The Kasim Sulton Band in Reisterstown, MD

I woke up at 3.15am and left the house by 4.15am to drive to Heathrow. After pulling into the wrong parking garage first(!) I managed to find the one I had actually booked into and left my car. They drove me to Terminal Three and, as I was early, I checked in quite quickly and sailed through security as it wasn’t very busy. We boarded the plane for the 8.30am American Airlines flight from about 7.30am and it was a full flight but I had a really hot looking guy sitting next to me although unfortunately he snored very loudly on and off during the flight!

The flight was smooth but there was nothing that I fancied watching on the video sets so I just read (I can never sleep on a plane). The food was exactly the same as they served when I went over several times during the summer of 2006!

We landed on time and then had the usual race to get to Immigration before the queue gets too long! It was just as well that I’m used to that as the Visitors side only had 2 desks open. Thankfully they moved some of us across to the US side and I had my easiest ever intro into the US. I usually get the third degree as I have so many US stamps in my passport but this time he didn’t even ask how long I was staying or anything! My suitcase took a while to come out but I quickly made my way to car rental and collected my hire car. I was really lucky as I only booked a basic model but it was upgraded so that it has cruise control which will be great with all the long journeys that I’m making.

I set off at about noon and drove down to a place called Laurel (just south of Baltimore) where I am staying. The drive was supposed to have taken four hours but it took over five and a half hours as the traffic was heavy in places. I also saw 5 separate fender benders as they call them over here.

As I knew that I wouldn’t be in the hotel for too long I just booked a cheap Days Inn but it was a decent standard and the wireless Internet connection was very strong so I was happy. I just had a quick cup of tea and read my e-mails. Unfortunately a friend who was coming to the gig tonight and to Washington with me tomorrow had written to say that she was ill so wouldn’t be attending.

I set off at about 7pm and drove to Reisterstown, MD which was about three quarters of an hour away. It was a quaint little town that seemed to mainly consist of one street called Main Road. Micho’s was easy to find and there was a large car park next to it. The Kasim Sulton Band (I love being able to write that!) was playing upstairs so I wandered up and collected my ticket. The room where Kasim was playing was packed and I couldn’t see any spare places so I bought a drink from the bar and decided to sit in there until Kasim came on stage when I would go and stand at the back. However Marc Israel came out and found me and asked me to join him at his table. I’ve only met him once before (at a Kasim gig back in about 2002) so I thought that was really nice of him. A lady called Stephanie was also at our table who was friendly.

We then had a really funny thing happen that my British friends will appreciate as it was a Proper Dave / Other Dave scenario and their names really were Dave! Marc was waiting for Dave Mullins to join us who he knew online and had only met once before too (I believe). Anyway this guy was at the entrance appearing to be looking for someone so Marc went over to him and asked “Dave?” The guy said that he was so Marc came back to the table and introduced him to us and we shifted around to give him a seat. However when Marc said that his name was Mullins, Dave said that it was something like “Ketchup”. I thought that was maybe his nickname but after a couple of minutes it came out that this guy had been looking for someone else and wasn’t Dave Mullins at all! He then wandered off and Proper Dave arrived soon afterwards - they were both of a similar build!

The Kasim Sulton Band (do you know how long I’ve waited to write that?!!!) came on stage at about 9.00pm and played for about an hour and three quarters and it was a brilliant gig! (I’ve written a full review at http://www.kasiminfo.co.uk/2009/10/09.html ) My concerns that it would be Kasim on an acoustic guitar with an electric band were unfounded as it was a proper rock / pop band. Thankfully Kasim’s voice was better than I expected considering how he sounded talking on the radio on Wednesday morning. Kasim's set also included my favourite song The One Sure Thing which I certainly wasn't expecting.

Afterwards I briefly spoke to a couple of other people I knew and then left quite quickly after Kasim’s set as I’d already been up for 25 hours by then, plus I really wanted to be by myself to relish the gig again.

I got back to my hotel by midnight and was asleep by 12.15am.