Get With The Program! The Hip-Hop Event of the Year Goes Tech-Friendly

The Program (Dec. 18-22) will be way cooler than we initially thought, folks. Not only will some of the biggest names in NW hip-hop be on stage for your entertainment five nights in a row, but the latest news is that there are all kinds of technological tie-ins that will make this event very, very 21st-century.

For instance: if you bring your cell phone to the show (haha! Who doesn’t bring their cell phone to a concert?), you can text witty messages and send photos from your phone to a special number and they will be posted and projected larger-than-life up on a wall for all to see. There will also be a Verizon van outside, playing NW hiphop music and videos for the passersby and hangers-out. They’ll have phones for you to use at the van to make free international calls; Dave Meinert, former co-owner of the Mirabeau Room and coordinator of this grand Program, suggests giving Khingz's family a call over in Jamaica.

As for the World Wide Web, interested Seattleites should check out SynchronicityLive, where The Program in all its glory (openers included) will be streamed live. And for pre-Program info, audio, video, and photos, we recommend you check out Imeem. Imeem is a new music-oriented social and professional networking site that’s blowing up fast, and NW hip-hop’s getting some great play; for example, the Blue Scholars got on a front-page playlist and over the course of three days, received 1.4 million listens. Now that is exposure!

The Program: $50 for five nights, four of which are all-ages and all of which are at Neumos. (It’s $15 a pop in advance if you’re purchasing tickets for individual nights.) This is the Blue Scholars’ baby, but it’s everyone’s business! The Oldominion family will be there, Portland will be there, Vancouver BC will be there. And Seattlest will, of course, be there. Stay posted for coverage!