311 fan spotlight on our sister from the south, Ms. Xiomara Perez Caruso!

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311 is a band known worldwide, and their fan base stretches across the globe. Many of us are lucky enough to live in the U.S. where we have year round access to the bands live shows, but there are many that don’t have that privilege. So this weeks 311 fan spotlight is on one fantastic girl who is much farther south than most of us, Ms. Xiomara Perez Caruso!

Have you met Xio? If you have then you know she is a ray of sunshine, emitting positive vibes with her shining smile at the 311 events she makes it to! I had the pleasure of meeting Xiomara at 311 Day 2012 and seeing her again on the last cruise.  She told me that she got to know 311 later on than most of us, because she lives in Caracas, Venezuela! It took time for 311’s music to travel that direction, so her first encounter with their music was the video for “Come Original” on MTV. “I loved the video, the music, the super bright green background, and especially that funky strong bass beat!”  Xio then started looking for more information about the band and got their albums. She was hooked after that and they became her favorite band.

Xiomara’s location doesn’t grant her the opportunity to attend as many shows as she’d like, so she knows exactly how many she’s attended and cherishes every one of them! Her total is 15 and counting, which is impressive given her Venezuela residence! Her first show was in 2011 when 311 traveled to South America and she was able to afford the trip to Santiago de Chile, Chile to see them at the Lollapalooza festival. She had just started a job four months prior and begged her boss to let her take a few days off so she could fly to Chile and make her dream come true of seeing 311 live for the first time. “I thought I was going to check 311 off of my list and move on…wrong! Not only did the show blow my mind, but I got to MEET P-nut, miT, Chad, and S.A. and just fell in love with them! I needed more!” Xiomara managed to attend two of the three cruises, 311 Day 2012, and some Unity Tour shows last summer. As she said, “I still can’t get enough!”

Of all the events she made it to, 311 Day 2012 takes the cake for her. One of her dreams was to make it to a 311 Day show, and the fact that she actually made it to Vegas to attend one was a mind blowing experience for her. She said that it was a milestone. Although she admits her favorite venue so far has been Red Rocks, which she was lucky enough to make it to during last summers Unity Tour. “It’s hard to choose just one answer!”

Her favorite song is known to us all as the happy slam dance song, “Do You Right.”  “This song just makes me smile and dance every time I hear it.”  And it just so happens that her all time favorite quote comes from it: “I’m free as I stare at the sea, and I’m not coming down.” She even has it tattooed on her! Xio said that she is a very optimistic person so this phrase is like her own personal motto. She knows that no matter what obstacle she encounters, she will find a way to overcome it.  She also loves the beach and ocean and one of her hobbies is to drive to the beach, park there, watch the ocean and meditate.

Xiomara was born and raised in Venezuela–Caracas to be precise, although she grew up in a small city by the beach called Puerto La Cruz. She moved back to Caracas when she got her first job. She has strong support from her family and friends, and thanks to them she was able to attend school full time until she graduated in 2010 as a System Engineer. It was on January 3rd, 2011 that she got her first job (and she said in her answers, it was on 3/1/11 or 1/3/11 depending on how you write the date, pretty freaking sweet!). Since 2011 she has been working as a Network Specialist. I asked Xio if she has anything that people might not know about her that she wants to share, but she admits that she really is an open book! “What you see is what you get!”  Although she did want to make it known that the word friend means a lot to her. “I treasure my friendships and my friends know they can count on me for anything.”

Some other bands that Xio listens to are the Deftones, Sublime (without Rome she said!) and the Foo Fighters. She also really digs a band called Travis from Scotland (I had a chance to listen to them, they’re pretty cool!). Xio also got really into the bands she has discovered from the 311 events she has attended like Full Service, Bad Rabbits, Ballyhoo!, and the Dirty Heads. So not only have the events she’s attended granted her the opportunity to see her favorite band live, she’s also been exposed to new music because of it!

Xio knows how blessed she is to have had the opportunity to see 311 and meet the guys. She’d like to tell them, “Muchas gracias por todo!”  She elaborated on that saying, “Just thanks for everything: the music, the events, the shows, and the amazing people I’ve met because of your music! Just a big THANK YOU to 311, 311 management and the whole team behind the band. My life would be so boring without 311.”

Special thanks to Xio for sharing her personal 311 stories with the rest of us, and reminding us to be grateful for every experience we get with the band, because some people aren’t as lucky as many of us to see them as often as we do! I leave you with her personal message to all of 311 nation:

“Love you guys! Hehe. Thank you for sharing this Excitable life with me. Thanks to all the friends who have helped me out one way or another to make these 311 journeys. For those I don’t know yet, come say Hola when you see me. One Love!”

Thanks again Xio! Until next week, as always, “Stay positive and love your life!”