Tom Jones International

Well, thanks to mharding, Shelvis, The Flash and Keith, a video, a song and a good question can be posted here.

First, Keith (who doesn’t have to apologize for taking over the moderator’s job because with JTV he proved he does it so well) asked: “What two songs do you think that Tom would do for a tribute” to Michael Jackson?

The Flash, from The Tom Jones Collector’s Page sent us Tom’s live rendition of the Michael Jackson hit The Way You Make Me Feel

Mharding told us about this video that was uploaded by Shelvis: From the 1996 Royal Variety Show in London, here’s Tom singing Michael Jackson’s I Want You Back. It’s much better quality than the one posted below. Enjoy! And please don’t forget to answer Keith’s question.

Thanks to all of these guys for sharing with the TJI.com fan community!

With the passing of Michael Jackson, there’s no denying the world has lost a deeply gifted artist. In tribute, here’s some (not too good) video of Tom on a TV show singing the Jacksons’ hit Shake Your Body. Personal life aside, Michael Jackson was a unique, never-to-be-duplicated force in music.

If you have other video of Tom doing an MJ or Jacksons’ song, pass them on. I’ll be happy to post it.

The raffles of TJ memorabilia and tickets to Ravinia ends tonight. You can still enter by (1) emailing me and letting me know how many chances you want and (2) mailing a check or MO. Details of the raffles can be found by clicking the link at right.

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Check the comments to see one fan’s take on the New Jersey concert last night. By the way, you know all those thisclose to the stage seats that the venue said were “sold out?” Well, there were two first row center available yesterday. Don’t know what’s going on but it always pays to check.

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If you follow this site, you may have noticed that Donna from upstate New York has become a regular contributor, sending photos and, even, a video or two. You’d know she saw Tom in Albany and again in Utica (right near Albany). Tuesday night she was in Northampton, MA at Look Park’s Theatre In the Pines. She is a terrific writer whose words can make an event come alive. It’s wonderful when fans take the time to do this. So, Donna, thank you for the article and these photos of Tom singing You Can Leave Your Hat On. (Note: Donna was close and the stage lights can wash out color). May you continue to see Tom and report to his other fans! If you saw Tom in New Jersey Wednesday, please let us know how it was.

Hi Ellen,

This review is hastily written so please excuse me if I get a little disjointed in my writeup.

My friend Marianne and I arrived about an hour before show time and met Frank Strauss and Mike Turnbull walking along one of the paths in the park. We chatted briefly about having seen them in Utica and in Philadelphia last week. They were both very nice. As we proceeded to the theatre, we came upon Tony Reynolds with a camera around his neck but didn’t stop to chat with him.

The Pines Theatre is an outdoor venue with no cover for the audience whatsoever. You enter through an archway in a beautiful ivy-covered stone “building”. On the other side of the archway is the “theatre,” a small lawn that sloped down to the stage with two large stone turrets, one on each side of the stage. I remarked that Tom might feel like he were home in Wales because of the skeletal castle-like look of the facility.

We had first row seats, folding plastic chairs set up about 15 feet from the stage. The chairs were set up in 3 sections with a total of 54 across, rows A – L. The rest was lawn seating and people came prepared with blankets and portable chairs. It rained lightly before the show, but luckily it stopped before the band entered the stage. As reported by the reviewer, Tom began the set with I’m Alive and noticed a slight feedback which was corrected with the soundman immediately. His voice was STRONG and PERFECT, as it was in Utica.

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Want to see Tom at Ravinia? Want some autographed photos and a tie he wore and a couple of souvenir pins? And a still-in-shrink-wrap 24 Hours CD? This is the last day to enter the raffles for all this stuff benefiting breast cancer research. See details at right and, if you plan to send a check, send an email using the contact link at bottom right to let us know. If you do so, and you win, the prize will be mailed as soon as the check arrives. Everyone thus far who’s said a check is being sent has done so and I think you.

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I really don’t get reviewers like this guy. They go over the set list, state the obvious — or the clichéd — with a sense of discovery and sit back and collect a paycheck. Is the singer’s voice good? There was a band and back-up singers. How were they? What, exactly, is “retro-ecstasy?” Is that leftover ecstasy from the past? Meaningless gobbledygook. Shame on this guy for calling himself a music reviewer and shame on the outlet for allowing him to do so. It’s one thing not to like a performer — even Tom — but quite another to write the blandest, most blah review imaginable. Let’s just go down the list of this written-by-the-numbers review: #1: Mention Sir Tom’s age.√. #2: Mention panties. √. 3. Call the performer names (in this case, he called Tom “vain”). √. And, why is “1,000-plus” people such a small crowd as to be noteworthy? The capacity is 2,300 people but when I called I was told that the on-and-off rain kept people who would have done lawn seating away. Do I find every single solitary TJ show fascinating? No. Some are but some aren’t But, no matter what, they are never boring. Thus, I’d bet anything the show was a hell of a lot more exciting than this yawn of a review and I wasn’t even there. Of course, I really don’t have an opinion on this sort of thing:)

Tom Jones at Look Park

by The Republican Enternainment Desk/Tuesday June 23, 2009, 10:18 PM/By Donnie Moorhouse

FLORENCE: It wasn’t hard to figure out which songs the crowd of 1,000-plus appreciated most at the Tom Jones show on Tuesday night. Jones played a perfectly-timed 85 minute set at the Pines Theater as Look Park.

It was the songs that caused fans to lunge from their lawn chairs and begin to dance in retro-ecstasy that would have to be pegged as favorites of the set. There were several candidates in the group.

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Since a lot of people do care about TJ history, before the clip below is presented, a word on the discussion of yesterday: Old Fashioned Strut was never released on any album. The album referred to in the first comment below yesterday’s post “that was recorded in 1978 but never released in the USA” is called Do You Take This Man. (It came up several weeks ago on a discussion here, too.) It is on Columbia EMI, was produced by Gordon Mills and officially released only in the UK. Love Is In the Air and If I Sing You A Love Song are on it. Lady Lay Down is not. That song was on the album Darlin’. Easy Lady and Lady Put the Light Out are on the album in question. As for the TJI.com “panel of experts” assembled to answer the question about Old Fashioned Strut, the consensus is that it was recorded and is on a master tape, but it wasn’t released.

Today’s clip was part of the same show. Luckily, all those poor souls who simply couldn’t see Tom in yesterday’s, will surely be able to see him in today’s.

Broadcast on May 20, 1979 (in the USA), Shirley MacLaine at the Lido also starred, in addition to Tom, Sacha Distal and the amazing Charles Aznavour. (Shirl sure could pick her men!)

In this clip, MacLaine and Tom sing the title song from the beautiful French film A Man and A Woman and Chanson D’Amour.

It’s got that flowery, kind of corny — but sort of lovely — ambiance one would commonly find on variety shows in those days and that some people seem to miss still.

You can watch the performance in the TJI.com Video Library.

If you’re going to be in Northampton tonight or Jersey tomorrow, tell us about the show, send photos, etc. All the fans here love to share!

In the 1970s Tom sang the Brook Benton hit Old Fashioned Strut in his show. It’s a light-hearted song and it was fun to watch on any stage.

It is really fun to watch this video of him singing it at the Lido in Paris in 1977.

The feathers behind him in this photo hide the world-famous chorus girls from the Lido. For those who need a warning, the chorus doesn’t stay hidden throughout.

I have to note, having just watched it again, that it’s no wonder — with the way he looked (remember the ruffled shirts and the bell bottome?) — he stopped hearts in those days even more than now. I remember when my friend took her parents to see him around the time of this video. When the show at Westbury was over, her dad said, “You’re right. He can sing.” Her mom said, “He sang?”

It’s a lovely, rare clip. You can watch the performance in the TJI.com Video Library.

Happy Father’s Day to Sir Tom & All the Dads We Know & Love!

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No one seems to be printing reviews of Tom’s shows — pity, as he’s playing some new places — but they are printing previews. Most are just rehashes of articles already printed, as when the artist isn’t giving interviews, this is what they have left to do. One nice quote comes from Rochester’s City Newspaper, the alternative weekly there. There, Frank DeBlase writes, “Now pushing 70, Jones has more sex appeal than wannabe Romeos half his age. This is a legend that still delivers the goods, and I hear he still lets you keep your hat on.”

I got an email from a Donna, who saw him in Philly (where she took this photo), Utica and will see him on Tuesday in Mass. She characterized the shows as “great!” and said, “We had great seats – 3rd row in the orchestra pit about 10 feet from the stage. The folks in Utica were psyched to see Tom right from the get-go. The panties (and a bra or two) were flying about midway through. A gentleman behind us threw up a pair for his daughter, he said. I didn’t see a daughter anywhere! Maybe she couldn’t make it. I failed to mention there wasn’t any panty throwing in Philly, just the one girl who handed them to him and asked for a kiss. Tom joked about why they call them a “pair of panties” when the bra was an “it” and it seemed to him that was a pair!

“Tom’s voice was perfect. Being so close makes everything better! The Stanley is a beautiful old theater with ornate gold architecture inside. It’s a wonderful venue. I’d love to go back there to see Tom again.”

Tonight Tom is at the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, NY. Just checked, and they still have seats in Row A of the orchestra.

Tuesday he’s at the Pines Theatre in Look Park where there seems to be only lawn seating left. But if it’s like other outdoor venues in that part of the world, it will be beautiful to see Tom under the stats.

Wednesday, Tom’s at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ. The pit, at $150 each, is sold out. Gold circle tickets at the same price are available, as are others at $68, $48 and $38. The $88 seats are sold out. This is what they call a “rental” event (here in Las Vegas it’s a “four wall”) where the artist, or producer, or someone, rents the venue and supplies the talent.

Those people knowledgeable about Tom’s career know he worked briefly with Joe Meek. The photo of Tom and The Senators at left was taken in London in 1964, allegedly on the roof of Joe Meek’s studio.

Meek — who idolized Buddy Holly — was known as the “Telstar Man,” after Telstar, the instrumental hit by the British group the Tornados that he produced in 1962. It became the first record by a UK group to his #1 in the US.

Tom and Meek crossed paths and then Tom went his own way. Meek, apparently never really stable, continued to chase what proved to be elusive success. In 1967 Meek killed his landlady and then turned the gun on himself. He died eight years to the day after his idol Buddy Holly.

Meek’s life has been made into the film Telstar that was released yesterday in the UK. The review in the Times notes, “Equal parts visionary and psychopath, Joe Meek is British pop’s darkest secret….He signed Tom Jones when Tom arrived in London…but he tried to kiss Tom behind studio screens. Tom was a bit tasty, an’ Joe was insane, so they had a massive punch-up.”

Meek did produce Tom’s first recording, Little Lonely One.

The lone American in the cast is Kevin Spacey. The producer told TJI he’s looking for a US distribution deal. Tom is not mentioned in the film. Producer David Groves says, “I know Tom passed through the studios at a very young age traveling down from Wales. A few stories have been passed down,
you never know how true they all are as it was many years ago.”

If you happen to see it, let us know what you think. Meanwhile, here’s the trailer.

You can learn more about what one publication said was “for better or worse an extraordinary piece of British pop history” at the film’s website.

Tom played tonight in a benefit at the Levitt Pavillion in beautiful — really — Westport, CT. It was an outdoor venue and it was a rain-or-shine proposition. The benefit — with tickets priced at a relatively modest $95 and $85 —raised money the a season of 50 shows presented at no charge to the audience.

WestportNow.com ran the two photos here with the captions below: (For the photo near left) Tom Jones Target of Audience Admiration: Singer Tom Jones, who rose to fame in the 1960s with an exuberant live act noted for its overt sexuality, showed a Westport audience at the Levitt Pavilion tonight that at age 69 he can still stir up passions. Panties and bras flew on stage as Jones belted out his old standards She’s a Lady and It’s Not Unusual as well as new songs. The fund-raiser will enable 50 free nights at the Levitt beginning Sunday, June 28.

(For the photo far left) Tom Jones Entertains at the Levitt: Tom Jones entertained a large crowd at Westport’s Levitt Pavilion tonight in a fund-raiser to provide more than 50 nights of free entertainment at the Levitt this summer. The crowd didn’t seem to mind the muddy aisles as Jones performed for more than 90 minutes a medley of his hits and new songs.

If you were there, let us know how it was and, if you’ll be at the Stanley Theatre in Utica, NY (as at least one fan I know of will), please send a report and any media you get.

If you’re seeing Tom in Westport, CT tonight, please let us share your experience. Email me your review using the contact link in the sidebar and it’ll be posted.

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Below is the press release about last night’s event in New York. The photo credit goes to Larry Busacca/Wireimage (©2009). For a larger version of this photo and two great shots of Sir Tom on stage, go to our flickr set, The Many Faces of Tom On Stage.
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Here is video from the red carpet. The quality does get better as it goes on. Tom comes on at 1:59 and, before that, Kara DioGuardi talks about presenting to him. Of course, you’ll also see and/or hear Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Samborra (who came to Tom’s show a couple of years ago at the MGM), David Crosby, Rob Thomas and Clint Black. If you cannot view it, just email me with the “contact” link at right and I’ll send it.
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SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME 40th ANNIVERSARY AWARDS CEREMONY BRINGS OUT THE STARS TO CELEBRATE SONGWRITING ICONS

Inductees Jon Bon Jovi And Richie Sambora; Felix Cavaliere And Eddie Brigati (The Young Rascals); Roger Cook And Roger Greenaway; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Galt MacDermot, James Rado And Gerome Ragni And Stephen Schwartz, Along With Honorees Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier And Eddie Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland); Sir Tom Jones; Andy Williams And Maxyne Lang Feted at Dazzling Sold Out Gala

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