Day started off early-wake up call for Jaimie (my 6 year old daughter) at 6:15am. "Is this the day we see Kasim?" she says grogily. Debbie hooks up at my house and we're on the road just before 7. With Kasim music filling the car we made our way north. Almost there we get a call from Jennifer-plan is to meet up by the music area. Finally get there (about 3 hrs not bad at all). Jaimie has covered her legs in "body art" on the way up-then decides she needs face painting as well at the Art festival! Gotta let her express herself. We find Jen and have our seats up front. First let me describe this venue. It is one building filled with Art for auction surrounded by food-music area-and artisans selling their wares. The music area was a garden setting with bench seating and room up front to sit on the grass. Just to the left of the stage was this cool tree fort thingy-the kids loved to explore. I noticed Kasim look over there probably wondering what the heck it was-it also offered some shade when the sun got really hot.

So we listened to "battle of the bands". Actually one band covered Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb- not bad!

Then on to the Main Event! Kasim. He gets on stage for his sound check-spots his loyal followers-then sings the first line of Mated and looks over to me. I'm smiling from the inside-out! Anyone missing the chat-I was asked what one song would I want to hear and that was it. Just the fact that he remembered was enough for me! New songs will come in October this show was about saying goodbye to these gems. (set list posted) But highlights included:
Set Me Free-Jaimie has proclaimed this her new fave
Before She Was Gone- just a beautiful song that keeps getting better everytime I hear it
Sacrifice-my second listen
Cliche-he does this one so well really amazing
Across the Universe (Debbie's pick as best cover)
Ticket to Ride-nearly everyone singing really nice
One World-best crowd pleaser and uniting the people

Now I have to back track because Kasim chose to speak to a little girl sitting in front of the stage. Asks her age and name-(it was my Jaimie!). It was so cute. He also told the "Puff the Magic Dragon" story and asked her if she knows the words. Of course she says no. UGH! "Where's your mother?" he yells. There's me shrinking in my seat. I yell back "She knows the words to One World". Then when that rolls around she will not sing that either. I don't think performing is in her future.

After the show Kasim was persuaded to sign our stuff and take some photos. He grabbed Jaimie and we got a great big hug. We chatted a bit but we all knew he had to drive up north for a Meat Loaf show that night.

I have to say I love his music more and more each time I see him perform. He was comfortable, relaxed and knew he was amongst friends. Next time lets have fliers-we'll walk around the fest and get EVERYONE there to listen to Kasim. He said he will be back next year! Also said he will be touring with a trio for the next solo gigs. So we said our goodbyes to Kasim and these wonderful songs as there will be all new/old ones for the new shows. Sad to see them go but looking forward to Oct!

Also have to say the second best part of the show was meeting all the people from this board and other fans. I really enjoyed talking with you guys-we shall meet again I know.

Oh and I bid on some art that caught my eye. A great way to remember the perfect day we had and give a "thank you" to the Sheboygan artists for giving us Kasim for the day. (Hope I get it!)

Kasim with Janet and Jamie

Sheboygan is a pretty, sleepy little town on the shores of one of the Great Lakes. The 32nd annual arts festival was held in the centre of the town around the Michael Kohler Arts Center.

Kasim was playing in a courtyard type area on a stage with no backdrop so people could be seen walking behind him! Considering it was a lunchtime concert, there was a reasonable sized, mainly transient crowd, with some people just briefly coming in to listen, some using the area as somewhere to eat their lunch (although some of those then stayed for the rest of his set) but almost the whole of the front row was taken up by hard core Kasim fans!

Kasim started his set just as a local clock was chiming noon and played for over an hour and a quarter. Unfortunately his voice was not too good today. At first I thought it was because it was early in the day and needed warming up but, even towards the end of the set, he still sounded slightly hoarse in places. Sensibly, I assume for that reason, Kasim didn't sing songs like Back On The Street which are difficult at the best of times.

Maybe it was for that reason that I thought the show itself was by far one of the best that Kasim has played! He was just really "on" today! He told different stories and sang the set list in a different order, plus, of course, he was as personable as ever on stage!

Kasim started off with Don't Hold Me Back as always - that song really grabbed the audience right from the first line and was the perfect choice as an opener considering that the majority of this audience were not Kasim Sulton fans. After Don't Hold Me Back, Kasim went straight into Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing.

Kasim next introduced Set Me Free by saying that he used to be in the band called Utopia (to cheers!) and that he wrote this song. He then sang the first line and stopped to tell us that we were to imagine that there was a whole band playing behind him with the lights and videos! He then sang the next line and again stopped to say that we also had to imagine that the guys were singing background vocals too (not that they're needed much in Kasim's acoustic version).

Next Kasim told us that he was in the middle of a Meat Loaf tour and that he opens the show with about a fifteen minute acoustic act - the words that Kasim used to describe the experience was "interesting" and "it's a trip"! He said that he hasn't been booed and the audiences were very nice but it was obvious that they wanted to hear Meat Loaf. Kasim then sang Jason Falkner's wonderful Afraid Himself To Be straight into There Goes My Inspiration.

Kasim next joked(?) that he had been planning to release his own solo album since he was about nine, that he released his first one when he was about 24 but that that experience had made him slightly shy of doing it again. But in the early 90s, when Kasim played with Hall and Oates, it re-ignited his desire to start writing songs again. He said that it's taken him ten years but his CD will be released next month! It was interesting that he said that he spent nine years or so writing the first five songs but in the past year, when he's been concentrating on HIS music, he's written the other five songs for it (Kasim described it as a ten song, 47 or 48 minute CD with an actual cover and song list!). Kasim next sang Before She Was Gone and told us that when he plays it at the Meat Loaf concerts Mark Alexander plays piano on it and, at the last couple of shows, John Miceli has played some drums on it too!

Next Kasim switched guitars and played his newest song Sacrifice - it actually received one of the longest applauses of the afternoon! It was a great performance of the song too - Kasim sounded far more relaxed singing it than he did at The House Of Blues. There's some very nifty guitar playing in that song!

Kasim next told us some really great news! He was talking that he has some more solo shows coming up in the Autumn and that these are going to be totally different (as mentioned on KasimInfo.com a couple of months ago)! He said that he believed in change so that today was the final time that he'd be playing a lot of these songs on stage! He later told us that he'll be playing Chicago on his tour (Sheboygan is about 120 miles north of Chicago which isn't far in US terms!) and that it'll be a Power Trio Tour! (I had heard rumours that the trio may only be for the East Coast dates of the tour so I'm torn between hoping that Kasim does progress to having other musicians on stage with him and between enjoying seeing Kasim totally solo!)

The next part of the gig was really funny considering what happened later in the day! There were a couple of children in the front of the crowd and Kasim started chatting to the little girl, Jamie. As always he nailed her age - six and a half! He then said that he had to stop talking to her to perform the rest of the gig and that he was sorry as he knew that he started the conversation first. He then gave us an example of his funny self-depreciating humour by saying that everything is always his fault and that he constantly says sorry for things he's done so he's started introducing himself by saying that he's Kasim and he's sorry in case he does anything wrong later!

Next Kasim spoke about Todd Rundgren and his influence on him before he sang his wonderful version of Cliché straight into It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference.

Kasim then told us about singing at an open mic at a hotel on the Meat Loaf tour (as mentioned in a message on KasimSulton.com). He said that he sang one song that had everybody in the bar in the palm of his hand and sang a few bars of Puff The Magic Dragon! As young Jamie was back at the front of the stage, Kasim asked her if she knew the song! When she said she didn't, Kasim joked that he'd speak to her mother (Pebbles) about it after the show!

Next Kasim sang Just A Little Bit straight into Ticket To Ride with his joyful comment "I got it the first time!" after the difficult guitar rift! He then went straight into This Must Be Love before stopping after the first couple of lines to change the words to "There's a girl from Sheboygan"! After This Must Be Love Kasim went straight into Libertine before telling us that he'd like to come back and play at the 33rd annual arts festival next year but preferably in the evening and then making the Power Trio comment.

After Kasim's lovely slower, quieter version of Across The Universe, he sang The One Sure Thing but slightly faster than normal. He then said that he would sing one more song before he had to leave to drive to the Meat Loaf concert that evening at a festival in Iron Mountain which brought a few cheers by some people who were also going there. Kasim told us that he'd be playing a solo acoustic set at the festival and wondered how it go down amongst the likes of Cinderella and Poison and joked that they all hold their guitars so low down their bodies!

Kasim finished with his great version of One World (complete with another almost obligatory Sheboygan mention) - loads of people joined in the clapping part before he received a standing ovation at the end of the song!

All in all it was a brilliant way to spend a summer lunchtime.....especially as the gig was FREE!

Video Clips
These are 15 second video clips which will take about 5 minutes each to download on a normal modem. These clips are quite dark but will give you an idea of what a great show Kasim played!
Kasim singing Afraid Himself To Be
Kasim singing Before She Was Gone
Kasim singing his newest song Sacrifice
Kasim singing Cliche
Kasim singing It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
Just A Little Bit
Don't break your monitors with this one!
Kasim singing Ticket To Ride
Kasim's quieter version of Across The Universe
The One Sure Thing

Back to Kasim Sulton's promotional appearances to promote Quid Pro Quo