Geoff Graser

Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle

BRIGHTON, N.Y. — When Matt Ehlers walked in for his first haircut at Chi Wah Organica three years ago, he hoped for more than a sharp trim. Ehlers had begun making the documentary Bowie Goes to Jail, about the infamous 1976 arrest of David Bowie in Rochester, and wanted to speak to someone who knew what went down in the corner suite at the Americana Rochester.

Chi Wah Soo, the 61-year-old Brighton salon owner, was 20 when arrested and jailed for possession of marijuana with the musician after his concert. At first, people accused her of being the “narc” that blew Bowie into the cops.

“Everyone has the wrong idea of what happened,” Soo told a Rochester reporter days after the arrest. “They can think what they wish, but I know I’m innocent.” The Times in London also contacted Soo, but she declined comment per her lawyer’s advice.

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Silence followed. Almost 40 years. She regularly shrugged off shock jocks pestering her for lurid details on the anniversaries of the arrest.

Then came Ehlers, a 46-year-old Rochester filmmaker, who said it took a year and a half of haircuts before Soo trusted him enough to tell her story for the documentary he plans to complete in 2017.

Soo’s effervescent personality sparkles in the rough cut Ehlers screened at the Little Theatre last year. Her vivid memories make it feel as though Bowie’s first — and last — Rochester concert happened last night.

“She’s a rock star,” said Ehlers, whose short films have appeared at Sundance. “The interview lasted more than two hours.”

Born in China, Soo moved from Hong Kong to Rochester with her parents and sister when she was 11. As she worked at her father’s restaurant every day after school until 11 p.m., Soo used lyrics from her favorite music to help learn English. After attending Monroe Community College, she was a Kodak employee when Bowie came to town.

“I was not going to miss it,” Soo said.

She and her friends made sure to get near the stage. Toward the end of the concert, her long black hair tangled among other fans. Perhaps this drew Bowie’s attention, because he leaned over and handed Soo a bracelet that had landed on stage.

“I felt bad,” Soo said about the woman who gave the bracelet to Bowie. “But I wasn’t going to give it back.”

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Before she left the show a man gave her a note saying, “Meet me at my party. David.” When Bowie entered the party, Soo said he seemed to have a “halo around his head.”

“Hello, love,” were his first words to her.

Later, they retreated to his corner suite at the Americana on State Street (now the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown) with rocker Iggy Pop and Bowie’s bodyguard. Two other women joined them — undercover police.

Ehlers’ documentary says police acted on a tip that Bowie had cocaine, and secured the adjacent hotel room. Using stethoscopes to eavesdrop through the wall (yes, stethoscopes), police heard something unexpected. Bowie received a phone call saying his young son was very sick and his wife, Angela, could not be found.

“I slowly watched a gentle meltdown of David Bowie,” Soo said.

While Bowie made frantic calls, she used a phonebook to identify the original call as a Florida area code. When Soo told Bowie, he instantly realized a couple of girls from Florida were the perpetrators of a cruel prank.

Bowie’s entourage had marijuana but they didn’t have cocaine. Undercover police officer Deborah Kilborn said they only asked her where they could score some. Nevertheless, police had enough evidence to raid. Soo saw three faces peer into the room when Bowie cracked open the door. It slammed him in the face and knocked him backward.

“That was the start of the nightmare,” said Soo.

Charges against Soo, Bowie, Pop and Bowie’s bodyguard were eventually dropped, but their reputations had been tarnished. Ehlers considers the arrest a “wake-up call” in a drug-addled chapter of Bowie’s life.

At the arraignment, Soo gave Bowie her traditional Chinese wedding blanket. Although Soo cannot be sure the song China Girl was written about her, she does believe her blanket appears in the music video. Soo and Bowie never spoke again. While his career rocketed back toward Mars, she tried to fade into the background of what has become Rochester “rocklore.”

“It has to be one of the best parties in Rochester history,” Ehlers said before laughing about Bowie and Pop doing a shot of Courvoisier right before police escorted them to jail.

Almost 41 years later, Ehlers’ quest to tell the full story has brought him to a family business. Like Soo did at her father’s restaurant, her children work at the salon she opened in 1993.

“She’s a success story. A happy ending,” said Ehlers.

Follow Geoff Graser on Twitter: @GeoffGraser