Hello again my friends out in the 311 fan universe! Tis the time…the time for our next fan spotlight. Take a break and read all about the lovely Kady Jaymes!
What got Kady into 311? Truth is she really doesn’t remember exactly what it was. “The first real memory I have is the last day of 6th grade (so roughly 1995-1996), coming home to pack for a family vacation to my grandparents’ house in Iowa and I put on the blue album real loud while I packed.”
Kady also hasn’t kept track of the number of shows she’s attended. She’d like to know, but it would take a long time to sift through the archives of shows to figure it out. She guessed she’s at a minimum of 50 at this point. Favorite event? She knows that and there are two that come to mind for her. Top spot goes to the 25th anniversary show last year at Sokol Auditorium. “Being from Omaha and living here all my life, I have always felt an incredible sense of pride for not only my city/state, but for the boys having “Grassroots” here. Seeing the band play in the same venue as their very first show (opening for Fugazi) and also the same venue I am pretty sure I saw them in for the first time. Not only that, but now surrounded with friends I have met from all over the country because of this band. It was almost indescribable. I stood towards the back by the soundboard and I found myself a couple times just looking around and taking the whole experience in.”
Second show that stood out to her was the sail away show on the cruise in 2013. “It was MY first cruise and the excitement was almost too much, but in the best way possible. I can barely put into words how happy I was to be on that ship with 3000+ excitables with our favorite band and so many other amazing artists. Not to mention I managed to make it pretty close to the stage.It was MY first cruise and the excitement was almost too much, but in the best way possible. I can barely put into words how happy I was to be on that ship with 3000+ excitables with our favorite band and so many other amazing artists. Not to mention I managed to make it pretty close to the stage.”
Favorite song – can you guess it? It goes to “Omaha Stylee.” “It’s almost hard to fight back (happy) tears when I hear it live or get a concert call from a friend who is hearing it live.” Favorite lyrics was a difficult question for her to answer because there are so many great ones that stand out and have impacted her over the years. While she said all the lyrics to her favorite song are of course in there, some others are: “If there’s a shadow in your life, then there’s sunshine,” “This one is dedicated to the excitable ones,” “My heart sings when I think of you,” and “You gotta keep on climbing the hill, cuz if you think you’ll make it you will.”
You all know where Kady was born and raised (Omaha for those not paying attention hehe). She graduated high school in 2003 and went on to attend Iowa Western Community College where she earned an associates degree in radio broadcasting. “College was such a fun time and I was fortunate enough to work with one of the largest radio stations in Omaha and surrounding cities. This included working shows that our radio station either put on or sponsored, including a couple 311 shows! One show specifically, our radio general manager let us go through the 311 meet and greet line AND gave me a backstage pass so I got to watch 311 from side stage! miT’s side to be exact 🙂 It was an awesome learning experience and really fun to work in radio for a few years!”
Once Kady graduated she didn’t really know what to do with her life, so in 2007 she applied for job at the hotel company where her mom worked, and she’s been there ever since. “I started as a reservations agent taking phone calls, booking reservations for our hotels and have moved my way up to being the Online “Subject Matter Expert” for our social media team (Facebook, Twitter, online reviews, etc).” Kady pretty much enjoys her job but she doesn’t feel she’s found her passion yet. She’s recently gotten into cooking and is thinking about going back to school for a culinary degree. “I still consider my life somewhat of an open book.”
Interesting facts you may not know about Kady: She’s never seen ANY of the Star Wars movies nor has she read or watched any of the Harry Potter series. Something she does love though? “I love to laugh and I love to make other people laugh. There is not much better than laughing so hard you have tears in your eyes and your cheeks and stomach hurt!” Guilty pleasure isn’t really an issue for Kady because she is proud of everything she does! But if she had to pick something, it’d be that she’s a junkie for reality shows. “I’ll totally watch the Kardashians, Bachelor/Bachelorette and other similar shows.”
Other musicians Kady loves? “I am a HUUUUGE Lady Gaga fan 🙂 LOVE HER!” While she said it sounds cliché she really loves a wide range of music. “I love everything from oldies, to some jazz, heavy metal, country, top 40, etc. I am also the biggest fan of 90’s music, specifically alternative, rock and pop. So many great bands, artists, songs and albums from that time!” Some other bands she finds herself listening to a lot are: Volbeat, 2 Skinnee J’s, The Urge, Melodime, Garth Brooks, Cute is What We Aim For, The Cab, The Maine, and 30 Seconds to Mars.
Kady’s message to the band is:
“This band and the fans have opened the doors to so many amazing adventures that I can’t say “Thank You” enough. Because of this band, I have met so many incredible people that I now consider family because friends just doesn’t cut it. I know we as fans allow them to do what they do, but them staying true to who they are as a band and as humans I feel has also had a huge impact on them staying happy enough to keep going. I know a lot of bands/artists are great to their fans, but 311 truly thinks about new and exciting ways to “feed us” and engage with us. I can’t wait for the future and to continue to grow with these guys.”
Now to all the other fans/friends/family of 311:
“Let’s keep our positive, generous, caring, fun, funny, dysfunctional (in a good way), silly relationships going. I am never surprised when I hear about the kind acts this family does throughout the year. Be it setting up GoFundMe accounts for someone going through a tough time, donating money or time or posters/merch, rallying encouraging messages for someone who might be having a hard time, making custom memorabilia to hand out for free, food drives during Unity Tour, volunteering with other Excitables and so so much more. I am so damn proud of the people we have in this community and feel so lucky to be even the smallest part of it. “Stay Positive and Love your Life.”
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What a great story, thank you Kady Jaymes! Every week I get the honor of writing all of your stories and I thank all the readers for keeping this thing going and just for being the amazing people you are! Until we meet again my friends, just go be awesome to everyone as I know you will!
Much love – The Runt