Woman at David Bowie's Rochester arrest sets record straight 40 years later

By Ben Axelson
on January 22, 2017



Chi Wah Soo knew what really happened that night that David Bowie got arrested in Rochester, but it took 40 years for her to finally build up the nerve to tell someone.

The 61-year-old owner of Chi Wah Organica in Brighton faced accusations of being the "narc" who led police to Bowie, rocker Iggy Pop and fellow partygoers after a 1976 concert in Rochester.

But after a year and half spent earning her trust, filmmaker Matt Ehlers got Soo to reveal the details of the night that has become local rocklore in Rochester, The Democrat & Chronicle reported.

Ehlers has been working on a documentary about Bowie's arrest, called "Bowie Goes to Jail," and Soo's account was a missing piece to the puzzle.



David Bowie's famous mugshot from his arrest in Rochester.



"Everyone has the wrong idea of what happened," was all Soo would say to a Rochester reporter at the time. "They can think what they wish, but I know I'm innocent."

Soo was 20 when she and some friends went to see the legendary rocker in Rochester. During the concert, Soo got near the stage where Bowie noticed her and handed her a bracelet that had landed on stage.

According to Soo, a man approached her after the concert with a note saying, "Meet me at my party. David."

"Hello love," were the first words Bowie said to her as she walked in the door, Soo recalled.

She, Bowie and a group of other people including Iggy Pop, Bowie's bodyguard and two other women then went to Bowie's corner suite at what was then the Americana Rochester on State Street.

Soo told Ehlers that the two other women turned out to be undercover police working with investigators in an adjacent hotel room who were listening to the group through the wall. Police were acting on a tip that Bowie had cocaine.

Soo explained that Bowie's entourage did not have cocaine, but when they asked one of the undercover officers Deborah Kilborn where they could score some, it was enough for police to raid the room.

"That was the start of the nightmare," said Soo, recalling seeing officers slam the door into Bowie's face as he began to respond to it.

It turned out the group did have marijuana, but the charges against Bowie, Soo, Iggy Pop and the body guard were all eventually dropped.

Soo said she gave Bowie a traditional Chinese wedding blanket at their arraignment, which she claims shows up in the music video for "China Girl." She isn't sure if the song is about her, and said she and Bowie never spoke again.



Watch more of Soo's interview from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: http://www.newyorkupstate.com/rochester/2017/01/woman_at_david_bowies_rochester_...

China Girl wasn't released till '83, this was '76.

This just in................David Bowie is still dead.