Across The Universe
Our journey began Friday afternoon, packed to the gills with the four of us and our eldest daughter’s college belongings, crossing our fingers that our ’87 Chevy would make it another 400+ miles as it passed the 256,000 mile point! We arrived at our hotel safe and sound, even ahead of schedule (with no speeding tickets) and met up with the Decotises: Matt, Cindi and Amy. As so many people have said before, one of the highlights of the shows has been meeting online friends and finally putting a face with a name. It was a thrill to see Amy and her newly-adopted Kasim bear and sharing in the excitement of the evening to come. We headed for “Spot Coffee”, which was right down the street from the Little Theater, and passed the time with some good food, good coffee, and good cheesecake! Finally the time had come to see if the doors were open to the theater. Of course they made us wait but in the meantime a crowd was beginning to gather and again we had the chance to meet up with online friends… some we’ve met before, some we met for the first time (Hi Jane! Hi Sandi!). Looking back, it amazes me… so many people… different states, different backgrounds, etc. coming together in a common interest to support Kasim.
Finally, the doors opened! As everyone made their way in, one of the first things I saw was Sue Williams selling T-shirts (which by the way, now include all of the tour cities on the back) and signing people up for the Kasim mailing list. We made our way to the front of the theater and got ourselves settled in. It seemed like forever but around 10:00, Scott made his way to the stage to make the introductions and commented on how he knew it was going to be a good day by the presents that his cat leaves him in his shoes!
The first act was Jennifer Saunders. It was her first live performance and even with a little delay due to “technical problems” she was wonderful. Both my girls were awestruck as was I. Her range of voice was incredible and the lyrics just touched my heart. One of the songs Come Go With Me was my favorite. It talks of listening to one’s heart and gaining strength to do what one desires. It not only spoke to me but reminded me of Kasim’s first show at Arlene Grocery, how he was nervous and not sure if his solo tour would be a success or not. If you just follow your heart, everything works out right.
After a few more songs by Jennifer and a brief intermission, it was time! Kasim was on!
After explaining “how this works” (he tells a few stories, plays a few songs, etc.) he belted out his first line, “I gave no promise or guarantee” as clear and strong as ever. I kept hearing someone singing some background vocals on this one…wonder who that was, Frank! Needless to say, that song sets the tone for the rest of the show and you could feel the energy in the room. He took a sip of water (showing us the bottle and commenting that it looked like either a shampoo or hair spray bottle, he wasn’t sure which, but said that it was very good water from Finland). He then told the story of how he was handed a CD to listen to, and came across a tune by Jason Falkner, Afraid Himself To Be. Next was Set Me Free with a cute story about his first plane ride and how he swore he would never fly again! (Check out the video for this great story). Then came Before She Was Gone with an extended ending and much applause.
Kasim then gave thanks to all of his supporters and especially to Kathy Wagner, Sue Williams, and Scott Van Dusen for all of their endless hard work to make this solo tour happen and especially for the Rochester show which “forged new ground” by breaking the attendance record. This Must Be Love was next with Just A Little Bit and She’s Got A Ticket To Ride following right behind. He then gave homage to Todd and his time with Utopia, saying that it was a big influence in his career although the first two years were hell…describing how he would call his mom and want to come home. Many of us are so glad he didn’t come home! He wanted to pay tribute by doing one of Todd’s songs, It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference. He asked Jennifer to come and join him and their voices complimented each other well. They even threw in a little extra “vocal jamming” at the end. I think one person described it as “scat”. (This is on video, too!)
The One Sure Thing was the next song with the explanation of how he was to write a Christmas song for a charity event but came up with this one instead. Talk about touching! I even handed some tissues out to fellow “emotional” people. The night ended way too soon but Kasim honored us with an encore, Across The Universe after sharing the story of shaking hands with John Lennon.
This show was the best that I’ve seen so far. Kasim was very relaxed, very “in to it”, and his voice was stronger than ever. I felt sad leaving, knowing that this was the last show for the year but he DID say, as he was exiting the stage, “See you next year”. I’m counting on that!
On Friday 24th August, Scott Van Dusen/Sphere Sound presented Kasim Sulton at The Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. Kasim played in Theatre One which is a 300 seat movie theater and it was almost full - in Kasim's words, he broke his own attendance record! The opening act was Jennifer Saunders (of Pittsburgh, PA) and her set was apparently very good.
Before the show the message from the promoter that was posted on this site was:
"Bringing Kasim Sulton to a fitting venue was important to me-
The Little Theatre which opened in 1929 (see www.little-theatre.com/history.html
Scott Van Dusen/Sphere Sound
Kasim was introduced on stage by Scott Van Dusen saying, "Our next performer has been a hero of mine for many years. Utopia was definitely a big influence on my life and his music still is. Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a warm welcome, Rochester style, to KASIM SULTON"!
Kasim walked down the aisle to rapturous applause and explained that he was going to play some songs and tell some stories and take a trip down memory lane of his musical career. He then said an interesting thing that he considered that these solo shows were the start of his musical career which bodes well for us all for 2002!
Kasim began by singing Don't Hold Me Back. He gave a faultless performance as always but unfortunately the sound wasn't quite right for that song. Thankfully the excellent sound guy, Matt, made a few adjustments so that Afraid Himself To Be and the rest of the set sounded perfect!
Kasim’s two running themes of this show was how great a bottle of water from Finland tasted (even though “it looks like a shampoo or hair spray bottle”!) and that all his stories were true and that true stories are always the best stories!
Kasim first told the great story of his first ever flight which was to Rochester for a gig when he first joined Utopia. It was on a four seater Cessna plane with a woman pilot who kept turning round to talk to the band, even though the weather was really rocky! Kasim said that she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth the whole trip and he swore that she was drunk too! What made it worse was that he saw a piece of rubber on the floor that was flapping around and underneath was a hole in the bottom of the airplane! I’ve heard him tell that story before but the way he explained it tonight (with hand actions) was just hilarious and it neatly led into Set Me Free.
Kasim explained that Adventures in Utopia (which is the album that Set Me Free was on) sold the most that any Utopia album had sold. He told us that nobody at the record company really wanted a Utopia record and nobody at any radio station really wanted a Utopia record either! The fans of Utopia wanted Utopia records but people in the music business thought of Utopia as “a diversion from Todd’s solo career”! Kasim said that it was tough for him, Roger and Willie knowing that! Following the success of Adventures, Kasim said that Utopia hoped to capitalise on that with another high selling album and he began to envisage limousines, large houses and Jacuzzi’s full of champagne! After he heard that Todd had decided to write a Beatles parody record, he could hear the sound of the champagne following out of his Jacuzzi! However he still thought that it was a “decent” record so he sang Alone from it.
Kasim next sang a couple of lines of The Last Of The New Wave Riders and then part of Eternal Love before announcing that that was all he knew of both songs! Someone suggested that he played a bass solo so Kasim exclaimed that not only did he not have a bass on stage but that he wasn’t taking requests as he had “A SET LIST”!! Instead he opted to play his great Before She Was Gone and Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing from his forthcoming CD.
After There Goes My Inspiration, Kasim thanked the people who had helped to put his tour (and this show in particular) together including Kathy Wagner, Scott Van Dusen and Penny Lee, and then all the people who gave him loads of support (Sandi, Jen, Jana, Frank and Felicia) before he sang a great medley of This Must Be Love into Just A Little Bit into Ticket To Ride (the first time that he’s linked those three songs!). Amusingly Kasim sang, “I think I’m gonna be glad I think it’s today, the girl that’s driving me mad is going away” - a Freudian slip?!! He also messed up the guitar riff which resulted in a loud “Shit!” much to the audience’s amusement!
Next Kasim gave a very long, heartfelt tribute to Todd Rundgren before he invited Jennifer Saunders up on stage with him to sing It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference. Jennifer has a great voice and it blended perfectly with Kasim’s. At the end of the song the chorus just went on and on and on which was great to hear!
Kasim then sang his wonderful new The One Sure Thing which, although probably most of the audience hadn’t heard it before, received a massive round of applause - that song is sure to be THE big hit of his forthcoming CD!
Kasim started to leave the stage but came back to sing Across The Universe after telling us about how he met John Lennon in New York City. Kasim then received a standing ovation from the audience before he said, “See you next year, with a CD and new songs!”
After the show, Kasim spent the best part of an hour signing autographs and posing for photos with people - he really is one performer who goes out of his way to accommodate all of his fans. At least five people, who have been to multiple shows, all told me that they thought it was the best show of the tour, and one couple who came tonight expecting to see a jazz performer(??) but stayed as I told them it’s a great show, even told me how much they enjoyed it and that they’d like to see him again sometime!
And that ended the 2001 Kasim Sulton Solo Acoustic Tour…….roll on 2002!
Click here for some great photos by Frank Ciapanna of this appearance
Radio AdvertisementsMany thanks to Scott Van Dusen/Sphere Sound for providing these clips which are MP3s of the advertisements that are currently being played on radio stations in the Rochester area to advertise Kasim's gig there on 24th August.
Clip with various Utopia songs Tonight Clip |
Video Clips
Kasim Sulton Solo Acoustic Tour 2001
Due to server size restrictions the video clips have been temporarily removed. To view them please either e-mail SueW@KasimInfo.com or visit the Video Of The Week section of the site.
