop holiday. Enjoy