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Yellow Cab The God Of Low Afraid Himself To Be Somebody Loves You Sacrifice Set Me Free Over For Now Keep It In Mind (That I Love You So) There Goes My Inspiration Cliché Libertine Watching The World Go By The One Sure Thing Love Alone One World 
Review by Eddie "brontis" Goicuria:
Opening for Kasim was the quirky and highly talented singer/songwriter/pianist/storyteller, Jacqueline Francis. A regular child prodigy, she was writing her own music at the age of six and already tackling Debussy and Beethoven by the age of ten. Jacqueline did a marvelous job of warming up the room with her beautiful voice and exquisite piano playing. Weaving her very personal tunes with quips and anecdotes of her life from college days through her experience of meeting Lady Gaga (she had lunch with the glam-rock diva when the two attended college at NYU). "That will be my claim to fame, that is what I want on my gravestone: Here lies Jacqueline Francis, she once ate pizza with Lady Gaga", she joked.
Francis is one of those rare breeds of artists who as brilliant as she is, does not take herself all that seriously and is not above poking fun of herself, her life, and giggling at her own jokes. Her music is deliciously lavish and a little reminiscent of Aimee Mann, Sara Bareilles, and maybe a bit of Eva Cassidy. However, Francis is an original and there is nothing else quite like her on the scene in my opinion. It quickly became obvious to me that Jacqueline Francis is destined for greatness and huge success not only in music, but in literature as well.
After the show, I spent some time chatting with her about some of our mutual experiences in New York City, musical tastes, traveling, and living in the Northeast. She came across as accessible and warm, a highly intelligent and engaging conversationalist with a great sense of humor. She is a mature soul who has mastered the art of juggling old sensiblities of years gone past with the modern values of today.
 Running into the room to wild cheering and applause like a marathon sprinter, Kasim Sulton was apparently prepared and charged to give his all right from the onset to the roomful of diligent fans, followers and supporters who turned out to see his final performance of the tour. Kasim has matured well over the years and still magically possesses that boyish look and angelic voice. Bouncing back and forth between his solo material and Rundgren/Utopia songs, Kasim had the crowd eating out of his hand from the first number through the encore. Sulton has really been honing his skills as a comedian of sorts as well, cracking up the audience with jokes and stories of his life, travels, and performances. It's easy to see why this brilliant artist's fans are so dedicated, many of them traveling long distances to catch one of his rare solo appearances. Kasim does a marvelous job of engaging and involving them not only in chorus sing-alongs, but also with some witty interactive rapport and playful ribbing. It's all in fun, and big fun it is to attend a Kasim Sulton show. As an added bonus, he even treated the crowd to a verse of a new, as-yet unfinished song which he is presently working on. I can't think of any artists who would take such risks like that with one of their unborn babies. I can only interpret such an action as an attestment to how much he loves and trusts his devoted followers. Kas, as he is known to his fans, also let us all in on some very exciting and secret news. Among those tidbits, his plan to involve his loyal fan base in the process of his next album in the making. I certainly will not divulge the details, as we are all sworn to keep it under wraps for the time being. Secret Society, indeed. For me, one of the highlights of many during the course of the evening was his lovely rendition of "Love Alone". This song from Utopia's 1980 album, "Adventures In Utopia" has special meaning to many. One couple was married to the beautiful ballad. Myself, I used to lullaby my now 22 year old daughter to sleep, singing it to her when she was a newborn. I get the feeling that Kasim somehow seems to know and appreciate how much some of his work means to us. He certainly thanks the audience more than enough during his show for being there for him, and for supporting him through all of the years of his incredible career. I first caught Kasim live onstage with Todd Rundgren's stint back in 1978 at The Bottom Line in New York City, some of which yielded Todd's live album "Back To The Bars". It was brutally apparent to me from that moment on, that Kasim Sulton was destined for great heights and untold success. It's a no-brainer to see why artists like Todd, Meat Loaf, Hall And Oates, Joan Jett, Mick Jagger, Celine Dion, Cheap Trick, The New Cars, and so many others have enlisted his services. Kasim is the consumate professional: a team player who can at any time step up and lead the pack. Even with all of that, Sulton is more than happy to come out after the show and enjoy a meet and greet with the crowd. Staying there as long as it takes to chat with, autograph memorablia, pose for countless photos, and generally hang out and schmooze with every one of his fans and friends. I enjoyed a wonderful talk with Kasim, as I love to do at every one of his appearances. I always try to bring something unique and special for him to autograph. I get a kick out of his reaction when signing a rare piece of memorabilia that I know he has not seen in many years. I must say that one gets a warm sense of family at a Kasim Sulton show. Quite an amazing feat, as this last stop of the tour wrapped up a grueling 11-day jaunt that took him from NYC to Chicago, to Ft. Atkinson, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Cleveland and Boston, then back to NYC, logging nearly four thousand miles of solo driving.
 Thanks very much to this remarkable artist, for everything that he does, and for making so many people happy and fulfilled. If you are an admirer of top-notch songwriting, singing, playing, entertainment, and wonderment, make it a point to attend one of his shows. I guarantee that you will be enthralled beyond words. Thanks as well to the lovely Jacqueline Francis, a wonderful upcoming artist to keep your ears and eyes open for. Special thanks to Carrie Knife, merchandiser, for all of her hard work behind the scenes. Thanks also to Grady Moates, Kathy Sands-Boehmer, and Johnny D's Uptown. On to Akron in September, hope to see you all there!
Review by SueW:
The opening act (Jacqueline Francis) played a nice set. The music that she played wasn’t really my type of music but she was an amazing piano player. It was fascinating watching her style compared to the way that Kasim plays the keyboards! She told us some amusing stories through her set too.
Kasim’s set lasted an hour and 31 minutes and he was introduced by Grady Moates who arranged this gig (the tickets had Secret Society on them again). Kasim started by thanking us all for coming, played one chord and then joked “Thank you and good night!” He started, as usual, by singing Drivin’ Me Mad. I think it’s a good, dramatic way to start his set but at each gig except one, I’m not sure that his voice has been warm enough to start his set with this song. However it did receive a good round of applause and then Kasim went straight into Yellow Cab.
At all the gigs on this tour, my main complaint has been the lighting at the venues, especially the red lighting that we had at several places. When Jacqueline Francis played, she was again lit in red but thankfully as soon as Kasim walked on stage they switched to a white light so he was the best lit of all the gigs on this tour tonight which was wonderful!
Kasim then moved to the microphone (interestingly Nana had earlier remarked that standing at the microphone was opening his diaphragm better which was helping him sing which I hadn’t realised but was certainly true, especially combined with the fact that he is not smoking any more) and Kasim said about how much he had been enjoying playing his solo gigs and driving himself around. Kasim said that he had driven about 4,000 miles so far!
The God Of Low was next and that song has grown on me so much on this tour. I much prefer this acoustic version compared to the harder version that he played with his band in October. Several times this has been the song which I’ve had in my head when I’ve woken up the mornings after his gigs.
We then had the cover versions part of Kasim’s set – Afraid Himself To Be and Somebody Loves You. Once again it struck me about how well Kasim chooses songs which suit his voice and life so well. Both songs could easily have been written for him.
Kasim then spoke about his new album and his plans for the cover. I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to put online about it but I would urge everybody to join Kasim’s mailing list at KasimSulton.com in order to get all the details so that you can join in from 1st July and stand a chance to win a competition with the prize of having Kasim playing a gig in your house!
Sacrifice was next (as usual followed by a massive round of applause) before Kasim went to his keyboards and played a few lines from one of his new songs! It sounded like quite a sophisticated ballad. The part which Kasim played started “Whenever I call you up” so I can’t wait to hear the full version when it’s released! I did think though that it was interesting that usually Kasim articulates his words really clearly but for this song he sang it nowhere nearly as confidently or clearly but I think we were just privileged to have heard any part of one of his unfinished songs. Kasim also said that he’d be having some special guests on his new CD and one “special, special, special guest” and asked us if we could guess who it was and then gave a great impression of Todd Rundgren! (This backs up what he indicated in Kansas City.)
Kasim then played on the keyboards Set Me Free and Over For Now (which he hadn’t played since Kansas City, 3 gigs ago). Kasim then told us the story behind Keep It In Mind (That I Love You So), complete with the “Who cares if you’re 17 and I’m nearly 55” line at the end of the song which people here found hilarious!
Kasim moved back to his microphone stand and spoke about all the changes that have happened in his life so far this year. We then had the Utopia section of the set as he played There Goes My Inspiration and started Libertine. Tonight it was a great audience response to rehearsing singing in Libertine, probably the best of the tour! However as soon as Kasim started playing the song, he broke a string! He then got out his box of Elixir strings and quickly changed his string while still keeping us amused by his chatter! He spoke about his forthcoming solo gig in Akron on 5th September and the Todd Healing tour.
Kasim then played Todd’s Cliché before taking his guitar off to switch to his orange metal looking guitar but thankfully somebody called out about Libertine as Kasim had obviously forgotten that we hadn’t actually sang it yet! At the end of Libertine he asked us to sing it quietly and then just the single men, just the single pregnant women, just the Republicans, just the Kennedy’s (someone sang as she said she was a cousin!) etc.
Kasim then switched to his other guitar and sang his beautiful Watching The World Go By. Kasim then said some thank yous (including Grady and Carrie for arranging this gig) and played his stunning The One Sure Thing which was just brilliant to hear again. I think the words in that song are just beautiful.
It was then back to the keyboards for Love Alone and finally Kasim returned to the guitar for One World.
And then, all too soon for me, it was the end of another brilliant Kasim Sulton solo gig (one that I’ll certainly never forget) and the end of another Kasim Sulton solo tour!
Roll on Akron in September!
Videos
Many thanks to Eddie "brontis" Goicuria for all the photos on this page
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Click here to view the venue website and here for more info about the gig. The address is 17 Holland Street, Davis Square, Sommerville, MA, 02144 and it is almost directly opposite The Somerville Theater. Davis Square is a really vibrant area with several places to go for music and dinner so is ideal for passing trade. (Tickets are available on the door if you do not wish to have dinner at the venue.)
This will be Kasim's second appearance at this venue. His first was almost exactly two years ago (on Tuesday 27th May 2008) although the restaurant and music club was opened in 1969 by the DeLellis family. The place was named after the father and the daughter Carla is now the current owner. The venue hosts an extensive range of events and artists as diverse as Emmylou Harris and The Dixie Chicks have played here.
Doors open tonight at 7.00pm for dinner reservations with the show starting at 8.00pm. The venue serves an extensive menu (click here for details) with the emphasis on healthy food that is reasonably priced.
The opening act tonight is Jacqueline Francis.
Kasim's set is scheduled to start at 9.30pm and is expected to last for between 75 to 90 minutes. After the gig, as usual, Kasim will be out to chat to people, sign autographs and pose for photos.
Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
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Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the seventh and final gig on his