Weekend life: Old punks have an excuse to sneer at their offspring

Of course, most Scotsman readers will be going to see Roy Chubby Brown this weekend. The self-styled “most outrageous comedian in the world” plays Dundee tonight. However, for those of you who would just rather cut off your ears than listen to a single word fall from Chubby’s lips, there are alternatives.

Tonight will see the tenth MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards take place in the Nevis Centre, Fort William. As well as the handing out of much coveted gongs, the night will feature sets from some of the country’s top folk and traditional musicians. The songs of Karine Polwart, the Celtic funk of Man’s Ruin and the sounds of the Inveraray and District Pipe Band are among the treats on offer.

For a more seasonal feel to your weekend, you might investigate the Dunedin Consort’s performance of Handel’s Messiah at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow tonight. The Consort will be rocking the alcoves with original instruments.

Dance fans who can bear to drag themselves away from Strictly Come Dancing could enjoy a glam evening tonight when Scottish Ballet’s Nutcracker is unleashed on the public. Lush sets, plush costumes, Tchaikovsky’s zinger of a score and, of course, Scottish Ballet’s well-oiled dancers, mean that this will be the sort of experience that pleasurably stretches the imagination. The show is at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow until the end of December when it tours the rest of Scotland.

Pleasingly for those of us with catholic tastes, Scottish Ballet’s opening night won’t interfere with tomorrow evening’s double bill at Edinburgh’s HMV Picture House. Featuring The Damned and The Dickies, it offers old punks the perfect excuse to sneer at their offspring’s X Factor habit before struggling into an old tour T-shirt that would appear to have shrunk mysteriously in the three decades since it was bought. Punk may not be dead but there will be some sorry sights in the nation’s workplaces on Monday morning.

• www.scotstradmusicawards.com; www.dunedin-con sort.org.uk; www.scottishballet.co.uk; www.thedickies.com