Kasim Sulton Newsletter

The Kasim Sulton Magazine Saturday 1st January 2005 - #20

Index Cover / Index ………………………………………….………………………………...1 Something’s Gonna Happen ………………………………………………………...2 Intro / Editorial …….…………………………………….………………………….….3 Analysis of Kasim Sulton’s 2004 ...... 4 Month by Month Details of Kasim Sulton’s 2004 ...... 6 Kasim Sulton in Movin’ Out ………..………………………………………………10 A Review of Kasim Sulton in Movin’ Out ..……………………………….…..12 Over For Now………………..……………………………………………………….….14

All items are correct at the time of issue. Please note that due to the nature of the business all appearances are liable to change or cancellation at short notice.

Please send any submissions, comments and views to [email protected].

KasimInfo.com is not an official site but all items are confirmed as far as possible.

Kasim Sulton’s official website is KasimSulton.com.

1 Something’s Gonna Happen During late January and February 2005 Kasim Sulton will be playing gigs on a mini tour by Patty Smyth and Scandal. To date only 8 dates have been found on the Internet but Kasim indicated in a message to his mailing list that the tour will be starting on 28th January. The “found” dates are: Saturday 29th January - Webster Theatre, Hartford, CT Friday 4th February - Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ Saturday 5th February - Paradise Rock Copies of Quid Pro Quo are available at Club, Boston, MA several places online. Wednesday 9th February - Irving Plaza, New York, NY Friday 11th February - Westbury Music www.SphereSound.com are selling Fair, Westbury, NY version two of the album for $15. Saturday 12th February - Trump Marina, Anybody who buys a copy of the album Atlantic City, NJ via Sphere Sound between now and 30th Friday 18th February - The Odeon, October are entered into a draw to win Cleveland, OH the big window poster of the album! Saturday 19th February - Bogarts, Cincinnati, OH www.shopsourceone.com are also selling Tickets are available for all these gigs the album with autographed copies and the Gigs section on KasimInfo.com (which also contain a used guitar pic plus has links to venue websites and ticketing. some contain a pass to meet Kasim backstage at a concert) for the special offer price of $19.95. The first two Meat Loaf dates for 2005 have been discovered on the Internet. TRBazaar.com are now selling Quid Pro Neither have yet been confirmed by Meat Quo. They charge $16 plus shipping. This Loaf’s management but Kasim mentioned site will work out the cheapest if you wish in his mailing list message that they will to purchase copies of Kasim’s other solo be playing gigs in the U.S., Europe and albums at the same time. U.K. A couple of months ago Kasim announced The Utopia DVD Live In Boston 1982 will that he has signed to Sanctuary Records be released on Sanctuary Records on 24th so soon fans will be able to purchase Quid January in the United Kingdom. It Pro Quo from stores too. contains the same track list and recent interviews as the U.S. version which was released in August.

The January 2005 edition of the U.K. magazine Record Collector contains an interview with Kasim Sulton to help promote the U.K. release of the Utopia Live in Boston 1982 DVD. Amongst other questions Kasim was asked about the taping of the concert, his favorite records and whether he thinks Utopia will ever get back together again.

2 Intro / Editorial

Already it’s 2005 and we are entering the year that will be 29 years that Kasim has been in the music business!

Since edition #19 of the magazine was issued Kasim has mainly been concentrating on writing songs for his forthcoming solo album as well as making his Broadway debut! Kasim also managed to fit in a short trip to Japan for the fourth leg of the Todd Rundgren Liars Tour. They played four concerts there plus all appeared at a Fans’ Party.

This edition of the magazine analyses Kasim Sulton’s 2004 and compares it to 2002 and 2003. There is also a month by month description of his year plus quite a detailed look at the Billy Joel musical Movin’ Out including my review of the show as I was fortunate enough to be in the United States while he was playing some of the performances.

KasimInfo.com has been taking up quite a lot of my time recently too as most days there are updates to the site. Even if there is no news or “Kasim mentions” to add to the Blog page, the front page is usually updated with details about which gigs Kasim played “on This Day” over the years, plus the photo on the front page changes (often with a picture that is relevant to that day). The messageboard attached to the website has been re-opened plus a chatroom has been added.

Looking forward to 2005, Kasim has already announced in a message to his mailing list that he will be playing some dates with both Scandal and Meat Loaf, and let’s not forget that earlier in 2004 Kasim said that in 2005 he plans to concentrate on his solo career which is the best news for all of us fans!

Enough of my waffling – time for you to all read The Kasim Sulton Magazine #20….!

3 Analysis of Kasim Sulton’s 2004

2002 2003 2004 1 0 Kasim’s own CDs released 0 34 0 Kasim solo gigs 2 15 3 Kasim radio / internet 1 stream interviews 2 0 Kasim TV interview 0 0 1 Kasim Internet video 0 interview 7 4 Online chats with his 4 fans 0 0 Todd Rundgren concerts 60 57 62 Meat Loaf concerts 21 0 0 Appearances in Movin’ 22 Out 0 0 Charity benefit concert 1 0 0 Fans’ Party 1 0 0 Star Clinic 1 0 0 In-store Appearance 1 0 1 Bus promotional 0 appearance 0 13 Meat Loaf TV appearances 0 0 0 Todd Rundgren TV 1 appearance 0 0 Scandal TV appearance 1 0 5 Meat Loaf radio 0 appearances 11 0 Tommy James gigs 0 1 0 Tommy James TV 0 appearances 0 2 Pat Travers gigs 0

132 91 Total 116

Actual concerts played in each country: Country U.S. 53 England 10 Australia 10 Japan 4 Scotland 3 New Zealand 2 Wales 1 Holland 1 Total 84

4 Actual concerts played in each state: State AZ 1 CA 6 CT 1 DC 1 FL 5 GA 1 IL 2 LA 1 MA 1 ME 1 MI 1 MO 2 NC 2 NJ 1 NV 1 NY 10 OH 4 OR 1 PA 3 TN 2 TX 3 VA 1 WI 2 Total 50

(Actual concerts include the Joe’s Pub charity benefit concert but exclude Kasim’s appearances in Movin’ Out.)

This is the third consecutive year that I’ve analyzed the public appearances by Kasim Sulton and in 2004 he managed to perform 116. This is 23 more than in 2003 (91) but 16 less than in 2002 (132). By public appearance I’ve included concerts, his appearances in Movin’ Out, TV tapings, radio interviews, the Japanese fan’s party, his Star Clinic at Summerfest and his in- store appearance in Rochester, NY. Unfortunately Kasim only played two solo gigs during the year.

For the first time, I’ve analyzed the countries that Kasim performed in and the United States easily came up on top with 53 out of his 84 actual concerts played. The vast majority of these were Liars concerts. Within the United States, Kasim played more actual concerts in New York (10) than any other state, with California (6), Florida (5) and Ohio (4) coming next. In total Kasim played in 23 of the 50 states.

Kasim also spent at least one week in Florida producing an album as well as appearing 22 times on Broadway in Movin’ Out!

5 Kasim Sulton’s 2004

For the first six months of the year it must have seemed to Kasim Sulton that he was never home! He started off playing concerts for Meat Loaf in January in the U.K. before a brief trip home (during which he managed to fit in a solo gig) before spending the best part of three months touring the U.S. as part of Todd Rundgren’s Liars band.

After two appearances at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Kasim then returned to Europe for 6 gigs with Todd Rundgren in July. August consisted of a week producing an album and a brief stay in Los Angeles to record the VH-1 show Bands Reunited with Scandal. Kasim next played 9 more gigs in the U.S. with Todd Rundgren and then 4 more gigs of the tour in Japan.

Since October Kasim has mainly been concentrating on writing songs for his next solo album but he has managed to rack up 22 appearances in the Broadway production of Movin’ Out!

It’s no wonder that Kasim recently said in an interview that he would like to take a year off sometime to just travel for pleasure!

January Kasim Sulton’s first concert of 2004 was on Sunday 9th January at the International Arena in Cardiff, Wales playing one of the postponed Meat Loaf concerts from 2003. Kasim played 9 of these concerts in the U.K. and joked on stage at the final one on 30th January that that ended the 2003 tour! Kasim played an opening set at 8 of these concerts and in two of them he played 4 instead of his usual 3 songs! Also during his stay in Europe, Kasim held an online chat with his fans from his hotel room in London.

February For a few days in February, Kasim actually concentrated on his own solo career! A newly re-vamped KasimSulton.com was placed online plus Kasim gave an interview (which was streamed on the Internet) to Kweevak.com Radio. During this interview lots of fans e-mailed and IM’ed questions to Kasim!

Just two days later Kasim played a solo gig at Dock Street on Staten island! This was Kasim’s first solo gig since November 2002 and the room was packed. Also joining Kasim on stage were Doug Kennedy and Kasim’s brother Alex. For the first time at one of his solo gigs Kasim included Sugar Bomb’s Bully and The Beatles Dig A Pony. This show was recorded to be released later this year on a DVD. During to circumstances beyond Kasim’s control, this didn’t happen but let’s hope that at some time in the future it is released.

By Thursday 14th February Kasim was already on a plane again, this time flying to Australia for 10 concerts with Meat Loaf in Australia and two in New Zealand. As soon as Kasim arrived in the country he was whisked off to rehearse with a

6 boys choir followed by at least three days of rehearsal with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as the Sydney and Melbourne concerts were recorded for release as a DVD and CD in September.

Kasim played an opening set at 10 of these 12 concerts (once being replaced by the National Air Guitar Champion!) and also held an online chat with his fans from his Perth hotel room. This chat took place in the morning for Kasim but in the evening for most of his fans in the U.S.!

March The final concert of the Meat Loaf Couldn’t Have Said It Better World Tour was on 17th March at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. At the time there was a lot of talk that this may have been Meat Loaf’s last ever concert but thankfully that has proved not to be the case!

On 28th March Kasim held his third online chat of the year – this one from his home on Staten Island!

April On 3rd April Kasim commenced rehearsals in Chicago for the Todd Rundgren Liars Tour. This tour continued until on and off until the end of October and consisted of 60 concerts in 5 countries.

The first concert of the tour was on Thursday 8th April and was in Milwaukee, WI. They next played two concerts in Chicago, one in Columbus, two in Cleveland and one in Pittsburgh before Kasim made an in-store appearance with Jesse Gress on Tuesday 20th April at the House Of Guitars in Rochester, NY before a concert in that city later that evening. The original plan was that Kasim and Jesse would play a short set but in the end they opted to use their time there to chat to fans and sign autographs, much to the delight of all that attended!

The tour continued with gigs in Verona, NY and Redbank, NJ before Kasim stood-in at a charity benefit concert in New York City on Saturday 24th April. This was an appearance of Todd’s play Up Against It and according to fans who attended, Kasim was a welcome and professional addition to the cast that night!

The following day there was a concert at Westhampton Beach, NY before Kasim held an impromptu chat in the ShoutBox on the messageboard attached to KasimInfo.com on Tuesday 27th April. Later that night there was a Liars gig in Washington, DC before the band had to drive up to New York City to record the David Letterman Show the following night, followed by a (shortened) gig in Farmingdale, NY! On the final day of April, Kasim played a Liars gig in Lancaster, PA!

May May 2004 consisted of 21 Liars concerts up and then down the East Coast, into Florida and then some in Texas and Tennessee! This included the New York

7 concert on 7th May at the Webster Hall which most fans who went to multiple concerts (and Kasim!) seem to think was the best of the tour! Kasim described it in his journal on KasimSulton.com as “It's rare that everyone on stage has a good night, usually it's one, two or three of us but for the stars to line up where everyone has a good show on the same night is special. That was what happened at Webster Hall. At least that's what I felt from the stage. Afterwards, I said to TR, "Well, that was a good one." His comment to me was "I had fun", in TR speak that means he had a really good show.”.

Members of Todd’s online subscription service Patronet were offered the opportunity at these concerts to purchase VIP passes which entitled them to priority seating or a chance to meet Todd and the band (as a way of underwriting the tour) so several fans spoke about the fact that they were able to meet Kasim and spend time with him throughout the whole Liars tour.

June June 2004 brought the first break in the Liars Tour but only after they had played six concerts in the first nine days of that month! The final concert in Albany, NY was recorded to be released sometime in 2005 as a DVD and by all reports they chose a very good gig to film!

Also in June 2004 Kasim Sulton hosted a Star Clinic and then a solo gig at Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI. Kasim has played Summerfest in previous years with artists like Todd Rundgren and Meat Loaf but this was Kasim’s first appearance there in his own name and he so impressed the organizers that he’s already been asked to play again there in 2005!

July From Saturday 10th to Sunday 18th July Kasim played six more Liars gigs, this time in Europe. They played one festival in Holland and then 5 concerts in the United Kingdom.

August For one week of August Kasim started playing on and producing a so far unreleased album in Florida for Rick Reynolds. He then flew to Los Angeles for a few days of rehearsals and the taping of Bands Reunited with Scandal for VH-1. Obviously Kasim was not originally in Scandal but he was asked to replace their bass guitarist who died a few years ago.

On Tuesday 10th August the DVD “Utopia Live in Boston 1982” was released by Sanctuary. As well as 23 live tracks there were recent interviews with all four members of the band. Kasim was asked about how he joined the band and the dynamics within the band as well as other questions in his 23 minute clip.

September September saw Kasim play another 9 gigs on the Todd Rundgren Liars Tour. These concerts were around the West Coast. Originally this part of the tour was going to last for a couple more weeks but the first few were cancelled as they were not financially viable.

8 October On Friday 1st October Kasim played the first of 22 performances this year in the Billy Joel musical Movin’ Out on Broadway in New York City. Kasim plays rhythm guitar and sings background vocals and is on stage for all of this 2 hour musical.

Also in October Kasim spent about ten days in Japan for the five final 2004 concerts of the Liars Tour. They placed gigs in Nagoya, Osaka and two in Japan plus attended The One World Japanese Fan Club Fan’s Party on their one free night in Tokyo during which Kasim sang This Must Be Love, Trapped and Can We Still Be Friends on stage!

November / December During these two months Kasim has mainly been concentrating on writing new songs for his forthcoming solo album. In a recent interview with a U.K. magazine Kasim said that he expects the album to be released in 2005!

Kasim has also performed most weekends in Movin’ Out plus played 6 shows during Christmas and New Year.

9 Kasim Sulton in Movin’ Out

To date Kasim has played 22 performances of the musical Movin’ Out on Broadway.

What is Movin’ Out? Movin’ Out is a musical that was conceived by the award winning choreographer Twyla Tharp and is based on songs by Billy Joel. Billy Joel described the collaboration as “People have sent me cornball scripts about “Piano Man” or “Uptown Girl”. But Twyla was a natural”.

Twyla Tharp described it as “I always felt Billy Joel could do a Broadway show, and a Broadway show was something that always interested me”. Twyla continues “It’s a collaboration with Billy’s music. That’s very different than a collaboration with him. I chose Joel because there is rage in his music and guts in his songs, and I believe in him as a storyteller.”

The musical is set on Long Island in the 1960s and tells the story of 5 friends living through the tumultuous years of 1967 to 1987. It features over 20 dancers and the band perform 30 Billy Joel songs.

Movin’ Out was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won the 2003 Tony Awards for both Best Orchestration and Best Choreography. Richard Zoglin of Time magazine described the musical as “Movin’ Out seems to want to burst out of the theater, setting a new standard for the rock musical. Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel make Broadway rock!”

30 Billy Joel classics. The kinetic imagination of Twyla Tharp. A vibrant company of over 20 dancers and 10 musicians. You’ve never seen anything like Movin’ Out.

10 The Movin’ Out Band The listed players of the band are: Michael Cavanaugh – Piano / Lead Vocals Tommy Brynes – Leader / Guitar Wade Preston – Keyboard Dennis Delgaudio – Lead Guitar Greg Smith – Bass Chuck Burgh – Drums John Scarpulla - Lead Sax / Percussion Scott Kreitzer – Sax Barry Danielian – Trumpet Kevin Osborne – Trombone / Whistler / Vocals

Kasim Sulton started playing in this band through Tommy Brynes who he replaces playing guitar and singing background vocals. Tommy Brynes has been Billy Joel’s musical director and guitar player for 13 years and he was responsible for auditioning and putting together the band for the Movin’ Out musical. Tommy also used to play with Joan Jett.

The Stage set-up The band are positioned throughout the whole show on a moveable “ledge” which rises above the dancers and at times moves across the stage so that it is nearer the audience. When Kasim plays in the band he is quote prominently positioned (as the musical director Tommy needs to be). Looking at the band from the stage on the far left is the keyboardist, drummer and bassist. On the far right are the three percussionists with the lead guitarist in front of them. In the middle of the stage is the lead vocalist / pianist and, at the end of his piano, is where Kasim stands. Kasim sings in all but about three of the songs and is clearly visible for the whole set other than two songs when he is not lit up. One word of warning though – if you sit in the seats at the very far back of the mezzine section of the theater you probably will not be able to see his head!

Kasim’s performances in Movin’ Out

Months October 6 November 7 December 9 Total 22

Performances Matinee 9 Evening 13 Total 22

11 Review of Kasim in Movin’ Out I went to see Kasim in Movin’ Out in his performance on Monday 27th December. This was his third out of six performances this week and I thought he put on a great show! The main lead vocalist / pianist Michael Cavanaugh didn’t play this performance but instead Wade Preston took over that role and he was really excellent – I even thought he played sang some of the Billy Joel songs better than when I saw Billy Joel in concert!

My one over-riding memory of this musical though will be the fact that it seemed strange to me that the people on stage don't sing! I expected a musical to include the actors / dancers to sing but it was mainly the guy on the piano singing (with some very distinct background vocals from Kasim, amongst others!). The person behind me said that it was the best musical she'd ever seen as she left the theatre but it appeared to me to be a band playing Billy Joel songs with some dancing below!

I also found the story very difficult to follow. I’ll freely admit that a lot of my time I wasn’t really watching the dancing but even when I did, other than the part when one guy died in battle, I still couldn’t always work out what was going on despite having read the synopsis of the musical! The dancing itself was excellent – even all the dancers in the chorus had distinct roles to play and each had their own time in the spotlight. There was also a lot of the twirling girls around in the air and throwing them around type which is very dramatic! However I very much doubt that anyone who hadn’t read the synopsis would know what was happening on stage by the dancing alone.

Before I saw the show I wondered (worried!) about how much or how little Kasim’s personality would be allowed to shine on stage. From seeing Kasim having to stand in a box at the Todd Rundgren Liars gigs, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing another show where he was greatly restricted but I’m sure that he took this role knowing this and it was obviously still Kasim on stage. He may only be able to make limited or little eye contact with the audience but there’s still no mistaking his mannerisms on stage! At the end of this performance, when the band are lowered again onto the stage, a couple of the dancers shook hands with Kasim and his personality came across then.

I’m really glad that I was lucky enough that Kasim was playing performances in a week when I already had plans to visit America so that I was able to see him in Movin’ Out and this means that he can now add a Broadway show credit to his resume which surely must now cover the whole spectrum of the music business from solo work to soft rock to heavy rock to Broadway!

12 Over For Now…..

That’s all folks! Another edition of the Kasim Sulton Magazine compiled, printed and read!

If you have any comments about the magazine, suggestions about how it can be improved, any reviews or photos to submit for future editions or just comments about it in general, please e-mail [email protected].

The next edition of this magazine will be issued at the beginning of April and will include a feature on Kasim’s gigs as part of Scandal (amongst other topics).