10/04/02
08.15 - The Singer / Songwriter.com website has the following description about Kasim Sulton:
"Singer/Songwriter Kasim Sulton. Has written and recorded with Todd Rundgren / Utopia, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Hall & Oates, Patti Smith, Shaun Cassidy, Celine Dion, and many others. Currently touring the U.S. showcasing his own material, acoustica"
Kasim currently has a 3.86 rating (out of 5) after 7 votes. Click here for the direct link to Kasim's page.

Table Flyer for this run of gigs

10/03/02
20.00 - Kasim's listing at Pollstar.com has been updated to include his gigs at The Van Dyck.
19.00 - According to the Beachland Ballroom the doors open for Kasim Sulton's gig in Cleveland tomorrow at 8.00pm with Kasim going on stage at 9.00pm. Many thanks to the kind person who forwarded this info.
00.15 - The poll on Sandi Daae's website KasimWeb.com of "Favorite Songs From Quid Pro Quo" now stands at 19 votes with We The People scoring six and The One Sure Thing having four. The remainder of the tracks have two or less votes each.

10/02/02
18.45 - Some success seems to have been achieved by Doug Kennedy's suggestion that people may wish to contact radio stations in order to let them know about Kasim's gigs this weekend. Big Joe posted that he contacted "Bill Lewis @ WNCX - 98.5 afternoons, and he said he would try to pull some Utopia tune and plug the show on his noon show tomorrow"! Click here to view the message (on the second page of the topic as the third page has gone off topic).
15.30 - The Bloomfield Cafe page of the site has been updated with more details about Kasim's gig.
14.30 - Some great photos of Kasim by Jennifer Salyer at The Bitter End last weekend have been added to that page in the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo section of the site. More photos and reviews of this gig will be added soon.
03.30 - As the page was getting large again, earlier Blog items have been moved to another page. The link is at the bottom of this page.

Photo of Kasim in Rochester by Jennifer Salyer

10/01/02
19.30 - Kasim Sulton is now listed on the front page of The Beachland Ballroom website. Click here to view it (unfortunately there's no photo and it's hardly a description to entice many people to attend the gig). As it will disappear after the gig, it says:
"In The Tavern --
Kasim Sulton (longtime Todd Rundgren collaborator)
A highly coveted sideman, Sulton is recognized and respected the world over for his work with other artists, including Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Hall & Oates, Patti Smith, Patty Smyth, Mick Jagger, and Celine Dion to name just a few. Sulton's new CD, "Quid Pro Quo," on Sphere Sound Records verifies what a terrific songwriter and original performer he is. Rick Koster of the New London Day describes 'Before She Was Gone' as, "an exemplary ballad that, in a just world, would dominate adult alternative radio." Mike O'Cull of ChicagoGigs.com raves, "Gorgeous melodies, memorable chord structures, emotive lyrics, and a clean and beautiful tenor voice to ice the cake." This intimate show includes plenty of whimsical storytelling of "life with Todd" and other behind-the-scenes insights, all conveyed with Kasim's self-reflective sense of humor.
$14 -- 9 PM "
18.45 - Doug Kennedy has suggested that people may wish to contact some radio stations in order to let them know about Kasim's gigs this weekend. Click here for some of the stations that are in the areas (the list is near the bottom of the page).
16.00 - The Kasim Sulton Video Of The Week section of the site has been updated.
14.30 - The following was a post made on a Todd Rundgren mailing list by Josh Chasin:
"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. 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.
First, the album Quid Pro Quo. A few weeks back I might have echoed the sentiments of some that it got weaker toward the end. But then I got into my wife's car yesterday when she picked me up from work, and the strains of "Don't Hold Me Back" (a song I've dug since the Adventures In Utopia Tour) were coming from the car speakers. After seeing The Bitter End show Saturday, my wife has commandeered the cd for her car. Anyway, starting at that track and going through to the end, and after having heard most of the songs live, I now see the album as pretty consistently strong all the way through. There are four songs that I adore-- the exquisite "Before She Was Gone"; my old favorite "Don't Hold Me Back"; the Finn cover "Where is My Soul"; and now, "The One Sure Thing."
I do think that the album does not show off Kasim's talent to full effect. Perhaps because I was exposed to some of these songs as solo acoustic numbers, the intimacy-- the breathing room-- isn't there (except on the perfect "Before She Was Gone.") And because the album is largely a one-man show, the dynamics a band might bring to the party are absent as well. In a sense the album lies in between these two extremes-- singer/songwriter, band. But that is not really a knock; I gather these songs were largely written on guitar, and perfected for one guitar/one voice (or one piano/one voice.) So two of the things Kaz does best-- bass playing and backing vocals-- aren't as present here as they might be. On the other hand, the driving acoustic guitar that powers some of these songs is soft and warm and winning.
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 Josh Chasin for forwarding it for inclusion on this site. The relevant parts have also been added to both the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo and the Quid Pro Quo sections of the site.
13.00 - A review of Kasim's gig last Saturday by Gina Martin has been added to the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo section of the site. More reviews, the set list and photos will be added soon.
08.15 - Kasim Sulton will be holding another online chat with his fans! This time it's the turn of the Yahoo board to host it. The Gigs section of the site has been updated with the direct link. The chat will be on Sunday 13th October at 8.00pm EST. Highlights or the whole transcript (depending on the content) will be added to KasimInfo.com afterwards.
04.15 - A review by Gina Martin has been added to the Quid Pro Quo section of the site.

Photo of Kasim in Philadelphia by Frank Ciapanna
(Click here for more photos in this set)

09/30/02
18.15 - Some great photos by Frank Ciapanna of Kasim at The Tin Angel last weekend have been added to the Photos section of the site. A link is also on the Tin Angel review page.
17.45 - According to a post by Moogy Klingman (formally of Utopia), us fans of Kasim now have another name - "Sultonmaniacs"!
16.00 - Less than a week before the gig and the Rosebud in Pittsburgh, PA have finally updated their website to list Kasim!
15.00 - Ten great photos by Frank Ciapanna of Kasim at Zig's last weekend have been added to the Photos section of the site. A link is also on the Zig's review page.
07.00 - Kasim Sulton has sent a new message to his mailing list about his show in New York on Saturday and his Cleveland and Pittsburgh shows this next weekend. He also said that he is going to Los Angeles this morning for Meat Loaf recording sessions before flying home on Thursday.

09/29/02
20.30 - Another new gig has been announced for Kasim Sulton! It's on Saturday 2nd November at The Van Dyck in Schenectady, NY. Kasim will be playing two sets that night. Details can be found in the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo section of the site.
19.30 - There were some messages posted about Kasim Sulton's gig last night. Click here to read them. Two great photos (taken by a 4 year old!) are available here and here.
19.00 - The News section of the site has been updated about Kasim Sulton's gig last night, complete with photo.

09/28/02
00.15 - Laura England has updated her Kasim Sulton website. Click here to view it. (Although it's not fully open at the moment, it's still worth a long look!)

Tin Angel Table Flyer

09/27/02
02.15 - The Moon Dance Jam have added the photos from that gig to their site. Click here for the full set or the ones of Kasim Sulton are:
Concentrating
Looking down
Up on the drums
The center of the crowd

09/26/02
19.45 - A review, the set list, photos and video clips of Kasim Sulton's gig last Sunday at The Tin Angel have been added to the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo section of the site.
17.45 - Reviews, photos and video clips of Kasim Sulton's gig last Friday at Zig's have been added to the Kasim Sulton's gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo section of the site.
12.30 - Just looking at Kasim's next seven Gigs over the coming three weeks, he's playing in seven different states - New York, Ohio, Pennysylvania, New Jersey, Mississippi, Florida and Illinois!
12.00 - Apparently there's some confusion about which time Kasim will be going on stage on Saturday in New York. The advert in The Village Voice states 7.30 but KasimSulton.com says 8.30. On previous occasions, the doors have opened at 8.00 with Kasim going on stage at 8.30 but this may not be the case this weekend.
02.30 - There were some messages posted about Kasim Sulton's gig this past weekend. Click here to read about Zigs and here about The Tin Angel. More reviews, the set lists, photos and video clips will be posted on KasimInfo.com later today.

09/25/02
19.00 - There are now three answers to the qustion about what to expect from a Kasim Sulton show on the Beachland Ballroom messageboard.
02.15 - The Beachland Ballroom (where Kasim Sulton plays on 4th October) now has a messageboard and someone has posted about Kasim! Click here to view it.

The Kasim Sulton Info page from the MLUKFC newsletter
(I did tell them about Sacrifice being the first track - honest!) 09/24/02
14.30 - Some articles of Press have been changed in the EPK section of the site.
13.45 - As Kasim will be in Los Angeles to work with Meat Loaf at that time, unfortunately Kasim will not be able to play the gig at The Triad Theater on 2nd October.
13.30 - The message from Kasim on the main page of KasimSulton.com has changed! Click here to view it.
13.00 - Unfortunately due to this site reaching its quota of space, the e-mail stopped working yesterday and posibly the site was down at times. If anyone has sent anything, please resend it. The space for this site has now been increased by another 100MB.

Photo of Kasim at The Point in May 2001 by Gregg
(This unusual pose was taken during his Billy Idol story!)

Blog34 (09/10/02 - 09/23/02)

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