Boxing Day 1968. David Bowie is bought a coffee by Vivian Burt at The Quasar Cafe in Redruth .
When I was about 14 or 15 and still attending school at Redruth, I would abscond during dinner breaks to go and have lunch with a few friends at a cool little hangout called the QUASAR CAFE in the town a couple of times a week. We knew that teachers and prefects would patrol the town, looking for kids who should be back on school premises so we had to be vigilant.
The cafe was run by a couple of friendly hippy types and one could order a plate of chicken pie, chips and peas with a couple of cups of tea for a few pence. Just as importantly, we could smoke and listen to some decent music on a juke box which was the main attraction.
It was one of the few places you could hear music that wasn’t in the charts or on the radio. I remember hearing things like Little Red Rooster and Paint it Black by The Stones which was a revelation to me back then. At that time I was a fully fledged Bowie fan, having graduated from junior glam rock such as Mud and the Glitter Band (who I actually saw play live at The Regal in Redruth in 1974). I was having the best time getting up to speed with Bowie’s back catalogue after someone introduced me to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust album which had been released a few years earlier.
Naturally, I was also listening to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop and The Stooges but could hardly call myself well educated in rock and pop music of the day. I guess it was around the time that Bowie’s Station To Station was released which was his first album I bought on it’s release. I remember waiting all day at school for the ‘home time’ bell so I could race to the record store and collect my pristine 12” vinyl which I had pre-ordered.
Anyway, back to the QUASAR.
