Did you know that 1 in 10 Asian Americans is living with chronic hepatitis B?  Over 2 million people have chronic hepatitis B in the United States and more than half of them are Asian American!  Chronic hepatitis B is a serious long-term disease that results from infection with the hepatitis B virus. Chronic hepatitis B damages the liver and, if the disease is not treated properly, it can lead to severe medical complications, including liver failure, liver cancer, or even death. (*for more information on chronic hepatitis B, visit the B Here website)

In an effort to educate Asian Americans, the B Here project is doing a FREE mini US concert tour, including the best of the best in Asian American entertainment!  But, there’s a catch!  You MUST visit the art/education exhibit in order to receive a ticket!  (now ain’t that smart?!) Free education and free entertainment?  Count me in!

B Here‘s first stop is the beautiful UC Irvine on Monday, October 5th, 2009! The art exhibit will show in the UCI Student Center Ballroom from 10am – 5pm.  The concert, which you MUST have a ticket to enter, is from 6pm – 9pm in the Barclay Theatre.

Artists with work on display include: Ly Nguyen, Eric Koo, Lawrence Kim, Sarah Cho, Leslie Lee, Esther Oh, Brian Yu

The FREE concert line-up is rather EPIC.  So epic, that I know lots of people traveling from all over So Cal to see the exhibit and attend, taking off work early (yeah, non-college students can and should attend tooooo!), skipping class for the day and etc., (not that I encourage any of the above…) just for the chance to see the crazy awesome line-up promised to B Here exhibit attendees. *Please hold all fan-girl screams for the end of the list!* (oh wait, that’s just me, huh?)

Happy Slip and KevJumba – two of the BIGGEST comedians on YouTube.  I’m talkin’ MILLIONS of hits per video!  Happy Slip is #24 most subscribed on YouTube and Kev Jumba is #6 most subscribed on YouTube!  That’s out of EVERYONE on YouTube, overall!

AJ Rafael - singer/songwriter

Paul Dateh – singer/songwriter/violinist and my personal favorite!  I definitely fangirl spaz over this guy!

Kaba Modern – UCI Kababayan’s dance team. Finalist on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew – Season 1!

Michelle Martinez - singer

Jessica Sanchez – singer

*David Choi will not be performing at the UCI show.  He will still be in Korea!

I’m beyond excited for this event!  I’m huge fans of half the list of performers and it’ll be my first time seeing Happy Slip live!  Please come check out the exhibit and stick around for the show.  You won’t regret it!  Take a peak into the self-made Asian American entertainment mainstream, uplifted through the power of YouTube and various other social media tools!

If you plan on attending, please let us know!  We’d love to see you there!  You can also drop off your food and clothing items to donate to Typhoon Ondoy victims if you’ll be there!

You can follow B Here on Twitter, Fan them on Facebook, and RSVP yourself to the Facebook event!