Just as the case from Atlantic City I was running on pure adrenaline after an early morning flight and shopping at Macy's all day!

The show started wonderful with 3 year old Brandon Alexander giving Kasim his own little introduction of "Kasim's coming, Kasim's coming!" while running through the crowd! He couldn't have been more adorable! Kasim really got a kick out of it! From the very first notes of "Don't Hold Me Back" I knew I was again in for a great show! The vocals were strong and he really seemed to be having fun! The crowd was a bit too loud at times and I'd hoped they would calm down, but they seemed to stay loud in spurts throughout the show.

I was impressed with Kasim on keyboards for "Heaven Help The Child" and "Remember" It was truly moving as he'd told the story of looking at his daughter's room that inspired "Heaven Help The Child." Doug Kennedy on guitar and Mark Alexander also on keyboards for me brought the show to another level! I've always love to hear keyboard and guitar together so it really made the show more enjoyable for me! He also added "Shooting Star" which I really liked! "Back On The Street" was a crowd favorite as always.

Another highlight of the evening was Kasim announcing that Marc Israel had proposed to his girlfriend Claudia and she'd accepted. He then dedicated "One Sure Thing" in their honor. I was almost brought to tears! They looked so happy together. Best wishes to them!

The show was in a word brilliant!! Living so far away from the the gigs..it meant so much to me to be able to be there to share in the music and with other Kasim fans. The evening ended with much deserved applause and excitement.

I've been a Kasim fan since my second Todd show-- Utopia in Central Park, summer 1978. The first time I saw Todd was at one of the Back to the Bars Bottom Line dates, with the Moogy/Seigler/Hello People line-up; so this was my first live exposure to Kaz. I remember sitting there as they opened with "Trapped" and "Back On the Street," just blown away. Todd and Kaz trading vocal lines on"Trapped"-- it was two years before I could get my head around a Utopia show with a different opening number. And the booming resonance of Kasim's powerful but relatively high, reverb-sweetened voice, and that thundering insistent bassline, in "Back On the Street"-- Sure, Todd was the man, but I always liked "the other guy" too.

I remember seeing Utopia on New Year's Eve, 12/31/80, at the Tower Theater on the Deface tour, and honestly feeling like Todd and Kasim's voices went together in a way that no one had touched since John and Paul. Indeed, on some of the Utopia songs they sang in unison-- like "There Goes My Inspiration" or "Infrared and Ultraviolet"-- it is damn near impossible to tell where one voice ends and the other begins. Those moments were always spine-chilling, and it was great hearing that Utopia harmony sound re-created on the Power TR-io tour in 2000. And Kasim remains one of the most tuneful, melodic bass players in rock.

I first saw a solo Kasim show on Halloween 1979, when he opened for Utopia at the Capital Theater in Passaic, New Jersey. I remember he opened his set with a great song called "Let It Flow" (a song I've heard in my head many times since, but which I could not confirm the actual existence of until last Saturday night, when I asked Kasim about it, confirming my memory was not playing tricks on me.) From '79-'83 I must have seen Kasim 6, 7 times-- Bottom Line, Savoy, Trax (Dorren-- remember Trax?). I remember hearing him sing "Rock'n'Roll Ricochet", a cover of "Cathy's Clown", Utopia songs like "The Up", and of course most of his first solo album, which I still like (in a perfect world, "This Must Be Love" would have bumped "Our Lips Are Sealed" from the top of the charts as an early '80's radio/video hit.)

Later on, I saw an extremely memorable Hall and Oates show on their unplugged tour, with Kasim on bass and vocals, his voice augmenting and enriching their already deep vocal textures.

So fast forward to, well, now.

Live, it is damn near impossible not to love the guy. The Bitter End was full of friends, family, long time fans, and new ones. Kasim took the stage at 8:30 and broke into a sweet, powerful version of "Don't Hold Me Back." Doug Kennedy joined for the majority of the set on second guitar, and Mark Alexander on keyboards, giving the band a nice full sound. I did not keep a setlist, but in addition to the opener, highlights included "Before She Was Gone", the Bad Company cover "Shooting Star", "Remember", "Goodbye", encore "Across the Universe", and of course Utopia chestnuts "Back On the Street" and "There Goes My Inspiration." But for me, the absolute highlight-- the thing that kicked the evening into "magical"-- was when Kasim began talking about how everyone always asks for dedications, but he never played in "dedication" bands... and that there was a fan who had been seeing him at many tour stops, and that they had become friendly, and that just hours before, this fan had gotten engaged. And Kasim proceeded to dedicate "The One Sure Thing" to our friend and all around good egg Marc Israel, and his lovely fiancée Claudia. It was a sweet, charming, touching, moving moment, and it was one of those times where the wall between artist and fan breaks down, and you realize-- in a good way-- that the guy up on stage is, after all, just a guy on a stage. And not for nothing, Kasim just totally nailed the song, sang his heart out. There were more than a few moist eyes in the place, and Marc was beaming, If Marc and Claudia don't feature that song at their wedding I will be shocked.

After the show, of course, Kasim was friendly, humble, just a regular guy, meeting with his fans, taking the time to devote focused attention to everyone who was waiting. Totally gracious. He is obviously a nice guy, and I think that comes across especially in his live work. He's a guy who makes the musicians he works with better, perhaps the quintessential sideman. It is about time he got a little "Quid Pro Quo."

And did I mention, he is cute as a button?

Many thanks to Jennifer Salyer for all the photos on this page

Click here for some more photos of Kasim Sulton at this gig by Gary "Goat" Goveia

Click here for even more photos of this gig by Gina Martin

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