Hello my Excitable friends! Hope all is well with you and everyone is finally happy about the 311 Day announcement. And now, let’s meet the new fan spotlight. Here’s Pam Kuepper-Lessor!
When 311 came into the popular music scene, Pam was busy having kids and trying her best at a dysfunctional life. “I remember hearing Beautiful Disaster and thinking that the drums around 2:45 sounded like the clacking of coconut shells from Monty Python.” Later on, in 2009, she met this guy Shawn, and later down the road he asked her if she wanted to go to Summerfest to see 311. “I was like, “sure, whatever”. When Sunset in July was played and I saw the joy in him while singing, dancing and having the time of his life, I fell in love. 311 won me over in that moment.”
Show count, Pam said she would have to count the posters in their basement to know for sure. “If setlist.fm is correct, Shawn and I have seen 311 41 times. After the first Summerfest show in Milwaukee, WI, we started listening to them regularly.”
As for a favorite show, Pam started scrolling through photos on her phone, trying to decide. While she said her favorites are the ones where all her friends are with her, there is one event in particular that kept coming back to her. “Memorial Day Weekend of 2022. It was my birthday weekend and friends came from several different states. We drove up to Superior, WI for a very cold show…I mean, SA barely sweat! During the show, we discovered that one of our own snuck some fresh cheesecurd contraband into the venue. We got back to the AirBnb at the exact moment our Chinese Takeout arrived. We drove the 4 hours back to our house and partied a bit and got ready for the Green Bay show. I rented a coach bus and 20 of us piled on. We jammed out to 311 all the way there and all the way back. There was a “falling down the bus hole” incident. There were “tortilla tits”. We added a person to the party from the GB show. We played instruments, sang, danced around the pool table, put on the clothes and hats hanging in the basement closet. And it was ALL with the people I’ve come to call family because of 311.”
The song that means the most to Pam is “Sunset in July” because that’s the one that sparked her interest and really got her into 311. “It made my heart melt when I looked at Shawn.” Favorite lyric? “I find myself using “Stay positive and love your life” as a mantra sometimes. It feels cliche. But those words are strong and sometimes you just need that reminder.”
The Fox Cities of Wisconsin is where Pam grew up. She went to a Lutheran school and also attended church every week. Around the time she got “confirmed,” around 8th grade, she started hanging out with the public school kids. “I was learning about Metallica, AC/DC and all kinds of other things that I’d been sheltered from. When I hit 9th grade, I went to a public school. My parents were recently divorced and I went down a path. In the summer after 9th grade, I realized that I really liked smoking weed. This led me to dating a guy who was frequently selling weed at the party house I went to. Well, right after high school graduation, I found out I was pregnant with his child. I had Paige when I was 18. My pastor held my daughter’s baptism as ransom, making us get married if we wanted to assure her soul a spot in heaven. UGH! Well, the marriage didn’t last and was very emotionally abusive. But I did get two beautiful little girls out of it.”
Now at 22, Pam was afraid of being alone and having no way financially to take care of her kids. So she took a temp job, got into debt because she didn’t have health insurance, and then her daughter had a seizure. She ended up in another marriage thinking he could take care of them, but unfortunately she was wrong. “Another alcoholic/addict. While married, my temp job became permanent and then I got laid off. Because of the Trade Readjustment Act, the company paid for my schooling. My husband wasn’t supportive of my education and wanted me to go back into a mill job. I got a degree in computer science. My education was empowering and I learned to stand on my own two feet. My daughters both struggled with depression and anxiety. They still do. Thankfully, I met an amazing guy who was supportive, strong, fun, hot AF…Shawn. He was there for me while dealing with my youngest daughter’s suicide attempts and meltdowns as well as sending my oldest off to college. I gained a son when I met Shawn. We got married after 4 years. Not too long in, we found out we were having our first grandchild. We now have 2 grandsons, a granddaughter, a daughter-in-law, a couple notso-son-in-laws. The friends we have are the greatest people in the world. They are all over the world and many of them are friends gained through 311. This combination of friends and family have made me the luckiest person in the world.”
After Pam earned her bachelors degree, she quit her job that she had for 15 years. They ended up moving to South Carolina, and fell in love with the 311 crews down south. “Covid hit while we were in Vegas for 311 Day 2020. Luckily, this allowed me to get my job back in Wisconsin, working remotely. Then, on 311 Day, 2025, I was notified that my team and I were losing our jobs. I have landed on my feet and am now with a young company that will, hopefully, respect my 311 concert plans.”
When she lost her job back in March, Pam took a bartending job until she found another software development position. ” I fell in love with bartending and had to keep the job to meet the needs of the extroverted side of myself.” Guilty pleasure for her, she said she has a crafting problem! “I love everything from pouring epoxy, using my laser for engraving, my cricut for t-shirts, pictures, stickers, etc and my latest, making earrings for my Etsy store.”
For other musicians Pam can be found listening to, she said that 311 led her down a rabbit hole of music. “Tropidelic quickly became one of my favorite bands. Bumpin Uglies, Prof, Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, Little Stranger.”
To 311, Pam would like to send along this message: “Thank you for the family you have given me. They have become the world to me and we all come together around you.”
Now here is her message to all the other fans out there:
“For my friends in the 311 community, I think we need to remember that with all of the turmoil around us these days, love, understanding and forgiveness are more important to practice than ever.
‘IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE CONSTRUCTIVE IF PEOPLE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND THEIR SUPPOSED ENEMIES. LEARNING TO FORGIVE IS MUCH MORE USEFUL THAN MERELY PICKING UP A STONE AND THROWING IT AT THE OBJECT OF ONE’S ANGER, THE MORE SO WHEN THE PROVOCATION IS EXTREME. FOR IT IS UNDER THE GREATEST ADVERSITY THAT THERE EXISTS THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR DOING GOOD, BOTH FOR ONESELF AND OTHERS.’
H.H. THE XIVTH DALAI LAMA”
Thank you to Pam for sharing her story with the rest of 311 nation! As always, my love to all the supporters of this little blog each post. Have an amazing week my friends!
Much Love – The Runt