Tom Jones International

Don’t forget: Voting for the “Best Singer” in a Las Vegas hotel ends today at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time (1 am GMT; 8 pm EST, etc.). We know who should win, now we have to help him win.You’ll find the online ballot here. Just scroll down to #9 (“Hotels: Best Singer”) and fill in the blank. Of course you can vote in any other category. The award event will take place when Tom is in Las Vegas in March — a great way to celebrate 41 consecutive years of entertaining on The Strip.











By late 1965 Tom Jones had released some huge hits and was fast becoming a household name — even among grown-ups — here and in the UK.

The interview downloadable here as a PDF, is one of the earliest ones printed in the USA. As you read, you’ll see what his PR machine ultimately discarded and what he says that’s stood the test of time.

It makes for interesting reading, this story about Thomas “Jones” Woodward. Here he’s described as “over six feet tall and as broad as two Beatles put together. He has green eyes set in a long, slightly villainous face, and his hair, from forehead to nape of neck, is a mass of tight black curls resembling a well-woven fireside rug. He even uses hair oil, a practice that gives the free-flowing fringes of Liverpool the horrors.”

If you cannot download the interview, please href="http://tomjonesintl.com/wp-admin/post.php#" mce_href="http://tomjonesintl.com/wp-admin/post.php#">send me an email and I’ll email it back to you. Remember, too, that you might have to adjust the size of the PDF in the box at the top of the page.

Voting for the “Best Singer” in a Las Vegas hotel ends tomorrow at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time (1 am GMT; 8 pm EST, etc.). We know who should win, now we have to help him win.You’ll find the online ballot here. Just scroll down to #9 (“Hotels: Best Singer”) and fill in the blank. Of course you can vote in any other category.

Again, the deadline for voting is 5 pm Pacific Standard Time on Monday, January 26.

You can only vote one time and it only takes a few minutes. If you haven’t done so, why not do it now?

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Shirley reports that reserved tickets for Tom’s show at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco are gone and only GA is available. Glad Shirl got her front row.

The show at the MGM is, from all reports, being enjoyed by everyone there but, aside from the occasional sighting of a celebrity (aside from the man on the stage) in the room, things are relatively quiet there. So, as a newspaper person, I’ll take this time to share one of my favorite things to do — use the internet to look back at the news about Tom. The article below is from The New York Times when Tom was about to play one of Manhattan’s hippest — and best — venues, the now-gone Limelight. Here, he talks about a range of things. The photos that ran with the story weren’t available, so a couple from that time have been added. At left is Tom at the Limelight. At right, (clearly) the 1992 tourbook cover.

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What’s New Tomcat?

By JOHN MARCHESE/Published: May 16, 1993

IT was almost time for the evening news and Tom Jones, a night creature of long standing, having so far seized a small part of the day with a run on the boardwalk and breakfast, sat in an Atlantic City casino hotel suite considering his re-emergence into pop-culture consciousness. “I just do what I do,” he said. “If people think it’s hip, well, thank God.”

That night, as he prepared for the final performance in a five-day stint at Tropworld, a familiar though slightly less-than-hip haunt, the singer was packing for a trip to Manhattan, where he would headline for the first time since a Madison Square Garden concert 20 years ago. His venue for this against-type appearance was Limelight, the substantially more hip club in Chelsea.

Something awfully unusual is happening here.

After years of toiling in the lucrative velvet purgatory of casino showrooms, of sharing an aging-sexpot-crooner image with the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mr. Jones, 52, who was born in Wales, is fashioning what appears to be a burgeoning comeback. A combination of solid singing and ironic self-effacement has brought Mr. Jones to the brink of the kind of fame he first knew when his newest fans were infants.

His son, Mark Woodward (Mr. Jones was born Thomas Jones Woodward), who manages his father’s singing career, admitted that “there is a fear that people are just bringing him on because there is this sniggle factor — you know, ‘Here’s this hip-swiveling sex symbol and that’s all the package.’ ”

But, he added, “I’m having less fear of that lately.”

These days, irony has a way of eating its own tail. Judging from audience reaction to performances in Atlantic City and at Limelight last week, a significant number of Tom Jones fans, particularly the younger ones, have already calculated the sniggle factor and actually think it adds to the equation. Besides, in today’s high-turnover commercial culture, where everything old is sold again, listening to Tom Jones has no higher sniggle quotient than, say, buying an expensive new pair of bell-bottoms. It’s possible to be hip and campy all at once.

Consider the evidence:

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For those of you who heard about it but never seen Tom perform it — or those who’d like to see it one more time — our FILVCF (Frequently In Las Vegas Canadian Fan) shares a video with us. This time it’s Sir Tom singing Git Me Some in Canada, November, 2006. (The red flower is to commemorate Veteran’s Day.)

The video may not be the greatest, but the mood is there and all the movement, gestures and expression are caught.

Enjoy it at the TJI.com Video Library.

Don’t Forget! You’ll find “Best of Las Vegas” ballot online here. Just scroll down to #9 (“Hotels: Best Singer”) and fill in the blank. Of course you can vote in any other category.

The deadline for voting is 5 pm Pacific Standard Time on Monday, January 26.

You can only vote one time and it only takes a few minutes. Why not do it now?

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The second single from 24 Hours will be Give A Little Love and it is, according to reports, set to be released in Europe on February 9. The video thus far is Tom singing the song on Jools Holland’s Later.

It’s also been reported that went gold. As much as we hope it did, we’re still looking for confirmation.

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Below are corrected dates for Tom until early March. The dates were corrected on his website and we can only believe they are definite but, as we know, nothing is set in stone. We were told last month he’d be in Europe in February. Clearly he won’t be there at the end of the month. Maybe the first three weeks.

Links to the venues or to ticketmaster where available are below. The previously announced Florida dates are still there and the venues are posted on this site below.

February 24: New York City, Terminal 5, February 25: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club , February 26, Albany, NY, Ticketmaster.”>Palace Theater, February 27, Asbury Park, Paramount Theatre

March 1 Boston House Of Blues, March 3, Chicago, House of Blues,
March 6, Los Angeles, Club Nokia,
March 7, San Francisco, Warfield Theatre, and March 10, Anaheim, House of Blues.

It’s time once again to vote in the Las Vegas Review Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” poll.

This is an annual event in which the public is asked to name its favorites in the city — from best hotel, restaurant, resident, visitor, etc. And of course one category is “Best Singer.”

You’ll find the online ballot here. Just scroll down to #9 (“Hotels: Best Singer”) and fill in the blank. Of course you can vote in any other category.

The deadline for voting is 5 pm Pacific Standard Time on Monday, January 26.

You can only vote one time and it only takes a few minutes. Why not do it now?

Today tomjones.com unveiled a list of Florida dates. Where they weren’t listed, we’ve filled in the venues. Tickets are not on sale yet; keep checking the sites.




April 16 — Ft Myers — Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center; April 17 — Clearwater — (likely back at Ruth Eckerd Hall); April 19 — Orlando — Hard Rock Live @ Universal Studios; April 21 — Sarasota — Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall; April 22 — Naples — Philharmonic Center for the Arts; April 23 — West Palm Beach — Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; April 25 — Miami Beach — Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater;
April 26 – Melbourne — King Center for the Performing Arts.

The photo, obviously, is of Tom and the stuffed animal shelter he accumulated on stage at one performance over the last several days as discussed below.

When Tony introduced Tom last night he introduced him for the “inaugural” show, obviously a reference to the events of the day in the USA.

Tom was clearly in a fine mood, ad-libbing many times and seeming to have a ball. As usual these days in Las Vegas, there were a lot of empty seats. The economy — with even gaming revenues here down 59 percent — has an effect on everything. This coming weekend crowds are expected to celebrate Chinese New Year and to see Leehom Wang, a huge star in Asia, at the Arena.

But I digress.

Tuesday, a fan who brings lots of stuffed animals to each show she attends didn’t fail at this one and, as she’s done several times, has distributed stuffed animals — lots of tigers and pussycats — to others to toss on stage as per her orders while Tom sings What’s New Pussycat, It was probably cute when fans first did it 40 or more years ago and, although you have to give this chick points for the plentitude of the offering, these days Tom usually ignores this kind of thing because, as his fans know, he’s been trying to move into te 21st century. The tossed item has to be something really different to get his full attention.

But, Tuesday night he couldn’t resist. He paid no attention to the tossers, but he observed as he looked down at what was thrown that he hadn’t “ever seen so much (fill in the blank) on stage. Well, not since 1975.”

A good time was had by all and — above all — that includes Sir Tom Jones.

(Moderator’s Note: Doesn’t this photo look a bit dated? Guess we’ll have to get used to it but, of course, I’ll continue to post “old” pictures like this one.)

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After having played only the occasional date in the region for the last few years, Tom is getting back to the northeast in a big way next month. And, as his popularity there has never flagged, it’s only right.




In addition to the dates previously announced in Boston, NYC and Albany, he’ll play the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, NJ February 27. Tickets, priced between $54.40 and $100 and will bee available at LIVENATION.com charge by phone 1-877-598-9694 or at participating Blockbuster locations. The date for the sale hasn’t been announced.




Have to note that Asbury Park is Springsteen country. Wouldn’t it be great if Bruuuuce dropped by to duet on The Hitter? Or just dropped by?




ALSO: brooklynvegan.com has a post about Tom’s show in Manhattan. Aside from the fact they say his new album is “w/U2,” it’s a nice promo. But, read the comments and feel free to comment yourself.




Note that the tickets are available starting TODAY at the AmEx Presale. Since this is rather large standing venue, tickets should be available.

The story as it appears in the print edition of today’s Western Mail is nice with lots of great photos. You can download it here. If you cannot download it, please send me an email and I’ll email it back to you.

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Nathan Bevan, writer for walesonline comes a story picked up from TJI.com about Tom’s hair.

As a journalist, it’s bothersome when I see mistakes in any news story, even one as light as this. First, opening night was Thursday, not Friday. The writer calls TJI.com an “official fansite.” Of course, no one affiliated ever said that. This is the largest fansite, but it is in no way “official.” A correction has been requested. Small thing but, even though it’s tidily alliterative, I never used the phrase “ditched the dye.”

And, while the story is most essentially accurate, it kind of misquotes the review of the show posted here. No one ever said Tom was “looking confused” when he began to sing The Road, rather than If He Should Ever Leave You. He handled the mix-up with his usual wit and aplomb. As I was interviewed by Mr. Bevan at 3:30 am (don’t ask!) the only thing I am positive I said was about being with people who’d flown in from elsewhere to see Tom and that “he sounded fabulous.” The rest? Kind of, but the spirit was correct for sure.

The grey, grey hair of Jones

Jan 20 2009 by Nathan Bevan

AT FIRST they thought it may have been a problem with the lighting. But, as singing superstar Tom Jones stepped centre stage in Las Vegas in front of a small but devoted group of fans, their jaws dropped. Because their idol, famed for a colourful career that has included hits such as Green, Green Grass of Home, has finally gone grey – leaving the black hair dye in the dressing room to go “au naturel”.

Playing to about 500 of the faithful at the plush MGM Grand on Friday night the 68-year-old legendary showman sported his new “mature” look, and joked with the audience that he’d had to rush to make it to the show and hadn’t managed to dye it in time.

Journalist Ellen Sterling, who runs the US-based official fansite tomjonesinternational.com said she was overwhelmed by the response she received online from those who’d witnessed the gig.

“It was phenomenal, I couldn’t believe the number of people who were writing in with good things to say about Tom going grey,” she said.

“It was the same when he grew the goatee, but nothing quite on this scale.

“I was there on the night with a group of friends who’d flown in especially to see the show in Vegas, and, at first, we thought there was something wrong with the lighting – Tom just didn’t look quite right.

“When people realised he’d ditched the dye there was this huge buzz of excitement I’d never witnessed at one of his shows before, and I’ve seen Tom live many. many times.

“Most importantly though, his voice was on top form and he sounded fabulous.”

PR guru Max Clifford, who once worked with Tom some 35 years ago, last night predicted the move would do him nothing but good.

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Now that 44 is a reality, we can again bring you news of Sir Tom Jones:

For more information, go to terminal5nyc.com

Tom will be at the Palace Theater in Albany, NY on February 26 at 7:30 pm. Tickets — priced from $37.50 to $57.50 — go on sale “to the general public” on Saturday, January 24 at 10 am EST via Ticketmaster. “Premium” tickets are reserved for members.

February 18 Los Angeles, Club Nokia — No prices or sale date yet, but you can find the venue on ticketmaster.

February 19 Anaheim, CA House of Blues — No prices or sale date yet, but also on sale at ticketmaster.com

February 20 San Francisco, Warfield Theatre — No prices or sale date yet, but also will be on sale at ticketmaster.

And, the hot UK music rumor — er, rumour — is that Tom will be at Glastonbury this year. The Festival runs June 24 to 28 In 1992 his career got a major boost when he was the “surprise guest” at Glastonbury.