A promo for the Indo-American Arts Council's 15th anniversary gala.

When Paul Williams was approached by Indo-American Arts Council(IAAC) executive director Aroon Shivdasani to perform at the New York non-profit arts organization’s 15th anniversary gala Thursday night (Nov. 21) at the Angel Oresanz Foundation for the Performing Arts on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, he “unhesitatingly agreed,” said Shivdasani as she introduced him.

“You do not say 'no' to a room!” answered Williams with true showbiz panache. He recounted afterward how he happened to participate in an event that celebrated how the “Indian diaspora,” in Shivdasani’s words, was fast becoming a “measurable factor” culturally outside India.

“I had met Aroon through Tracey Jackson,” Williams said yesterday.

“Tracey and I have a blog and are writing a book together called Gratitude And Trust, Recovery's Not Just For Addicts. Aroon asked if I would perform at her 15th anniversary event. It felt like a chance to be of service, and to reaffirm ASCAP's commitment to the Indian composer, songwriter, publishers and filmmakers in their quest to be properly compensated for their creativity.”

Besides the legendary writer of such classic pop songs as “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “An Old Fashioned Love Song” “You and Me Against The World” and “The Rainbow Connection,” Williams also serves as president/chairman of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

“Tracey is the writer of the extremely successful film The Guru, and is something of a star in India,” continued Williams, who wrote the title song for her documentary Lucky Ducks, which premiered at the 2009 IAAC Film Festival and takes place partly in Mumbai. “In an attempt to give her New York teenage daughter some sense of gratitude, she took her to India to work in a school one summer. It's indicative of the kind of spiritual life Tracey leads and has been a great parallel to my own recovery.”

Williams, during his IAAC performance and at his regular shows, noted that he’s “22 years sober.”

“Perhaps India's greatest gift to this country is it's great influence on new thought, philosophy and religion,” he continued. “I believe there is a direct connection to art through spirit and, of course, through suffering and struggle. In recovery we are directed to a life of love and service. I hope that my appearance last night made Indian music creators aware of the fact that we are watching and rooting for their success.”

Indeed, Williams, who walked the runway used after his performance for a fashion show featuring the work of Indian designer Manish Arora, interspersed his singing with friendly banter, including a plea for India to pay its songwriters and composers--for which he offered his and ASCAP’s services to help. This struck a chord with Salman Rushdie, who along with filmmaker Mira Nair and Dr. Manjula Bansal were honored for their contribution to the global artistic community.

“Paul talked about intellectual property rights,” said Rushdie. “When [his 1981 prize-winning novel] Midnight’s Children came out in India, it was very heavily pirated. I have no idea how much money I lost [but] the pirates were so excited, they sent me greeting cards—‘Happy birthday…Eid Mubarak…love, the Pirates.’ I wish they sent money!”

Leading into his 1970 Carpenters masterpiece “We’ve Only Just Begun,” Williams humbly expressed his sense of privilege to sing in the same room as Rushdie, hailing him as “the essence of courage.”

He later confided: “Before leaving my hotel suite I whispered into my Ganesha's ear [Ganesha is the Hindu elephant-headed deity who is among other things, patron of the arts] and said, ‘Please don't let me screw this up.’”

He didn’t, with much assistance coming from his longtime collaborator Kenny Ascher on piano.

“It was wonderful to share the stage with Kenny Ascher,” said Williams. “We've been blessed to have many of our songs become successful. He's an amazing musician and great friend. We jumped at the chance to show off a little together.”

Williams and Ascher, who has played with everyone from Paul Simon to John Lennon, closed with their big hit “Rainbow Connection,” Williams also crediting Kermit the Frog, who originally performed it in The Muppet Movie