Second excerpt from:

INSPIRE AMERICA
A weekly TV show broadcast LIVE from Newton, Boston, USA and hosted by Lisa Brightman

31st January 2000

“YOU ARE WATCHING INSPIRE AMERICA AND WITH ME TONIGHT, HELPING TO INSPIRE AMERICA, IS PAUL CHI, PRESIDENT OF HEALTHYCONCERTS.COM”

About FINDING HOSTS for Healthy Concerts:

PAUL …when we put on Healthy Concerts it’s a very delicate matter and we do it with full respect for the people who host the concerts in the their own home. We find out from them what kind of music they would particularly like to hear and also the numbers of people they feel comfortable with. We’d like to make it possible for anyone to have a concert in their house if they want one. Obviously some people rightly declare that their living room isn’t big enough, but maybe they have a garden. Its developing this resource through personal contact with the local community that enabled us to put on two or three concerts a week in Brighton in the autumn of 99…

INSPIRED BY AMERICA

PAUL …meeting people like Steve Rapson and James O’Brien, at Club Passim, has made a deep impression on me. Club Passim has an incredible history. Many well known artists have come through there (Joan Baez, Nanci Griffiths, Suzanne Vega, Bonnie Raitt…) and it’s a valuable resource to all the local songwriters… On some open-mic evenings more than 50 people sign up to play!

LISA Who are some American artists that have inspired you?

PAUL Well, when I first went to Club Passim I heard a young woman called Adrianne Gonzalez and instantly fell in love, with her voice, with her song… I think she will join the ranks of the famous people who have played at Club Passim. I’m very pleased about that, but the important thing to note is that these musicians are out there to discover, I mean before the media discovers them… Go out there now and listen to them because they’re fantastic.

“YOU ARE WATCHING INSPIRE AMERICA AND WITH ME TONIGHT HELPING TO INSPIRE AMERICA IS PAUL CHI, PRESIDENT OF HEALTHY CONCERTS.COM”

LISA We are coming to the end of the show. Do you have any last minute comments?

PAUL …I think that the main message is that we can have a richness of music in our community - in the houses, in the homes where we live, in the gardens, and I think that this is the future – and it starts now.