The first I saw or knew of Kasim (I'm ashamed to say) Was on the Richie Sambora tour in July '98.... You can read about the tour in more detail on my Richie site, but here's a short insight into it.
Our first date on the tour was at the "Grosse Freheit" in Hamburg, a very dodgy venue to say the least!!!! Deep in the red light district ~ situated next to "The Funky Pussy" ~ this says enough in itself LOL.. The five of us spent the tour travelling & sleeping in my car... Making do with showers at the local swimming pools everyday. It was certainly an experience & taught us all a lot about ourselves & each other. Most of us came out of this still friends( better friends in fact) but not all.... Which I'm afraid too say is another story..... Any way back to Kas!!!! We managed to get front row for this show, The band came on & were a different line up to what Richie started out with. Kas seemed really at ease playing with Richie & certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. He had a permanent smile on his face through out the tour!!!! In fact by the end of the tour he was really well known for his smile & friendliness :-) The show was excellent!!! One of my personal favs.
Before we left for the tour we really wanted Hugh McDonald to play with Rich in Europe as he had started off the tour with Richie & we had seen him play with Bon Jovi many times before. Kasim filled his shoes with ease........ I still think Hugh McDonald is a great musician but Kas really made a big difference to Richies band. The band called themselves the "Kookaphonics" & they all played really well together, By the end of the tour to if Richie had never got back with Bon Jovi & stayed together with the Kookaphonics I would of been more than happy.
After the Hamburg show we got to meet Kasim for the First time ~ He was as nice as we could of imagined!! Taking time for all the fans who were there. Signing & posing for pix....
The next show was Cologne.. Which is where this pic on the Background came from. We were front row again & this time I got loads of pix of Kasim... Which you can see on the Richie pages. This show was great to although not one of the best. Yet Kasim was still on top form throughout. It was more Richie who seemed not as happy tonight as the night before. I think there were a few technical problems...
When introducing the band Richie referred to Kasim a few times as his right hand man. Also saying "My good friend Kasim Sulton from Todd Rundgrens Utopia, Meat Loaf & Meat Loafs younger brother Pot Roast"
The rest of the shows were all excellent ~ we were front row for most of them & the pix came out great, the best ones I think came from Stuttgart which was also my fav!!!!! Although most others think the best one was in Amsterdam.
Shepherds Bush in London was another one that stands out ~ Jon Bon Jovi joined Richie & the band for two songs... I personally think this wasn't so good, as it was Richies show but it sure was great to see them altogether on the same stage ~ Kas really seemed to enjoy this show. He looked really good next to Jon too ~ if ever there is a place going in Bon Jovi, Kas could easily fill it. Myself Kathryn & Laura would all love to see Kas in Bon Jovi on a regular Bassist!!!!!!!
Kas also played with Jon at a "Backstage with Jon Bon Jovi fan club gig" in New Jersey last year filling in for Hugh McDonald. Kas got lots of good reviews from the fans of Bon Jovi who were there... A lot remembering him from Richies tour...
