Westfair Amphitheatre, Council Bluffs Iowa July 9, 2002 This was the most amazing day.  Finished with my first face to face class meeting in my online Master's in Library Science program AND I got to see Kasim without flying anywhere.   This was the LONGEST day of school - and we even cut the lunch period short.  I was flying out of there after wiggling and squirming through the last half hour of discussion and evaluations.  I don't know if anyone was offended but I finished my evaluation of the prof, jumped up, shouted "thanks, everyone, BYE!" and ran out the building to my car.  It took a little longer to get home and turned around to Don's so I knew we weren't going to make it there by 5:30 - the time I'd told Kasim to expect us...   Got home that night to discover a call from OOMS (Our Own Mr Sulton, a nickname coined by us fans that's really caught on!) on my voice mail left at about 5:50 - I had no way to let him know that Don and I were running late, but thankfully he was still waiting patiently for us when we got there...   After arriving and parking, we got our tickets at the "will call" window.  I stopped at the ah-hem... facilities... which weren't as bad as I'd thought they would be and then got the most beautiful red T-shirt for Meat to sign.  (I'm wearing it now as I update this page, actually!).  We looked around and finally headed to the house right side of the stage where the nice security men were guarding the band from all the adoring fans.  I asked if they could tell Kasim that Laura was here.  That conversation was amusing, but we finally got it sorted out and there I was, in the middle of a friendly Kasim-bear hug!!   Don came back with us and we sat around the catering area talking about life and stuff.  Kas even got me a beer - I needed one after the weekend I'd had!!  Studying, writing papers, etc.  I was SO ready to kick back and relax.  And being in Kasim's presence was so incredibly peaceful - that's probably why we love him so much.  I was afraid I'd be nervous and goofy and make a fool of myself.  But I even managed to introduce myself to Mark Alexander - the reason I'd ignored Kasim years ago!! - and my friend Elaine swears that I was "cool as a cucumber" when I brought Kasim out to meet her.  "Oh yeah, hi guys, this is my friend Kasim."  Tra la tra la...  Ha!! We left Kas alone to get ready for the show and found pretty good seats on the Kasim-side of the stage.  My friend Mary had found even closer seats and "convinced" us to move down with her.  I'll let my pictures do most of the talking from here on out - for a more detailed verbal review of the show - visit KasimInfo.com Before She Was Gone w/ Mark Alexander Sacrifice ("my song" - Kasim dedicated it to me that night since I'd asked (read: bugged) him about playing it that night - he'd only ever played it live in Chicago - and I'd gotten two A's on my homework/quiz in my first grad school meeting... thanks, Prof! ;-)  Visible through the doorway are Damon la Scott facing the stage and John Miceli facing away - in the long pants not the shorts! - lead guitar and drums in the Neverland Express) Patti Russo's opening set with the Neverland Express Photo by Elaine Ellis Meat - loafing around backstage during Patti's set The very happy guy in the front had just caught Meat's drumstick... Should be "Life is a Lemon (and I want my money back)"  - I know for sure that this was taken during the first song... Waving to Mark during his solo

Those of you with good eyes will find Kasim in the picture below... :-) Of all the storytellers segment shots I tried, this is the only one that turned out... After the show, I found out how scary it can be to be famous, even for 15 seconds!!  (in case you skipped the captions, Kasim had dedicated "Sacrifice"  during his solo set to me in honor of my two A's that day in school.)  When Kasim came looking for me & my friends, the entire group of fans tried to come back with us.  Some said "I'm Laura!" Some tried to convince me that we knew each other.  Some simply tried to bribe me so they could meet Meat and the band.  One lady was trying to get the security guards to let her in with the "cutest little 13-year old you ever did see, how can you look at that face and not let her go back??"   Luckily, Kasim spotted me and was able to tell the security folks "HER!  Let her back here, she'll tell you who else."  It was a struggle to get my friends through the gate, and Kasim was as anxious as I was to get everyone back there and shut the gate.  Unfortunately, we didn't get everyone before things got out of hand and we had to leave a few of my friends behind.  I was able to get some of them - two out of three ain't bad! - back about ten minutes later, after the crowd had started to thin but before they cleared the house.   Kasim was so sweet and took time to ask everyone how they liked the show, and how they knew me, and what they did and so on.  He was the only band member who sat around and talked to us - John and Mark walked through but didn't stay.  I'm sure they were all tired and ready to relax, which only illustrates how wonderful & giving our Kasim can be!  The band was facing a 10-hour long bus ride and probably needed to chill out - if I was hot in the crowd I can't imagine how bad it was on stage with the lights and smoke and everything.  Kasim looked a little tired to me, but he's never more alive than when he's with fans - both old and new!!  He was quite patient - even when a couple of the folks got antsy about an album cover that Meat was signing.    Kasim signed stuff for me and my friends too and posed for pictures.  While we couldn't get Meat to sign a BOOH (Bat Out of Hell) CD for Elaine, I asked Kasim if he'd do the honors.  He was tickled to do so - and made sure to point out that his name is on the album insert in more places than Meat's!!  Later, Elaine said she wasn't upset as she knew she had the signature of "the nicest person in the band!  And you tell him I said so!"   This was the greatest night and I'll never forget it! _____________________________________________________________ Those of you who tuned in to find out more about the "consciously" comment - I saw Meat Loaf play in Omaha in the mid-nineties.  Everything Louder tour with the release of BOOH II (Bat Out of Hell II).  But I had no idea Kasim was going to play such a big role in my life in the next decade!  I have no recollection of actually seeing him but he had to have been there - that was during the Steve Buslowe as musical director, Kasim as the man who played guitar, keyboards and background vocals phase!   We even went to the charity softball game and I was within feet of the entire band.  I could have been standing right next to Kasim and I would have had no idea who he was.  At that stage in my life, I was obsessed over Mark Alexander and his hair.  But I was too nervous to say anything to any of them.   Huh.  Funny how things work out...