Five things to do in Edinburgh this week

Tuesday 12 June

Liven up the most boring night of the week with a gig. New York indie post-punks The Rapture, best known for shouty electro-pop dancefloor hit House of Jealous Lovers, are playing

at The Liquid Room (7pm, £12.50). If your tastes are a little more laidback, Scottish songbird Amy Macdonald will be making a flying visit to The Caves (8pm, £10) as part of her Five a Day for the Kids challenge, in which she’ll be playing five gigs all round Scotland in the same night, in aid of STV’s 2012 Appeal, with all proceeds going to helping wipe out child poverty in Scotland.

Wednesday 13 June

Blank City is a

documentary examining the seedy and seething mass of drug-fuelled crime that was Manhattan in the 1970s, populated then by unfortunate and itinerant souls rather than the bankers and fashion fanatics it attracts today. The film tells the story of how the borough gave birth to the New Wave movement and a new DIY punk-rock ethos, and with it some of the most exciting and influential artists, film makers and musicians of the 20th century, and features appearances by Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy and Jim Jarmusch,

The Cameo, 8.30pm

Friday 15 June

Edinburgh techno night Jackhammer has booked a blinder with this week’s headline act; DJ Kevin Saunderson , who along with Derrick May and Juan Atkins is known as one of the originators of techno. In 1988, seven years after the first techno record was released, birthed from the economically deprived inner city of Detroit and its surfeit of abandoned industrial warehouses, Saunderson scooped a number one in the mainstream charts with Innercity (Goodlife), a track which embodied the ethos of a clubbing generation, and the spirit of which is bound to reverberate around The Liquid Room on Friday.

The Liquid Room, 10.30pm-3am, £10,

Saturday 16 June

There will be few more heart warming ways to spend your Saturday afternoon than watching Being Elmo , a documentary on Sesame Street’s most loveable character Elmo and the man behind the puppet, the very likeable Kevin Clash. Clash is credited with taking Elmo from minor character to the happiest street in the world’s most beloved resident, and this charming film tells their intertwined stories, and offers insights into the world of Jim Henson to boot.

Filmhouse, 1.30, 4.20, 6.10pm

Sunday 17 June

In their five decades as Ireland’s most adventurous traditional music group, and having played with everyone from Frank Zappa to The Rolling Stones to Bon Iver, six-time Grammy winners The Chieftains have pushed the boundaries of what constitutes “traditional”, bringing their music to audiences far more varied than that term might initially suggest. This Sunday they’re bringing it to the Usher Hall, in a gig that will appeal to all.

Usher Hall, 8pm, £37.50