DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING - FEELING GLOOMY SAY SAVE BBC 6 MUSIC + BEAUTIFUL SOUTH'S PAUL HEATON'S BEER AND BIKE MISSION

I’VE recently discovered our favourite misery night Feeling Gloomy at the 02 Academy Islington has succeeded in spreading its depression across the Atlantic – they’ve taken up a monthly residency in Fontana's New York – good for them.
And the gloom peddlers have also taken an ad out in The Big Issue, just to remind people to save BBC 6 Music from closure – they're not all about the bad stuff.


- On the same note, hundreds of protesters, musicians and DJs turned out at the weekend demo outside the BBC's Broadcasting House against the proposed closure of 6 Music and the Asia Network.
Favourite protest was the nod to Father Ted, with a bunch of people holding up the phrase “Down with this sort of thing”.

- Electronic pioneer Gary Numan’s playing a rare live show for The Playground at Scala (April 13) ahead of his appearance at Coachella in California, I know where I prefer to be.

- Remember Diana Vickers? She was the wide-eyed, slightly strangled-voiced one off X-Factor. See how she turned out at Scala (May 12).

- Ex Housemartin and Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton’s joined the cycling hordes. He’s cycling 1,000 miles around England to play local pubs. He stops off at The Monarch, Camden, (May 13). Fans are invited to join him on the trip. It's like Eddie Izzard's Marathon Man, with beer instead of ice-cream.

- We've had The Priests and The Soldiers so what's the next trade the record industry can exploit for their quaint-ness? That's right it's the Cornish Fishermen!
Universal music has signed up 10 Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends for an album of seafaring shanties. Something for Father's day perhaps? Whenever that is.