NOTES FROM AMY TAN
I’ve been a lucky person. I had the luck to meet the right mentor, who introduced me to the right literary agent, who then introduced me to the right editor. They were all people who believed in me. When my first book, The Joy Luck Club, made its debut, no one could have anticipated the reception it received.
I was incredibly lucky. I am not denigrating my skills, but I cannot say that it was my work alone that led to where I am today as a published writer. I know of talented writers who have had difficulty getting attention. It is not an equitable world when it comes to talent and the dispensation of luck.
So what is it about luck? Where does it come from? And why do some have it bestowed on them and others do not?
I thought about this when I was in Paris in the summer of 2009. I was in a cabaret and heard a number of great performers. And then one singer took the stage and my jaw dropped. The voice was gorgeous, the technique amazing, but it was the emotional resonance, its authenticity, that left me breathless.
Okay, I admit that at first I thought the singer was a woman wearing a unflattering outfit, one that did absolutely nothing for her figure, which was, hmm, rather flat-chested. About halfway through the song, I realized the soprano voice did not belong to a woman but to a man with a timbre unlike any other I had heard. The singer was Pascal Toussaint.
I have been involved in the opera world, and I have been able to work with some of the greatest voices in the opera world, gorgeous, trained, huge voices. So I’m fairly picky about what I hear at the opera. I know a great voice when I hear one. And my tastes have run pretty true to what my opera singer and composer friends think. Was Pascal as good as I thought?
I had a chance to briefly chat with Pascal. Did he have a CD? No. Did he sing in the U.S. ? No, but he would like to. I wondered why he was not better known. Did he have a demo CD? No. Did he have video of him performing? No. Did he have a website? No.
In that short conversation, just hours before I had to catch a plane, I learned he had been classically trained, that he had sung opera. But how many roles were there for a young black singer with a soprano voice?
So what does it take to bring a little luck into the life of a incredibly talented French singer who can’t get on American Idol? I decided to find out. First thing, I called a friend, Kathi Goldmark, maven and founder of the literary garage band The Rock Bottom Remainders, as well as producer of the NPR radio show West Coast Live. By the way, the fact that she chose me to sing in the band is no reflection of her musical tastes. She was, in fact, the one who first heard Pascal and took me to the club to hear. So when I asked if she would let him sing a song or two on West Coast Live, she said, “You bet. “
And with that bit of luck, more started rolling in. People who heard him sing on West Coast Live also offered to help. An offer of a free recording studio. A pianist willing to play for free. With five demo songs, I now had something for the basis of a website. That led to Aa member of the Gay Men’s Chorus who wanted to introduce him to the chorus and director. .. a lyricist who wanted to send his demo to Broadway directors...a Broadway producer who wanted to send his demo to his director... A photographer who wanted to make a portrait....a writer who will do a feature for the local paper...
On February 28, 2010, Pascal will make his US debut, a solo show at San Francisco’s premiere jazz club Yoshi’s in San Francisco.
Luck has a curious way of generating more. It doesn’t happen without reason. In Pascal’s case, it all began with his voice.
What does luck have to do with it?
Jane Ganahl has been a journalist, author, editor and arts organizer in San Francisco for more than 25 years. She is the co-founder and co-director of Litquake – the west coast’s largest independent literary festival, the author of “Naked on the Page: the Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife,” and editor of the anthology, “Single Woman of a Certain Age: 28 Women Writers on the Unmarried Midlife.” She has contributed essays to five other anthologies. Ganahl has also been a journalist for almost three decades, most of that time with San Francisco newspapers, covering everything from City Hall to pop culture. During her final five years at the Chronicle she penned the “Single Minded” Sunday column about the unmarried life. Jane has chaired panels at the Commonwealth Club, Book Expo America, Book Group Expo, and various other conferences. She has appeared on numerous TV programs, including “The Today Show,” and innumerable radio shows, from Sirius network to NPR. Her work can now be found on Huffington Post and Match.com; she has also contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, Ladies’ Home Journal, Harp, Parenting, Book, Salon.com, Vanity Fair.com and Rolling Stone.com.
