Hello my friends and happy Tuesday to you all! I know, I’m a day late with the post but it’s worth the wait because this week we meet the one & only Mr. Klawson Borges!

Klawsons’ story takes us back to the summer of 1995 when a west coast friend of his named Jesse Naval distracted him with the music of 311 while he and some other friends smoked pot. “He asked if I ever heard of them, I said no. So he gave me his Walkman and I was instantly hooked.  This happen shortly before 311 dropped the blue album.”  It was then his first show at the Roseland Ballroom, where No Doubt opened, that the deal was sealed for Klawson. “Seeing how much energy they put into their show made me swear to see them any chance I could.”

He kept that promise to himself and while he doesn’t keep track of the number, he believes its close to fifty at least. “I personally don’t care about how many shows I’ve been to. All I care about is the next show.”  The first cruise holds a special place in his heart because it was the first 311 cruise ever and as he says, “making me the fanatic that most of you know me as today.”  However, the second cruise is where he proposed to his wife Stephanie, mother of his son Kayson.  “The second cruise also had great weather, the craziness of the beach show, it had white out glow out and it didn’t have the banana drama of the third cruise.”  He said the second cruise didn’t have the energy of the first, but it had the better experience for him. It really in the end doesn’t matter which was the better one. “I’m just happy that I got to go on all three, soon to be all four.”

Like many 311 fans, there isn’t just one song that means the most to Klawson. Currently his jam is “Freeze Time.”  “I’m always looking for balance in my life.” His favorite quote is one of mine as well, “If you don’t have someone to do it with, it’s not worth doing.”

Klawson was born in Brazil, raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. He’s lived in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge since he was four.  He said being an immigrant in a neighborhood built on immigrants you would think he was easily accepted but that wasn’t the case. “It was trying at times to say the least. In my pre-teen years I was often made of fun of and called a sissy. The name calling came from the fact that when I would get teased I would tear up out of frustration and not because I couldn’t handle it, but is was taken as me being a fairy. I heard fairy a lot in my life.”  What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and Klawson believes that the majority of the hatred directed towards him was out of jealousy. “I’m not full of myself but I’m not that hard on the eyes and my mother worked her ass off to provide the best of everything. I always wore name brands and had more than most what a immigrant from Brazil should have according my Irish and Italian counterparts.”

It was right before freshman year when Klawson met Jesse and things started to change for him. He began hanging with an older crowd, one that was less judgmental and they helped him become more comfortable with himself. “The music of 311 reinforced that.”  He said that listening to 311 also gave him peace with his way of thinking. With his high school years came more isolation, and as he says his refusal to conform to the mainstream way of thinking. “The mainstream way would become the lesser road traveled. This was the beginning of my stay positive attitude and the end of my needing to fit in need. The majority of my funds that feeds my 311 habit has come from tax returns, my mother’s generosity,credit cards and some savings.”

I think it’s fair to say that Klawson is pretty much an open book. “There isn’t much people don’t know about me.”  However he did reveal that he was a skateboarder for over 10 years and was really good at it. He also speaks two other languages besides English, which are Portuguese and Spanish. One of his unique traits is that he’ll never forget a face! “Over my years of working in the hospitality industry I’ve developed an ability to remember faces and names associated to them.”

Some guilty pleasure time! Klawson loves watching reality television shows…everything from Survivor to Property Brothers.  His guilty pleasure band he says is the Ting Tings. “Their “We Started Nothing” album was at one time on heavy rotation.” He also said that, “The Hebrew Hammer is so bad that it’s good.”

There are so many bands he loves that there are too many to list, but he did give up a few, including new recent faves Full Service and Passafire. In the past he was into RHCP, NOFX, Green Day, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Aerosmith, GNR, Tupac, and Wu Tang Clan. “I’ve never been into punk but I can appreciate it’s history and its influence on music.”

Klawson has been privileged to meet 311 on numerous occasions. Each and every time he see’s them he simply says thank you. “Thank you for so many book marks and experiences that had have given me the strength to strive for more.”

With that, his message to all of the awesome members of 311 nation is:

“Learn from your past, live in the present and plan for the future. Always remember the grass isn’t greener on the other side it’s just another shade of green. Also try to stay positive whenever possible.”

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That my friends is the man Klawson! If you haven’t met him in person, definitely do yourself a favor and make his acquaintance! He’s a good human being. I hope you all enjoyed and were entertained by his story!

Thank you all for reading over & over and getting to know your fellow fans! Until we meet again.

Much love! -The Runt

Aloha my fellow 311 fans! How is everybody today? I hope excellent and excitable of course! Another Monday is upon us and that means it’s time for the next fan spotlight. Let’s get to know Joe Peace!

Back in the 8th grade is around the time that Joe started listening to 311. He remembers the day he first heard the band because it was also the same day he met his best friend Ryan Meyer. The melody of the album Music made him fall in love. Since he first heard them, Joe has been to 20 shows. His favorites are split between 311 Day 2014 and the Friday night show in Atlanta this past summer.

Joe loves all of the music that 311 creates, but some songs that stand out to him and mean a lot are “Don’t Dwell,” “Starshines,” “Random,” and “Eons.”  When he isn’t jamming out to 311 he listens to a variety of other bands. “I love all music as long as it’s true.”  He said his father got him into hybrid music with his favorite funk/rock band Mothers Finest and that transferred to the hybrid music acts of his generation. Some of those bands are Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and of course 311. Other musicians Joe loves are Kid Rock, David Allen Coe, Black Label Society, Bob Marley and Snoop Dogg.

Born and raised in a little town called Woodstock, in the state of Georgia, Joe still resides there. He spends his time as a chef and has been cooking for 15 years. “It’s one of my passions in life. My other is live concerts. My ultimate goal is life is to open a food truck and travel with 311 and cook.”

Joe may be a cook and love the art of culinary creations, but his guilty pleasure is a simple dish – cereal! As he says, “It’s my favorite shit on earth lol.”  When he is creating food though, he churns out award winning items. He’s won awards in Georgia for his wing sauce.

Interesting fact you may not know – Joe had his share of near death experiences when he was younger.  “When I was 8 I was attacked by a dog, ran over by my grandma in her Jeep Cherokee, and fell off the grand canyon, caught by my shirt collar by my brother and still alive. Pretty wild lol.”

Mentioned above, the Atlanta Tabernacle Friday night show was one of Joe’s favorites of all the shows he’s attended. He loved it so much he actually created a tattoo tribute of the two nights on his leg!

Joe’s love for 311 runs deep in his soul so his message to them is a simple, “Thank you.”

As for his message to all you excitable readers out there:

“If you ever see me feel free to scream out Joe Peace! I love meeting new people especially at a 311 show.”

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Nice to meet you Joe Peace! I hope his story entertained you all and remember, if you see him at a show, simply holler out his name!

Until we meet again my friends, keep the positivity flowing! We need it and so do others.

Much Love! – The Runt

Yes my excitable friends, it’s that time again already! It’s time to meet another awesome 311 fan!! I hope you all had an excellent weekend, and oh yeah, Happy Columbus Day! Whether you are off enjoying a Monday holiday or stuck at work like me, let’s get on with it and meet Mr. Frank Fratto!

High school is where Franks story of his love for 311 begins. It was a time where alternative rock was becoming the music to listen to and Frank was in to it. His local station in Chicago, Q101, would play “All Mixed Up” and “Down” constantly, so he first discovered them thanks to the airplay. He bought the Blue album as a freshman and while he loved the sound, it wasn’t until college that he really, truly began his relationship with their music. He met a guy during that time that he says “re-introduced him” to 311. Frank only owned the Blue album and Soundsystem at the time, so his new friend played Grassroots, Transistor, and From Chaos for him. He immediately fell in love with all three albums, and he and the guy became great friends, remaining that way to this day.

From Chaos had a different impact on Frank. He spent a semester in California and bought the album while away, listening to it for what he says was “almost an entire month straight.” He says it’s, “The perfect mix of funk, rock, punk, ska, reggae, and hip hop influenced beats.”  One of his favorite quote comes from the song “Full Ride” – “Livin’ my life nice in pursuit of grooveology.”  Frank says, “It’s a motto I try to live by. I’m sure there’s an alternate meaning to the guys in the band, but I’ve always looked at it as living life the way you want to live it. Enjoying life, taking it for what it has to offer. Being happy.”

While From Chaos is his favorite album as a whole, his favorite song, the one that means the most to him, is “Strong All Along.”  Frank didn’t go into detail, but he mentioned he’s been through some rough times in his young adulthood battling depression, anxiety and loneliness. That is where “Strong All Along” comes in. “No matter what happened, any time I listened to this song I immediately felt very happy. Very fortunate to live the life I have lived. This song reminds me of how music transcends the instruments, vocals, and musicians and makes the listener actually feel something. It’s a simple, upbeat, catchy, poppy sing a long reggae song but to me it defines 311. It’s why they are my favorite band, why they put out great music, why they connect with their fans. The positivity. Believing in yourself. Believing that you can do anything you want to do.”

Since he fell for the awesome talents of 311, Frank has attended 16 shows and is grateful for every one of them. “I know some people have seen them a whole lot more and probably have done a lot more traveling than I have, but I’m pretty happy and consider myself very fortunate to have seen my favorite band multiple times in different places.”  Frank has seen the band play in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, and then last year in International waters on the cruise.  Of all the shows and events he’s been to though, it’s 311 Day 2012 in Vegas that takes the top prize. “Epic is just one of the many words I would use to describe this experience. It was my first major 311 related event outside of concerts that I attended. I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a Las Vegas guy, I don’t gamble, and it just never really appealed to me. I had to make an exception for 311 and I’m glad I did. I’ve been to several concerts, so I know the feeling of being with hundreds of other fans and feeling connected but the 311 day experience is beyond that. It’s the mecca of 311 fans, I’ve never seen anything like it. Getting off of the plane people were greeting me instantly with high fives, commenting on my 311 shirt, just making me feel very welcome. I met so many other fans that weekend in Vegas that I never thought I’d meet in my life.”

One of the fans he met was Michelle Roche. He made the decision to attend a fan party after the show on 3/11/2012 and while at first he had reservations about going because he is pretty shy and reserved, he’s glad he did something he doesn’t normally do. “During a random conversation at the party, I was briefly introduced to Michelle, a fellow 311 fan and Familia group member. I have to be honest, I don’t exactly remember everything that was said, but I do remember her eyes looking directly into mine. I left the party that night feeling more happy than I have felt in years.” After the party Frank and Michelle kept in touch, talking pretty much every day. Then Michelle went to visit Frank in June of 2012 and after that weekend he said he knew his life was changed forever. “We’ve been dating for over two years now, and I consider myself a lucky guy every day. I think you can understand why the 311 day 2012 experience was my favorite of the two events I’ve attended.” Yay 311 love! 🙂

Frank was born and raised on the south side of Chi-town in the Bridgeport neighborhood and now resides in the southwest suburbs of the city in Tinley Park (about 30 minutes outside of Chicago).  He is the oldest of five children in his Italian family (he has two sisters and two brothers). He now lives with one of his brothers and is very close with his entire family. “I come from an Italian family, so we are very close, we are very vocal, we enjoy spending time together, we love each other, and we love talking with our hands (haha). I’m the only real 311 fan in my immediate family, and although some of my family doesn’t understand it, they certainly can respect it.”

While not an athlete himself, he is a dedicated Chicago sports fan. “Growing up on the South Side, I was raised a Chicago White Sox fan, who are still my favorite sports team to this day. My dad used to take me to old Comiskey Park when I was younger to watch players like Harold Baines, Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, and Ozzie Guillen. I can’t go a year without going to at least a few Sox games and I enjoy watching them on TV too.”  He’s also a big fan of the Chicago Blackhawks, Bears, and Bulls.

Frank’s funded his passion for 311 by working hard at his job at the Illinois Tollway and has been there for almost 10 years now. He began his career in 2005 in the traffic operations center “working long and unusual hours.”  He was just promoted last year to the engineering department and he says it’s definitely helped contribute to his concert fund, as well as that he lives with his bro and isn’t married (yet!!).

Frank claims he isn’t really an interesting person and doesn’t believe he has anything unique about him, but I say F that, because we are all amazing human beings!  He’s had the opportunity to go on a couple of fishing trips in Canada that brought him once in a lifetime experiences. The first trip he jumped off of a cliff 40 feet high into a lake. Then his second trip, which was with his dad, he was lucky enough to catch a 46 inch Northern Pike that weighed almost 30 pounds! “Took both me and my dad to get it on the boat. For someone who doesn’t fish often, I’d say that’s a pretty cool thing to happen.”  Frank also has a photographic memory which makes him have a really great knowledge of movies, actors, musicians, athletes and sports. “I can remember things that many people may have a hard time remembering themselves. For example, you probably never knew that the lead singer of a punk rock band called Pulley (a band i listen to) also used to be a starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, named Scott Radinsky. Scott Radinsky still has ties to baseball as a coach, and still rocks out with Pulley at shows.”

No matter what anyone says, every one of us has a guilty pleasure. For Frank it’s that he’s a closet fan of bad 80’s music. “Everything from hair metal to contemporary. My girlfriend isn’t thrilled about it but I don’t care. I can’t help it.”  He also loves John Mayer’s music. “It’s funny because I used to bash him and wrote him off as another pop garbage singer when in reality the man can play the guitar and sing like no one I’ve ever seen.” Aside from some of his guilty pleasures, Frank says he really listens to a wide array of music genres. He credits dad for getting him into older bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.  He said it was when he was as young as 10 that he was exposed to the world of rock music. A few other bands he listens to often are the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Linkin Park, Incubus, Less Than Jake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, The Offspring, Rise Against, and Chevelle. Along with 311 Frank says, “These are the bands that make me who I am.”

Frank met 311 just once and it was very brief so he didn’t get to say as much as he’d like to them. “If I had the chance to sit down with them for a few minutes and actually talk to them, I would thank them first off for taking the time to meet and talk to me and thank them for their music and continuing to put on amazing live shows. Chances are that I would be extremely nervous and probably wouldn’t remember what it is that I wanted to say to them though, haha. I am curious to know when SA began to incorporate the use of turntables and what his influences are as far as records to mix in each of the songs. I also would like to know when the band started the applied science drum solo routine.”

And now his words for all of you awesome excitable people:

“I just want to thank everyone who has ever introduced themselves to me at shows, shook my hand, bought me beer, sent me posters, sent me music, and just acknowledged me as a person. I’m a genuinely nice guy, if you approach me at a show and say hello, I’ll say hello right back to you.”

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Well my friends, that is our brother Frank! I hope you all enjoyed his tale of his 311 love. Thank you, Merci, Gracias, for reading once again. It is my pleasure to introduce you all to each other and to learn more about each and every one of you! Until we meet again… “It’s alright…wherever you are right now…”

Much love – The Runt

Hello again my friends! I’m sorry for the brief hiatus from spotlights last week. Technical difficulties! But don’t worry, I’m back and we’ve got a fresh new spotlight! So I’ll stop wasting time and get to it – Meet Dan Economico!

The year was 1999 and Soundsystem had just dropped when Dan became a fan of the 311 awesomeness. He had heard them on MTV prior to that but never really got fully into them, that is until he saw the video for “Come Original.”  “I then went to my friends house and saw her bro had two of the blue album so I ‘borrowed’ it and listened to the whole thing. After that I became obsessed!”

Since 99 Dan has seen the guys live 45 times. He’s been all over to see them, including cruises and 311 Day’s, but he says that 311 Day 2012 in Vegas has to be his favorite out of all of the shows he’s attended. “I got dead center rail for both shows and it was the first time I finally heard “Salsa” live. I waited 30 shows for that!”  So can you guess based on that last statement the song that means the most to him? “Just love everything about that song. The music, SA’s rap, everything!”

If he’s going to discuss some lyrics that he loves though, he says the chorus from “Too Much Too Fast” is where it’s at. “I just love to sing it, I wish they played this song more live!” And just in case you don’t know the exact lyrics off the top of your head:

“Too much too fast for the moment to last, I tumbled to you while stumbling through, How do I get my head up off the tracks, Listening for a train? Ah-ah, cuz that’s just no way to live, I’ve got so much love to give, much too fast ooh-ooh.”

Born, bred, and still residing in suburban New York, Dan works at A&P to fund his 311 addiction. He’s been with A&P for 18 years and is lucky to get 3-4 weeks off a year which he uses mostly for 311 fun. “I use about 80% on 311 events.” He also says he stands out in the summer crowd because he is covered in tattoos! (Which you can see some in his photo above). Tattoos are Dan’s other addiction and his guilty pleasure. “There’s not a month that goes by that I don’t get some work done. I always say I’m almost done but then I find some skin that I just need to get covered.”  Another guilty pleasure is that he loves pro wrestling. “I never go out on Mondays. Those are devoted to Raw ever since it started back in 1993.”

Dan doesn’t believe he has any interesting facts about him, but I know him personally and can tell you he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet! He also has an impressive poster collection hanging up! Oh, he got to hop on stage with Green Day and sing “Longview” when they played in Connecticut in 2013. I know because I was there and took a picture!

Besides 311, Green Day is a band Dan says he can’t live without. There are only a few others that get that type of love and they are Blink 182, New Found Glory, and No Doubt.

Dan has done the VIP meet & greet, so he’s had the opportunity to speak to the fellas on a few occasions. However, when I asked Dan if he could say one thing to them he told me, “I never know what to say, I aways freeze up!” Freeze time! He he, just kidding.

However, when it comes to speaking to all of you awesome people in 311 nation, there is no freezing there:

“I just cant wait to see everyone again in a few months for the cruise and have a great time with everybody – it’s always a party when 311 is around – they bring out the best in people!”

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Well said my awesome friend! I hope you all loved reading about Dan. It was my pleasure to write about a good friend of mine and tell his story to you all! Until we meet again excitables…”Stay positive & love your life.

Much love! – The Runt