You Rock Girl! Amy Tan is SF Litquake Barbary Coast Award Winner

Novelist Amy Tan is roasted in good fun by her literary peers as she accepts the third annual Litquake Barbary Coast award. Ben Fong-Torres is a roaster and the Master of Ceremonies.

It was an elegant setting indeed. The Herbst Theatre, part of the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center has large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, walls handpainted with frescos, and moulding accented in shimmering gold.

It was a great place for Amy Tan's friends to have fun roasting her before she was presented with her Barbary Coast award, or as Litquake Literary Festival founders Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware put it, to braise her.

On stage, Ben Fong-Torres, author, broadcaster, rock journalist and all around renaissance man serenaded the guest of honor in his best Elvis. Ben remembers Amy when she was a business writer, before The Joy Luck Club , before 'she became Chinese again.'

What is there to know about Amy besides being a best-selling novelist including The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, Saving Fish from Drowning and The Bonesetter's Daughter ?

If you believe the unruly roasters, she can be funny, quirky, and downright rowdy. She's a dominatrix-style back-up singer with
The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band of authors including the likes of Stephen King, Scott Turow, Matt Groening and Kathi Kamen Goldmark.

Independent book store president Elaine Petrocelli shared stories about Amy being a plucky philanthropist. When the New Orleans disaster hit, she received a call from Amy enlisting her help. Amy said she wanted to organize a fundraiser with author readings at her Book Passages stores, Not a month or two away, no, how about - next week? She got her way. Amy brought forty authors together for the quickie benefit and raised $40,000.

The evening showcased a wide variety of performances ranging from music from Los Train Wreck to rousing Chinese lion dancers moving up and down the aisles and on stage to staccato drum beats and clashing cymbals from Leung's White Crane and Dragon Dance Association.

While members of the Rock Bottom Remainders band tattled on her, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, the star of the 2008 operatic version of The Bonesetter's Daughter and a cancer survivor sang a personal song to the tune of 'Hey Jude' to her friend Amy who helped her through her bout with cancer. Cabaret singer, Pascal Horn, sang 'My Funny Valentine' to a slide show of photos of Amy from child to dominatrix.

Adding to the roasting fun were authors Rabih Alameddine, Sam Barry, KQED-FM host Michael Krasny, and writer Andrew Sean Greer who ripped off his jacket and shirt to a sequined vest, declaring, 'Amy Tan made me a gay man!'

As a final treat of the evening Amy was toasted with a nostalgic musical performance of Mr. Tambourine Man by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. Check out this YouTube video.

Novelist Armistead Maupin was the first Barbary Coast award recipient presented by the Litquake Literary Festival in 2007. He presented Amy with her Barbary Coast award.

Accepting the award, Amy addressed her braisers: "Every single one of you really touched my heart. I thought I was going to squirm tonight -- Aagh! I can't stand it! But you made me out to be a lot better than I am. And I'm going to try and be better."