9 days: 3 Kasim gigs and 4 Atlantic flights

I was only telling someone today that I have 3 Kasim gigs and 4 flights across the Atlantic (plus some DTW) in the next 9 days so it's going to be a busy week! I'm already shattered as I had a late night last night too.

The plans are to get up at 4.00am and leave at 5.00am for Heathrow. As the plane isn't due to land until 10.30pm on Monday night, it'll be easier to drive to Heathrow in case it's delayed past the last train.

Tomorrow night some of us are having dinner before the gig and then we're staying at a friend's house just outside Chicago. On Saturday apparently it's a five and a half hour drive to Cleveland (I thought it was only 3 hours) and then on Sunday there's the drive back to fly home from Chicago on Monday.

And unfortunately they are forecasting 6-8 inches of snow for tonight in Chicago and I LOATHE snow! I took my boots out of my case for Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale so they're back in now!

Another Meat Loaf tour, another ticket fiasco!

Some Todd Rundgren tickets went on sale today and it was easy - the first ones who buy tickets get the best seats and the later people get seats behind them.

Not so with Meat Loaf!

For at least the second time (if not the third) Meat Loaf is in the process of changing companies who manage his website and ticketing packages just as concerts are going on sale so nothing is properly in place yet.

The Cork and London tickets have already gone on sale but they were mainly standing so it doesn't matter too much about the order that you order tickets. As both Meat Loaf and his new company are out to make money, it's likely that there'll be Bat Caves or some other way to get more money from his fans but at least most people stand a fair chance of getting a good spot there.

For the seated concerts before all these money-grabbing companies were popular, you could easily log on and buy tickets in the front few rows but not now.

When I went to bed last night, there were supposed to be 5 lots of tickets going on sale at 9.00am today - Liverpool, Norfolk, Bath, Yorkshire and Hampshire. When I logged on at 8.30am this morning TicketMaster said that only Liverpool was going on sale and that would be now at 10.00am. I had a meeting at 9.15am so at 9.10am I had a quick look and saw that tickets were already on sale on TicketMaster! Panic set in!

I quickly logged on and tickets were a shocking £172 (about $340!) and the best I could find then was in row K - 11 rows back! I looked at the cheaper (£48 - $100) seats and the closest there was in row W - 23 rows back! I quickly bought a £172 ticket and rushed off to my meeting.

Afterwards I was really kicking myself as I really doubt that they would sell 10 rows at £172 in 10 minutes so I think they did hold some back. Whether that was for their tout friends to sell on E-Bay or for the Fan Club I wasn't sure about. When I got home I read a huge outcry on Meat Loaf's official website as most people had had as bad a time as me.

The person who currently looks after the board is not the smartest monkey in the jungle and her post just confused the matter even more as she seemed to be conflicting what Meat Loaf's management company said (their part is in italics):

"front row and first-5-row tickets are being held for later release to the fan club ONLY. Please try and be patient."
I assume because of the late transition that went on, so get your tickets through whatever company is selling them over there.

She later posted all excited that she'd managed to find seats in row CC but obviously didn't bother to check that the double letters are behind the single ones so that would be the 29th row!

There's still no clue about when the other concerts will go on sale!

Kasim touring with Meat Loaf

Tickets went on sale today for the Meat Loaf concert that Kasim Sulton will be playing in London on Saturday 2nd August. Unfortunately it's a standing concert but thankfully tickets aren't too expensive at £38.50 (about $78) each plus booking fees. There are seats at the venue but they are a long way back around the sides so we've opted for a standing ticket.

The gig is after the Motor Show at the ExCel Arena which is quite near me and the place only holds 6,000.

There's already one other concert on sale but that's in Cork so I doubt I'll go to that one. The last concert I went to in Ireland was horrendous with fighting, near-fighting and pushing all the gig. A friend of mine even left the crowd as she was being pushed so much so I'm not in a rush to go to an Irish gig again at the moment, especially as there'll be several UK ones.

What concerns me about the ExCel gig is that I have loads of DTW events from late July onwards and I thought that seeing Kasim wouldn't clash but now I'm not so sure! Thankfully of the 6 known Meat Loaf dates so far there are no clashes so cross your fingers for me!

Home from Florida

My alarm was set for 9.00am but I woke at 7.30am which was a shame as I knew I'd be up for over 30 hours! I left at 11.00am and drove back to Fort Lauderdale Airport to drop off my car. I checked in for my Delta flight and had some brunch.

As I had a tight 45 minute connection at JFK, I was relieved that my flight left promptly at 3.00pm. Although it was a windy flight we landed 45 minutes early at 5.30pm so I easily made the connection for the 7.00pm Delta flight to Gatwick. Unfortunately once again there was only one movie at a time played so I mainly worked during the flight (I can never sleep on a plane).

We landed about 15 minutes late at 7.45pm but thankfully my suitcase was the first off so I caught a train to London and was at my desk by 9.30am. Tuesday was tough as I felt shattered all day but this trip was well worth it!

Kasim Sulton's gig in Fort Lauderdale

I worked all afternoon and then left at about 5.00pm. My plan was to wander around the festival area and then see Kasim's gig at 6.30pm but I had a HORRENDOUS drive there because as I turned into the road where I thought the 43rd Annual Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament was being held I had my doubts as I was nowhere near any water! Eventually I realised that I must be at the corporate headquarters! Worst of all was that I didn’t have the correct address with me. I called into a petrol station but nobody there had heard of it and my mobile phone wouldn’t connect for some reason so I had no alternative but to return to my hotel to look it up on the Internet! I decided that Sunday night must be the night that all the slowest drivers in Fort Lauderdale go out for a drive as it I didn’t manage to get back until 6.05pm. I immediately set off again and my SatNav said that I would get there at exactly 6.30pm however it didn’t account for all the red traffic lights and then I even got stuck at a drawbridge for a good 4 minutes!!! (See photo above.) I must admit that my language was ripe at this point. Eventually I got to the venue at about 6.45pm but I missed the entrance to the car park. As I tried to turn around I was taken across another drawbridge which AGAIN was up to let a boat through! I sat on the bridge listening to Kasim’s soundcheck (not very quietly) swearing! I eventually got to the venue at about 7.05pm and thankfully couldn’t hear Kasim playing yet. The lady at the entrance said that he hadn’t started but that he was "very good"!

They were just finishing the Award Ceremony (thankfully running half an hour late) so I walked out to where Kasim would be playing. The stage was about 4 feet high and was a decent size. It must be the only venue that Kasim has played where there’s been a boat parked at either side of the stage!

When this gig was first announced I really thought that this could have been a very important gig in terms of Kasim’s solo career as he was headlining a tournament where he could also have picked up a lot of new fans. (This is a tournament where people like Rick Derringer and Pat Travers headlined on other nights.) Unfortunately it seemed that playing after the award ceremony was not a good idea as lots of the boat people had already left by then so even Kasim said at one point in the gig that there were only about 15 people there! Despite that Kasim, Doug and Jesse put on an amazing performance! In fact it was as good and professional as if there had been 10,000 people there.

I put a (detailed of course!!!) review on KasimInfo.com here but the funniest part for me was that during Utopia’s There Goes My Inspiration, a drunk guy who had been quietly sitting along to my left a bit came over to me (with a bottle of beer in his hand!) and asked me if I’d like to "make out"!!! I was in fits of laughter after that!

When I watch a Meat Loaf concert I can easily remember all the set list but I get so engrossed in Kasim's solo gigs that I don't have a clue which songs he's sung afterwards! That's why I record his gigs. (He gave me permission when he first started playing solo gigs and I never make copies for anyone else.) Anyway, straight after the gig Grady came over and spoke to me and then Kasim did too but what I'd forgotten was that I hadn't turned my recorder off so I have our conversations on tape and even some of what we said later in the car!

Anyway after the gig EJ suggested that I join Grady, her husband and her at a Polynesian restaurant that they were going to and I'm really glad that I did as they had an amazing floor show! There was a band of 4 musicians, plus 3 girl dancers and 2 guy dancers who did so many choreographed moves, mainly hip-shaking dances but from all sorts of places. Afterwards we had a wander around their gardens which had loads of Polynesian statues in it. Apparently it is one of Todd Rundgren's favourite restaurants in the city.

They dropped me back to my car at the festival and I got back to my room by 11.30pm.

Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale

My alarm was set for 4.30am but I woke at 4.15am so I got up and had a shower and a cup of tea. I left at 5.00am and drove the 2 miles or so to return my car.

I had checked in and passed through security by 5.45am ready for my 7.20am flight. Thankfully Atlanta Airport had a few places open to eat even at that time in the morning so I had a bagel and cream cheese and read until we were called for our Delta flight. I'd booked another window seat and read some more on the flight as there were no movies. It was a really clear day so the view (especially over Florida) was beautiful!

We landed on time at about 9.00am and, sod's law being as it is(!), because I had lots of time, my suitcase was one of the first off the plane! I'd had the choice of either having a hire car for two days cost or staying at the airport for an extra 90 minutes and only paying for one day so I'd opted for the latter, my reasoning being that I was only going to my room to work so I must as well do that at the airport and save $50. Much to my delight Fort Lauderdale Airport has free wireless Internet so I could get online too.

At about 10.45am I caught a bus to the car hire centre which is a massive building. Unfortunately the queue for Alamo was really long and the automatic machines wouldn't recognise my paper driving licence so it took half an hour to queue to get a car! As I was hungry by then, I typed Ruby Tuesday into my SatNav and had a gorgeous lunch there.

The weather was really sunny and was about 78 degrees which was just wonderful as I'm used to the UK winter, although we have had one of the mildest that I can remember!

I then checked into my hotel. As I was only staying one night I'd opted for a cheapo Motel 8 - the most surprising thing about the room was that the shower was actually in the bedroom! I suppose if I was having a bath it would have been nice to have laid in it and watched TV.

Kasim Sulton gig in Atlanta, GA

The gig was better than I expected! Kasim's voice sounded really strong and the 3 guys played well together. There's quite a detailed review (as always!) on KasimInfo.com here.

The parts I didn't put on a public website like that was that the gig seemed a bit forced to me. Kasim didn't seem very relaxed (like he didn't at the other gig that was filmed for a DVD on Staten Island back in about 2004). It probably didn't help that it was the first gig of the "tour" either! We were also warned that the microphones were very sensitive and would pick up any sound so most people kept very quiet during the gig and even Kasim said that we weren't giving anything back to him!

Unfortunately there weren't many people there. I counted about 40 and I was told that only about 30 of them actually paid to get in! If all 129 tickets had been sold they could have taken $7,740. The rental of the hall was only $700 so there could have been some good money made. The irony is that the day before the gig was officially announced, I received an e-mail saying that people should book early or they may not be able to get a ticket!

When I first got to the area I didn't think it could be the correct road as it looked like a little track but inside it was quite decent. We didn't go in until about 10 minutes late but it finished by about 9.30pm. By that time I'd been up for 22 hours and I was shattered (plus I certainly did not want to be filmed at a meet and greet!) so I left straight afterwards.

I got back to my room by about 10.15pm and had a cup of tea before I got to bed at about 11.30pm as I have an early start tomorrow.

GA to GA (Gatwick to Georgia)

I really didn't sleep too well last night (got to be at 11.00pm and was up at 2.00am for half an hour) so when my alarm went off at 4.30am (11.30pm US time!) I already felt shattered! The taxi arrived 10 minutes early so I had a 20 minute wait at the station and then had to change trains at London Bridge. There was only 4 minutes between the trains but thankfully I made the connection and got to Gatwick Airport by 7.10am. Check-in and security were relatively quick so by 8.00am I was having breakfast and relaxing!

My 10.00am flight took off about 20 minutes late and as there were headwinds they said that it was going to be a nine and a half hour flight! I'm quite used to 7 hours to NYC (or sometimes 6 flying home) so that seemed quite a long trip. I haven't flown Delta before but the staff were great and there was lots of food! The downside was that there were no screens in the back of the chairs so we were limited to a couple of films, neither of which I was interested in.

We landed only 15 minutes late at 3.00pm (Atlanta is on the same time as NYC which is 5 hours behind London) but it wasn't until 5.00pm that I actually left the airport! There were really long queues at Immigration and they had 4 people checking our forms were completed correctly but nobody directing which line people should join so it was a total mess! Thankfully the guy didn't give me the 3rd degree today - I've travelled to US so often that sometimes they really quiz me. He did say that he hadn't heard of Kasim Sulton and then asked me if he played Christian music which isn't the first type I would have thought of with that name!

After I'd collected my suitcase and gone through the agriculture part I then had to recheck my suitcase and go through security (including taking off my shoes) to enter the airport! How I could have got any weapons whilst flying over the Atlantic is beyond me! I then had to travel to another terminal to collect my suitcase again! I collected my car and drove to my motel which was only about 2 minutes away. I'm just staying at a cheap Motel 8 as it's only for one night. It's quite a good standard and has wireless Internet so I'm happy! I was supposed to be meeting some people for dinner but I don't really have the time now so I may see them afterwards.

I hope this gig isn't the zoo it sounds like it will be....