I realise there’s an exhibition of some dusty old relics on in the city, but Melbourne seems to have gone completely and utterly Bowie bonkers.
In just one afternoon I go to a bar and they’re playing Changes, I go to a clothes boutique and and they’re playing the Young Americans album, and then finally I end up at Atomica cafe on Brunswick Street and I find it hard to stifle a chuckle as they’re playing the Ziggy Stardust album, followed by Hunky Dory.
As I go to pay and notice this no-expense-spared ‘mascot’ by the till, then the cent drops. “Ah, I get the name of the place now,” beams I, terribly pleased with myself, “The Dame had a song out a couple of years ago called Atomica.”
“Did he?” shoots back the barista with all the indifference of a glass spider on Valium. “Well, this place has had its name for 20 years.”
That told me then. Gosh.
Steve Pafford
#davidbowieis #davidbowiemonth
First published: Facebook, April 2015
My preview of David Bowie Is here and review here
Spaceboy Keeps Swinging, written to coincide with the Melbourne exhibition, is here
