I am so excited to be the member of the month! I’m pretty new to the street team. I guess I’ve been a member for about 8 months now, so I don’t know many of you out there. My name’s Kim Suarez, call me Kimichelle or Kim, and I’m 17 from Beaumont, Texas. I lived in Wimberley, Texas for seven years and just moved to Beaumont last December.

I was 15 and still living in Wimberley when I saw my first Vallejo show. I had heard "The Beginning" on the WB commercials all the time and LOVED the song. I’d walk around my house singing it, and one day my sister told me that Vallejo was going to be playing at Lucy’s and she would help me talk mom into going (cause clubs are funny about letting us young ones in). At the time, I didn’t know that they were Vallejo, I called them ‘The Beginning’ band so I argued with her that I didn’t know who Vallejo was. Finally she told me that we were talking about the same band! So together we talked my mom into going (who at the time was not thrilled) and it didn’t help that we had to stand in line in the rain before we got in……but we finally made it in and sat at the bar.

I didn’t know what to expect since that was my first time in a bar, but when Vallejo starting playing, well, it was amazing! Of course then I didn’t know that there was gonna be so many people there, so I ended up kneeling on one of the stools at the bar so I could see. It was the best show I had EVER been to! (Not my first show – just my first bar!!!) I wanted to see more and more of them and lucky for me my mom loved them too! So after that we went to show after show after show and became bigger Vallejo junkies.

On my 17 birthday we won a pass to the WB cd release party and finally got to meet the boys - which was my best birthday EVER! It totally blew my mind just how real they were. I love how they come out after shows and talk to the fans and are just so sweet. I found out we were moving from Austin in November and was broken hearted to leave Vallejo behind. I learned that Heath was from Beaumont and they played there too, so of course I became even more excited. I couldn’t wait to get down here and spread the Vallejo love. Looking online I saw that they didn’t have a street team for Beaumont, so after talking to Lisa and Gigi I started one!

I went to my first Beaumont show at Antone’s in February and recruited two members! So currently there are four of us on the team and we are all working hard to get the Vallejo love out there and get the boys back to Beaumont! Vallejo is definitely my favorite band and favorite music. I listen to them all the time…their cd’s cheer me up when I’m down, calm me when I’m mad, and keep me company when I’m bored. I’ve been singing at different places and I perform in plays all the time, and everyone around me has their own little ritual they do before they go on stage. Well MINE is listening to Vallejo…it pumps me up and gets me in the mood to go onstage. In my mind, and I know many others too, they are just so amazing!!

Thanks guys for all you do and the years of great, amazing music! Always and Forever I’ll be your devoted.

Kim