The Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll Adventures of SF Eccentric Edwin Heaven

On his memoir: The Night I Got David Bowie Laid (sorta), San Francisco eccentric and “original gangster” Edwin Heaven wants to give you a front row seat to his sf adventures in sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.

Edwin Heaven is one who has seen San Francisco’s many stages; from working with The Tubes,to managing legendary punk band The Nuns, and partying his way through the 70s onwards inNorth Beach with artistic legends of all kinds, it’s safe to say he has some stories to tell. EdwinHeaven certainly writes like hell, and now he’s sharing his wide range of life experiences withthe masses in his memoir, The Night I Got David Bowie Laid (Sorta). I was lucky enough to chatwith him a bit about it and get the inside scoop on his writing process.

It’s a sunny day as we sit down, Heaven in his iconic Playboy hat, white necktie and sunglasses on, with his Yorkie Tulip lounging faithfully on the sidewalk next to him. 

Lucy: So my first question is what did your writing process look like? Your memoir isn’t a linear look at your life – How did you go through the process of writing it and deciding the series of events? Did you just write what was coming to mind?

Heaven: So first thing, is I overwrote. I had about 700 pages. So I cut it; tightened it and tightened it. I just wrote these stories; I was not thinking of the chronology of the chapter. I was just thinking in terms of stories that I want to write about. Some stories that I wrote about didn’t fit. 

L: So you overwrote initially.

H: Well, we had a thing called the pandemic and the lockdown. And I just wrote everyday and it kept me- I was excited about the next day, right? Then I would finish that story. So I didn’t- okay this is important. When my daughter, about five, six years ago, said, “Dad, why don’t you write about your story, your life?”  I said, “Darling because I’m raising you. I’m a single dad and I didn’t want you to know that I did big fat lines of coke with the Thin White Duke!” She said, “I’m not stupid. I know you’re with The Tubes, oh I know you’re with The Nuns.” So she gave me the green light. I said, “You’re right it’s about time I put it down on paper.”  Tragically, if I had written this sooner like 10, 15 years ago, instead of five years ago, you know working for the past five years, I would have had some people alive that I could have shared it with. Joey Ramone, you know?

L: That goes into my next question-  You’re running into all these people- You have a story with Bowie, with Hendrix- pretty much anyone I can think of. Like Keith Moon just happens to get out of the Limo when you’re right there and you head to the city disco-” , right before Edwin says “Bang! The limo door hit my knee…”

H: Bang! The limo door hit my knee and I was down, my knee was hurt. Caught his attentionand then we walked in like we were old friends. I mean just amazing stories but they’re all true.L: Yeah! How does that happen? How does one become friends with Coppola? I just find it veryinteresting-how you run into all these people.H: Well, he’s always done little favors for Audrey and me and we hung out in the sameneighborhood. I’m a writer, he’s a writer. So I’m telling my story and I’m thinking what would be interesting for the reader. So the first thing that I had to do was I had to write the Bowie story.L: Was the Bowie story like just the first one that came to mind?H: No, I just wanted to write it. It was a way that I can tell the story about The Nuns, my band. Itwas a way that I can talk about accompanying one of the Ramones while they robbed a store andtake mescaline with Kim [Novak] on a flight to Hollywood. Because David and I were stonedthe whole night, we were exchanging these great stories. And I thought, “Wow, I want to put itdown on paper.”L: Yeah, I also found the Bowie story interesting in that it painted like a very full picture of whatSan Francisco looked like at that time. You’re at the Mabuhay, then you’re at a gallery, Art forArt’s Sake, then you talk about being down in SOMA with the Ramones. It takes youeverywhere and gives a sense of what things were like then versus now.H: As I wrote it, I was thinking, “A writer’s job is to keep the reader reading.” And one way wasto utilize the flashback.L:Do you have any stories that were the most fun to write? Without giving anything away.H: Oh easily, the most fun to write was “Exotic Older Woman.” Hendrix was fun- I shortened itbut it was fun. “The Night I Got David Bowie Laid” was fun to write because I relived it. And itwas great because he was alive as I was writing it and he was there- It’s like when you bringsomebody back from the dead- you can do it in writing. And he’s real again.. Jagger’s BarMitzvah was fun! Busting James Brown out of prison was more hard work. I had to listen to thetapes of our conversation.L: You also talk a lot about different venues in the city that aren’t here anymore. You talk aboutEnrico’s which is not there anymore, you talk about The Mabuhay, about City Disco. I waswondering if there’s one you miss the most when looking back? Is there one that you felt mostconnected to you that you’d want to revive?

H: I was hoping that the people that would read it, who didn’t know what these places were,would Google them. Mabuhay was so much fun that year. That was the year that punk rockexploded!. Yeah, I mean Vanessi’s. I loved that place. That was the best restaurant in the world.Do I talk about it in this book? It’s gonna be in volume two.

L: Is there one story that you have in this book that you’d say is the most San Francisco story-one where you’re like this is very “Bay Area story”?

H: The Bowie chapter. “Jagger’s Bar Mitzvah,” “Panamanian Redhead,” “ Moon in Ronstadt,”“Sexy Beast,” “Robin’s Story,” “Mobsters Always In Season”- These are all San Franciscosettings.L: Would you say there’s one in particular, just any of those? One of the ones that comes to mindfor me was your writing about seeing Robin Williams at Herb Caen’s memorial.

H: That was outside Grace Cathedral. The “Jagger Bar Mitzvah” story I take you on a tour ofBimbo’s. That’s kind of cool. Hasn’t changed at all. I would say that the chapter about Bowiedefinitely is very San Francisco. It’s like it’s hard to pick one; Some of them are smaller chapters,but they’re more located in San Francisco than the broader chapter which isn’t in San Francisco. Ican’t tell you man. I do talk about House of Nanking in “Mobsters Are Always in Season.”“Moon in Ronstadt”- that’s the City Disco.

L: What would you say you want people to take away from reading? Do you just want them tohave fun?

H: I want them to buy my book and give it away for Christmas okay-L: Like read it, experience it, pass it on…

H: No, no, I mean You’re asking me, “What would I like people to do after they’ve read it?” Iwould like them to say that it was a fun read. That was an interesting experience. All these littlemoments in my life that I wanted to share with everyone. I want people to say wow that wasfunny. That was cool. That was sexy.

L: It’s too bad that David didn’t get a chance to read it.

H: You know who I’m sad about not reading my book is Carmella Scaggs. She was one of mydearest friends. She was my muse. She was so witty and brilliant. She was married to BozScaggs. She would’ve really loved it. See, that was, so when you’re writing it, you’re thinking like, who are you thinking about? I’m thinking about my daughter because she’s the one that says“Write the book.”

H:That’s why you write. You write because we want to tell these stories. They seem far fetched-and they’re not! They’re real!

When I met David for the first time he said, “Where’s the party Edwin?” And I went, “David,you’re the party.” And yeah, we partied! What are the odds of those things? It’s just amazing.This life will always give you a surprise. Hopefully they’re always good surprises.L: I also think, for me, it was crazy to read too because a lot of it took place in places that Itechnically know but that are not the same now. It’s like reading a weird reality that I’m aware ofbut doesn’t exist- “I know what this is but it’s not that.” You know what I mean? It’s like, “Oh Iknow these places. I’ve been to House of Nanking before. I’ve been to this area but this isn’t thesame anymore.”H: Next time you go to House of Nanking, look on the wall. You’ll see a clipping from HerbCaen. It says, Edwin Heaven and Francis Coppola were having lunch or dinner at House ofNanking. And Edwin was pitching his new story, “The Lobster, the Mobster.” And FrancisCoppola says, “Edwin, you know, mobsters are always in season but just try to find a goodlobster when you need one! “ It’s on the wall. Have to see if it’s still there- they did clean theplace up a little.L: Finally, how do you think that the book speaks to San Francisco and what the city has been?Did you intend for it to be historical? Like a reflection of what the city was? That’s how I read it;did you intend for that to be part of it?

H: Yeah, I put the chapters… with each chapter I put the year to help the reader understand thejargon, the clothes, whatever was going on. And also to give them a form of… like if you’rereading a story that opens in 1977, then the next story is 1972. And the next story is 1969.And the next story is like 1983. I’m helping them understand the situations. Because not toomany people today even know what the Mabuhay is.

L: Yeah, each time you introduce a new quote-unquote like “era”, different year, I think yousituate people pretty well within it.

H: If you couldn’t be there, there’s no way you understand what it is. But you can say, “Well, I’vebeen to a place where punk bands played and they were… You know, they were in the Mosh pitand all of this.” It was like a phenomenon. And I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

You can buy Heaven’s book The Night I Got David Bowie Laid (sorta) online on amazon if you want to hear more about his star-studded San Francisco adventures. You can find him on Instagram @writes_like_hell to keep up with him and Tulip. 

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