Review by SueW:
I read on that website KasimInfo.com that The Ark is now in it’s third location but I didn’t think any more about it until I put it in my SatNav (GPS) and it proudly announced that my destination was on the right and it was a petrol (gas) station! Thankfully I was in South Main Street so I just drove along until I found it. The new location is in a far better part of the city although parking wasn’t too easy to find.

This was a really venue with staff (that I believe are all volunteers) that obviously all loved music. There were loads of seats set out in rows with the front row being so close that people were resting their feet on the stage before the show started! Unfortunately it was very sparsely attended (due to lack of promotion again) but I’m sure that everybody who did attend had a great time!

For once Kasim was introduced on stage and the show started pretty much on time. Kasim started his set on the keyboards and played Set Me Free on his own before Doug Kennedy joined him on stage For Over For Now. I was sitting in front of Doug and I don’t know if it was because of where I was sitting but tonight (in contrast to Schenectady and Pittsburgh) Doug’s guitar drowned out Kasim’s (especially when Kasim was on the keyboards).

Kasim told us that this was the first time that he’d played solo in Ann Arbor and spoke about how the last time he’d played in the area it was at the Old Miami in Detroit. Yellow Cab was next (which has a great musical part in the middle) and then Kasim went straight into Nik Kershaw’s Somebody Loves You, followed by Bourgeois Tagge’s I Don’t Mind At All.

Not that I’m complaining but I was beginning to get the impression that this set was being broken up into two song segments at this point as we had the two keyboard songs, then Yellow Cab, then the two cover songs before Kasim played the two Utopia songs - There Goes My Inspiration and Libertine! Kasim then spoke fondly about his Utopia years and as it was such a small audience he started chatting to the people there which was really funny! Kasim then played Todd Rundgren’s Cliché especially for a lady called Emily who was there and had seen Todd loads of times. We then had a brief chorus of Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (!) before Kasim spoke about playing as part of The New Cars. Someone asked him if there were going to be any more concerts and Kasim said that he was "pretty sure" that they were going to do some more. He also said that "they’ve got some dates in" but then he added that "right now there are no definite plans" which seemed slightly contradictory. Kasim also said about how he was honoured to sing the Ben Orr song Drive and he and Doug played that which was lovely to hear.

Kasim then spoke at length about his All Sides album (release date 25th February) before playing Are You Happy Now from the album. Kasim then spoke quite emotionally about growing up and losing his friend on Staten Island and how he came to write Minutes Slipping Past. He said that he usually though about John Paras as he sings it each night. Kasim then switched guitars and played The One Sure Thing (that and the fact that Kasim played most of this set without his glasses were the highlights of the night for me!). Kasim then switched back to the keyboards and told us about how when he was with Utopia he had a publishing deal with Bearsville Records that allowed him 100 hours of studio time per year and that recently he’d found a bill from 1977 that said that from January to May he had already used up 90 of those hours! He said that In The Name Of Love was one of those songs and played it – he remarked afterwards again about how it was such a short song!

After a few bars of Eternal Love (people ask for that song so often at Kasim’s solo gigs!) Kasim sang Love Alone. Doug was off stage for this song but he came back for Kasim’s last song but then they realised that they hadn’t sung Sacrifice so they sung that too before One World. The Ann Arbor crowd (although smaller than Pittsburgh) were much better at the “uh’s” in the song – we hardly needed any rehearsing!

Roll on Cleveland on Friday!

Kasim's Music:
Coming soon...

Comments via e-mail and posted on various mailing lists and messageboards include:
"It was a great show. He played a lot of Utopia and obviously his own stuff."

"I was a little disappointed in the number of people that showed - I think there was only around 30."

"Kasim played another great set! He's so talented."

"I think there were only 29 people there."

"I took my son to the show and even though he didn't know Kasim's music, he had a great time and loved meeting him afterwards."

Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
Click here

Video clip.
Click here to see a clip by Runt2 of Kasim singing Love Alone at this gig.

Kasim Sulton's Winter 2007 Tour