Happy Memorial Day friends out in 311 nation! Before you head out to celebrate, take a moment to meet our latest fan spotlight – Sandra Dee Guillen!

It was Sandra’s fiancé who introduced her to the sounds of 311. It was the island vibes to rock vibes and everything in between that really sucked her in. “Was feeling the grooves and nodding my head to the beats. While getting groovy…I even found myself doing a little ballroom dance & break dancing.”

Sandra lost count at 21 of how many shows she has been to. “It’s not the number that should matter but what we do with the time … every second…every year…. we must make every moment count.” Some of her favorites that she attended include both the Jamaica and Cozumel cruises, Asbury park shows, the New York City Halloween show, and Atlantic City. Her first show ever was in Philadelphia at Festival Pier.

First favorite song for Sandra was “Sunset in July” because she loves dancing and having the time of her life with friends. A few of her other favorites are: Tranquility (because it helped her through a tough time of losing 3 parents and 2 fur boxer kids in a short period of time), “Beyond the Grey Sky,” “Face in the Wind” (because it makes her think of just putting yourself out there and facing your fears), “Inside Our Home,” and “Island Sun.” One of her favorite quotes comes from her first favorite – “Rockers by my side, time is flying by. Watching you dancing and having the time of your lives and it gets me high.”

Born and raised in the Rio Grand Valley, Sandra is from the southern tip of Texas. She has a degree in Graphic Design but stuck with her passion, which is dancing. Dance and teaching took her to Las Vegas for 4 years where she competed in a variety of ballroom and latin style dances. She then moved to Pennsylvania and has lived there for almost 12 years. “It was then when I was introduced to that scratched CD…. that got played so much it looks like it has burn circles from the songs I played over & over.” She is a professional ballroom instructor and her dream was to share her love of dance with others, which she does at Pivotballroom. She opened this studio with her partner almost a year ago. “A place where when we were renovating the walls heard Mosaic on repeat through many hours/days of tears, sweat, injuries & even helped us get past the days we were most tired & overwhelmed.  Yes… 311 stuff can be seen/found in and around the studio.”

Sandra has had a love of classic music from an early age. On Saturday mornings she would be woken up by the sounds of old school music being played on the record player. “Dad would play all kinds of vinyl and we had a dance party in the living room. Gosh I miss those days.” Her musical choices are pretty diverse, including everything from blues to ska, from country to old school hip hop. Other artists she enjoys besides 311 include Dirty Heads, Rdgldgrn, Full Service, Soja, Prince, Beastie Boys, Frank Sinatra and Metallica.

Fun facts about Sandra include that she is a paranormal investigator and her nickname is Cha Cha. As mentioned, she loves dancing and has a talent for it. She can even break dance! Guilty pleasure? “Mermaiding.”

Sandra was lucky enough to meet Nick one day and this was her interaction:

Sandra Dee to Nick: “May I have a hug?”

Nick: Yess…sure.

“He sort of looked a little thrown back.. my guess is cuz I asked for permission  instead of just going in for one :: shrug shoulders :: & I was frozen.. wanting to respect his space/energy…with a huge smile on my face. Did I mention he is so much taller than I expected too..his energy was great!!!”

Finally, here is Sandra’s message to all the other fans:

“Fin ups!! Get out there and whatever makes your soul happy do that!! Be what we see and hear so often from 311… be yourself. .. Remember you attract what you put out there. So let’s all be creatures for awhile… spirits on the run…. living and let live with love & kindness. 

And if you see me don’t hesitate to give me a high five but….

*** Warning** I’M A HUGGER!”

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That was the story of Sandra Dee Guillen! It was a pleasure to write and share her story. Much gratitude as always for those who read each week. Now go celebrate the day and keep on spreading that positivity!

Much Love – The Runt

Welcome again friends out there in 311 nation! It’s that time again, we need to meet our next fan spotlight! Say hello to Heidi Weber!

Heidi’s best friend in high school had the Grassroots album and they would drive around listening to it. Then Heidi went and found the Music album and was hooked from there on. “When I was a kid I loved how different they sounded from everyone else. The lyrics were so uplifting to me and made me think about things in a different way and changed my perspective. Young and impressionable for sure.”

As far as show count, she’s pretty sure it’s somewhere around 25. Her first show was in Cleveland at the Agora Theater back in 1999. “I had just gotten my license and overestimated how cool my parents were when I bought the tickets. They definitely were not cool enough to let me drive an hour to Cleveland to see a band. But I already had the tickets so what was I going to do? I was going to lie and go anyway. Me and my friends ended up stealing one of their dads cars and driving up there and lying about where we were. It totally worked. It was the time of my life at 16. They started the encore with who’s got the herb and the whole place lit up. I had never seen anything like that in my 16 year old life, but I totally lit up with them.”

Favorite event for Heidi was her first 311 Day in 2016. “I had been wanting to go since they started doing it back in the day, but there was no way I had money to travel to see 311. The drummer in my band, David Elrod (some of you may know) shared an interest in 311 that we apparently had never talked about. It came up one day and we decided to go for it in 2016. We had such a blast meeting new people and seeing how much love for 311 was still out there. We hopped on the cruise the next year and Vegas this year. Safe to say we’re hooked.”

When it comes to favorite song, Heidi said that historically “Eons” has been her favorite if asked but with that being said, “Freak Out” hits her really hard. Then picking lyrics that mean a lot to here is difficult, but there is a funny story that comes with one set of lyrics in particular. “In high school someone was giving me a hard time about something. Just being an all around not cool person and instead of slapping back at them I just spouted these lyrics. They were definitely speechless after that.” The lyrics come from the song “Uncalm” – “Don’t even try it, you don’t want to disrespect me. If dealing with punks was school I’d have a Harvard degree. You can’t make hate you no matter how punk you act, whatever you do I don’t react. I’m the perfect example of not giving a fuck about catty rude people that just suck. What do you know, all of a sudden, uh, I usurp you. Look it up in the dictionary to find out what I do. I go back to the style I came from, it’s not something you can fake son. You’re a con man who’s run is done, you lead a world wide web of deception.”

A “super small town” in Ohio is where Heidi was raised. She said there wasn’t much to do in the summer and even less in winter. “Our main hangouts were driving around in someones car and listening to music. 311 was always in heavy rotation.” She lived in Ohio for 23 years and then moved to California. There she produces concerts and live events. She also hosts a radio show on Radio Valencia in San Francisco. As if that wasn’t enough, she DJ’s at her local dive bar. “I got super lucky and was able to turn my love of music into a career.”

Interesting fact about Heidi is that she played in a German brass band for most of the time she was in Ohio. She’s also super into karaoke. “On the cruise last year I went to the karaoke event right when it started and signed up for 4 songs at least. I was recognized as the karaoke girl after that.” Guilty pleasure? She’s been known to get down to some Taylor Swift! Other musical interests include Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sleater Kinney, Rilo Kiley, Alvvays, Belle & Sebastian, and King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizard. She said she also really loves the 60’s pop that’s out there.

Her message to 311 is a simple yet beautiful one: “Thanks for all the memories.”

To all the fellow fans:

“It’s always a fun time hanging out with you guys. Can’t wait to catch you at the shows!”

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Thank you to Heidi Weber for sharing your story! Gratitude goes out to all who participate and who read every week. You are all amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of this community. Until we meet again!

Much love – The Runt

Oh hey there excitable nation! Welcome again to the fan spotlight. This week we meet the lovely Alexandra Collins!

During high school Alexandra listened to “Love Song” and “Amber” but didn’t fully become a 311 fan until 2016 when she started dating someone who was a huge fan. “The positivity of their lyrics originally drew me to the band, but once I saw them live it became about so much more than that. It felt like family.”

Show count for Alexandra is at 11. She went on the cruise in 2017 and attended this years 311 Day. First show for her was in San Francisco in 2016. Her favorite event so far was the cruise which she said was life changing. “Spending four days on a boat with a bunch of people who preach positivity and love the same band I do was one of the most enlightening experiences of my life. You really can’t understand it until you experience it for yourself.”

There are a few songs that mean a lot to Alexandra, but “It’s Alright” is probably the one that means the most to her. “I found the Uplifter album during a difficult time for myself and my family and the lyrics in that song in particular helped me through it.” Some of her favorite lyrics though come from the song “Tranquility” – “No you can’t go around it, you have to walk right through it, my father told me that so long ago. Every time that you ignore it, it gets a little more, you just have to walk toward the fear to go.” She said these lyrics speak to her because of trials that her family has been through. “It reminds me that I need to face my problems head on and not let fear stop me from achieving the things I want in life. No matter where I am when I hear this song, I always take a minute to center myself and really listen to the words.”

The San Francisco Bay Area is where Alexandra grew up but she also spent a lot of time in Upstate New York, where her family is from. She went to Syracuse University for a year, but then transferred to Arizona State University where she earned her bachelors degree in Journalism. Besides the above mentioned states, she has also lived in Connecticut and Oregon where she worked for a couple of small baseball teams. She currently works for the San Francisco Chronicle as a full-time content producer. She also works part-time for MLB.com as a stats stringer and as if that wasn’t enough, she is the media relations assistant for the Oakland Raiders.

When not tied up with work, Alexandra likes to rock climb, hike and be outdoors in general. She also writes concert reviews and dabbles in live music photography. Something interesting about Alexandra, she has a matching tattoo with both her best friend and her mom! “My mom and I both have baseballs with wings and my best friend and I both have lyrics to an A Day to Remember song.”

Singing has been something Alexandra has been doing sing she was a child and she used to perform at state fairs and various events in California. She even sang the national anthem at some games. Now I get my fix doing karaoke at dingy dive bars. I get down to some “Lady Marmalade.” Guilty pleasure for her is bad reality T.V. shows. “I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

Her musical tastes are all over the map and she doesn’t just simply love one genre. She said her favorite artists often change. Lately she has been listening to Rebelution, The Beatles, Stick Figure, Halsey, Tom Petty, Dirty Heads, Nahko and Medicine for the People.

To 311, Alexandra’s message is: “Thank you for always leaving your heart and soul on the stage and for treating your fans more like family.”

To all the fellow fans in 311 nation:

“Remember, you don’t know what people are going through in their personal lives. Be kind, stay positive and love your life.”

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Many thanks to Alexandra for sharing her story of her love for 311. Much gratitude goes out to each of you that are in this family and read the spotlights. May your week be full of light and positivity!

Much Love – The Runt

Hello again 311 fans! Time for the latest edition of the spotlight. This week, let’s meet Robert Solivan!

Robert was the age of 19, in the year 1997, when he first discovered 311. He knew the songs “Down” and “All Mixed Up,” but didn’t really pay too much attention to them at first. He then joined a CD club where he bought 10 CD’s for a penny. “The ones I remember are Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits, Grateful Dead Skeletons in the Closet, Music and Grassroots. I didn’t know that 311 had two other albums so I thought I’d give them a shot. When I put in Music I liked it right away, everything about it, I don’t have to preach to the choir here. And it continued with Grassroots. After these two albums became part of my rotation it was Tim’s Santana sounding guitar style part in Nutsymptom that impressed me the most. Another thing I liked was Nicks certainty about being here today, tomorrow, next week and, next year. He was right. I then borrowed forever The Blue Album from my friend. It rocked.”

Since 1997, Robert has been seeing 311 live consistently in the San Francisco Bay Area. It started on Halloween at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. He’s lost count of exactly how many times he has seen them. In 2008 he was at 22 shows and he said he remembers this because he briefly thought he had seen them enough. “Then I realized some things. First off, Uplifter had just come out and I loved it, It was their ninth album. There were no bands I liked at the time or even now that made that many albums that I liked so much. Specifically the Beatles who were life changing for me. And there are more 311 songs that I like than The Beatles. At that point I realized 311 was my favorite band and I wanted to see them every time they came around.”

Favorite show so far for Robert has been 311 Day 2014. “For that marathon show I heard more of my favorite songs than any other concert than I have been to.” First show he traveled across the country for was Pow Wow. “I took the bus because I had a bunch of stuff the plane wouldn’t let me have. It was an experience that I wouldn’t recommend. I fly now.” He also made it on the Jamaica cruise and plans on going on the 2019 cruise.

When asked if he has a favorite song, he said a less complex question would be favorite album. “I’ve bought every album during initial release since Transistor and listened to them religiously until the next one comes out and repeat. I Love every album and have twenty three years of positive stories for every one of them.” Currently Mosaic is his favorite. He said a start to some 311 magic was when Transistor was released and he bought it the week it came out. “There was a Tower Records commercial for it. Bought it after work, took it home, put it in the cd player pressed rewind to see if there was a secret track and there was. I always rewound or waited for a secret track after the last track because of various other albums at the time that did it. Mind Blown they had one. Mind blown again a couple months later when I see them live for the first time and they start the show with it dressed in their Halloween costumes. I have a story for every single album released since. Going to shows and swapping them are the best.”

Concord, California, is where Robert grew up. It’s about 30 miles east of San Francisco. His mother was born in Mexico and he was raised as pop-cultured as anyone else was in the 80’s. He and his family listened to R&B, Soul, Funk, Rap, & Salsa music as he grew. Then at 15 he was introduced to  AC/DC Live and his musical interests broadened. “From there Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power lyrics were memorized and Rock & Roll albums whether classic or modern started to rule my life.  Jimi, Marley, Zeppelin,The Beatles, RHCP, RATM, Sublime, 311 around here somewhere, System of a Down, Slipknot, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Mudvayne.”

Currently Robert has five favorite active bands that he has been listening to solidly for a few years. Obviously number one is 311. Second is Passafire. “Ten years of listening to these guys and seeing them live and they just keep getting better. They are catching up to 311 with six stellar albums.” Third band is Faith No More. He got into them in 1999 after they broke up but then in 2010 they reunited. He said if they had kept making music and hadn’t broken up they would probably be his favorite band right now. Number four for him is T.V. on the Radio. “They’ve been solid to me for a decade and I just saw them three nights in a row in Berkeley to be far from disappointed. I cancelled Back to the Beach for it and don’t regret it.” Then number five is The Cave Singers. “They’re like if Creedence Clearwater and Fleetwood Mac had a baby band with Joe Cocker singing, that would be them. Saw them open for a band called Calexico in 2007 and I never stopped listening. They ended up having a song in Sons of Anarchy season three which was random.”

For Robert’s interesting fact about himself that people may not know, I’m going to let him tell it to you in his own words. “One interesting thing about me that people don’t know is that I partied a little too hard being a creature for a little more than a while and became homeless for a couple days. Drugs messed my life up like sleeping behind a building for a couple nights with nowhere to go all bridges burned homeless. This was the From Chaos/Evolver era. The first day of homelessness I traded my electric guitar for an acoustic. Was going to spend half of my money on a 311 sticker at a smoke shop to put on my  guitar case but the guy gave it to me for free. I still have the guitar case. Stumbled upon some meeting ending while urinating in an alley one night and someone noticed my sticker on my guitar and we talked music. They ended up having a room for rent and I found two jobs the next day. I liked Rock & Roll and speed. The speed stopped in 2005. I like that Cannabis is legal now. Never stopped me from smoking it. It’s always felt legal here. It’s been medicinal 20 years now in California but now it’s recreational. Nice to have one less thing to be paranoid about after a sesh. I’m open about it now with my kids. They know the medicinal values of it and that it’s the delivery person at the door who has the herb. And we can grow it once we have more space. Totally legal.”

Right now Robert is just “a working class Brodel.” He is employed as a security guard for live events, mainly concerts in the San Francisco area. “I’ve meet a bunch of famous people worked epic shows and get to stand front of stage or work backstage for every genre of music and be that cool security guard that wants you to have a good time.” He and his love Hannah have 3 sons. “Nick is 11, Tim is 9, and Chad is 1 ½. Just kidding, that’s not their names.” They took the kids to their first show at Cali Roots in 2014. “They enjoyed the whole show and behaved so I bring them now. They are true fans and know the music so I have to bring them or I would miss them. It’s a whole new level of enjoyment watching them mesmerized just trying to imagine their point of view of what’s going on. I love it. My older son will be 13 next 311 Day and the two of us are going to go. So 311 Day 2018 was a send off to an era for me of 311 journeys being a sort of get away from my family. I missed my kids during the show because they were playing our favorite songs. And seeing Nick in Dad mode for his kids doing that Coco song really assured me that I am at the right place for my 311 fandom right now. Being myself and being a Dad . I have to say though that my kids favorite band is 21 pilots.”

Guilty pleasure for Robert right now he said is the song “Til the City’s on Fire.” He said its a classic scenario where he isn’t used to the sound of a song and isn’t sure if he likes it then it grows on him. “311 has made music through the the years that I wouldn’t normally listen to if I it wasn’t 311 along the lines of TTCOF. There’s angry and hard music I love but 311 was always there with positivity to keep me straight.”

To 311, Robert would like to say: “Thanks for helping me become a better person and I miss the Bay Area shows at the Warfield, Fillmore and Greek Theater.”

To all the other fans out there:

“It seems we have the unity down. There’s always room for tolerance.”

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Thanks Robert for sharing your story! I hope everyone enjoyed reading it. Now go start your week being the amazing, positive crew you are!

Much Love – The Runt