Nick also mentions his first gig with Kasim on his own website here. Apparently his music is described as "psychedelic punk, spacerock, and alternative".

The Meat Loaf Seize The Night Tour page has been updated with this info.

Kasim's Total New Cars Winter Tour Mileage (estimated) - 3,035 miles.

(Just a reminder that this mileage is only meant as an indication of a tour mileage compared to other tours rather than a strictly accurate measurement. It is just taken from city to city and takes no allowance of any detours. The only way to get a strictly accurate measurement would be to follow Kasim around with a pedometer and the restraining order prevents me from doing that!!!)

Many thanks to Patrick Andrews for the correction.

This venue looks like an amazing place (see the photos!) and it is a four story venue with the restaurant one floor below music hall. There are 14 private boxes on the 3rd and 4th floors, plus there is a House Of Blues Hotel nearby. According to the website, apparently The House of Blues is a smoke-free venue. The worrying part about that is that, also according to the venue website, they say that loading space out the back is very limited as a train track runs through it! That means that when Kasim goes out for a cigarette, not only will be have to risk being mobbed by loads of fans but he has to keep an eye out for trains too! There seems to be three large dressing rooms here and each one holds 10 people comfortably and has "a private bathroom, shower and full length mirror, sink, refrigerator, comfortable furniture and television"!

Kasim Sulton has played in Chicago numerous times before, although I believe that this may be his first time at this venue. Kasim's next visit to Chicago will be in 61 days time (two months tomorrow!) when he plays another one of his great solo gigs at The Abbey Pub! (This venue is less than 7 miles away.)

A red hue.

The New Cars.

Kasim and Todd Rundgren.

The best photo of Kasim of the set!

Kasim at the Meet and Greet

Kasim at the InterState Music / KSulton Bass booth.

Kasim's Total New Cars Winter Tour Mileage - 2,237 miles.

According to a post on one Meat Loaf mailing list there are currently adverts on VH-1 saying that tickets for the US 2007 Meat Loaf Tour go on on sale on Saturday 9th December. (They may go on pre-sale earlier through MeatLoaf.net.)

Sadly, it appears that the German Meat Loaf Fan Club website has closed (at least for a while). The reason given (in German) appears to be disillusionment with recent events (examples listed include the Meat Loaf / Steinman lawsuit, Patti Russo leaving the band, not 100% live music on stage and cancelation of the German appearance for today when he made an appearance this week after the "acute intestine infection" was reported to have been diagnosed). Hopefully the website will open again at some point in the future.

If you are signed up to Kasim's mailing list but do not receive the messages (as lots of people on AOL do not), please feel free to e-mail SueW@KasimInfo.com and I'll add you to the list of people I forward messages to.

Apparently the version of Quid Pro Quo which is now available is the original 2002 "Special Edition" (which includes Love Reunion) which was reported to have sold out on 11th April 2004.

The address of the venue is 116 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Kasim has played in Milwaukee several times before in his career. The last time he played at this actual venue was in December 1999 on the Meat Loaf StoryTellers Tour but he has played at Summerfest several times since then, as well as playing some solo gigs at the famous Shank Hall in the city. Unfortunately there is no Milwaukee gig booked for the Kasim Sulton Winter 2006 / 2006 Tour but as it's only 95 miles from Chicago some fans will be travelling to Kasim's 27th January gig.

Milwaukee is also the home of InterState Music (where the KSulton Bass is stocked). According to an e-mail from the venue (forwarded to KasimInfo.com by Jeff "Weavil" Gauss) there will be a booth at the venue for the KSulton Bass!

Kasim in a rock star pose!

Kasim looking straight at the camera.

There doesn't appear to have been a Meet and Greet at this venue but there are some historical photos of that venue on those pages.

This trip will take about 5 hours by road.

Kasim's Total Winter New Cars Tour Mileage - 2,143 miles.

Please e-mail any suggestions to SueW@KasimInfo.com and I'll post the most amusing ones next Friday.

Many thanks to Laura Dems for all the photos on that page.

The Surf Ballroom is famous in music history as being the final venue where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (J.P.Richardson) played the night before they were killed in a plane crash in the early hours of 3rd February 1959 - also known as The Day The Music Died. This article has more info about the accident and what lead up to those 3 being on the plane. The Surf Ballroom has a lot of memorabilia about the event and just outside is a memorial (pictured left) to the musicians.

The original Surf Ballroom was built in 1933 and destroyed by fire in 1947 so it was rebuilt in 1948, across the street from the original location. I certainly don't claim to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all of Kasim Sulton's career (!) so I'm not sure whether he's played at this venue before but this is the first time he's played here in the past decade. Click here for the official venue website - it's located at 460 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake, IA 50428. Apparently there is a tradition at this venue that bands autograph the walls backstage before they go on stage so that must certainly make interesting reading there! The Surf Ballroom got its name from the desire of the original owners to create a ballroom that resembled an ocean beach club. There are murals on the back walls which were hand-painted to depict pounding surf, swaying palm trees, sailboats and lighthouses. The furnishings were bamboo and rattan and the ambience that of a south sea island. The stage is surrounded by palm trees and the clouds overhead are supposed to make it seem as if you are dancing outside under the stars! This venue has a capacity of 2,100 and accomodates visitors with 30,000 square feet of entertainment area, including a 6,300 square foot dance floor. Click here for all the technical info on the venue.

The concert tonight starts at 8.00pm according to the venue website - doors open at 7.00pm. Tickets are $30 to $33 (plus charges) plus for an additional $10 per person you can hire a booth.