Tom Jones International

Be sure to catch up on the last few posts if you missed them. I like the first story below because….well, for no real reason. But reading about sports is enjoyable (…..and soon, in that vein, I’ll tell you about my book project). Meanwhile, I hope to have the calendars on sale tomorrow and give you a glimpse of the cover. Not sure exactly when, but it will be soon. (That’s Tom from a video in the 1980 playing rugby with some schoolchildren.)

Here’s a fun story on celebs and sports and, below that, a very quick Newcastle review. The former story drives home the point that sports language differs from country to country. But, the stuff about TJ is clear no matter what the country.

Everton, Spurs and the football failings of the Beatles and Tom Jones

by Donna Gee on 15 October 2009/Sportingo.com

I somehow can’t associate Paul McCartney with beetling around the country as a youngster following his favourite football team.

That’s not to say that sport and music don’t mix – just that this particular Macca seems about as steeped in the beautiful game as old codgers like me are in rap music.

Yet various websites would have it that Paul is a keen Evertonian – though the reality is not exactly engraved in blue-and-white stone.

“Here’s the deal,’’ the great man explains. ‘’My father was born in Everton, my family are officially Evertonians, so if it comes down to a derby match or an FA Cup final between the two, I would have to support Everton.

“But after a concert at Wembley Arena I got into a bit of a friendship with Kenny Dalglish, who had been to the gig, and I thought ‘You know what? I am just going to support them both because it’s all Liverpool and I don’t have that Catholic-Protestant thing.’

“So I did have to get special dispensation from the Pope to do this but that’s it, too bad. I support them both.

“They are both great teams. But if it comes to the crunch, I’m Evertonian.”

Personally, I’d have thought that master musicians of McCartney’s talent would have been too driven by their first love to be sidetracked by such trivialities as football. And it’s clear from his comments that Paul’s a bit of a sporting fence-sitter, anyway.

But at least his explanation sounds marginally more sincere than fellow Beatle Ringo Starr’s assertion that he’s a Liverpool supporter because ‘’I like the colour red”. Well, I love the colour purple but that doesn’t mean I support the Royals – be they the monarchy or Reading FC!

The only celebrity I actually KNEW before he was famous is Tom Jones (yes, I am that old!). I gave him his first-ever write-ups in the Pontypridd Observer a couple of years before he hit the big-time – in the days where he sang around the South Wales clubs under his stage name Tommy Scott.

For the rest of this article and two reviews, click here

While Tom may have been built like a sportsman, I can tell you categorically that he never showed the slightest interest in football, rugby or any other sport. And, believe me, he definitely was neither gay nor a wimp.

In those days, the nearest league club, Cardiff City, were in football’s top flight. But although I was a keen Bluebirds fan myself, the only birds Tom was interested in were certainly not blue. Nor had he any time for Danny Blanchflower’s then outstanding Spurs side, or other big-name teams like Arsenal and Manchester United.

OK, the sporting fraternity has since wheeled the great man out on the green, green grass of home to sing at the occasional Wales rugby international and what have you. But while the old Jones heart may still beat for his homeland, I doubt his head really cares about match results, whatever the shape of the ball.

Having said all that, there are many celebrities who are completely smitten by sport. Some to the point that their names are synonymous with their favourites, as epitomised by the oasis of Gallaghers at Manchester City and Mick Hucknell’s simply-red love affair with Manchester United.

Others, I am convinced, just attach themselves to the mast of the big-name clubs for effect. Teams like Manchester United and Arsenal, for example, have such large fan bases that showing token support for them might just persuade a few extra fans to buy their CDs and albums.

Conversely, when I was young (and not many people alive today can remember that!), the major pop stars of the day were rarely linked with sports teams. Presumably with professional footballers no better off financially than miners or postmen, there was no glamour spin-off for the marketing people.

Indeed, I can’t remember Elvis Presley, the biggest name in music during that era, having any particular sporting allegiance. And the only British top-tenner I recall with strong football ties was Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers fame.

Until he came on the scene, if you weren’t a fan of Hollywood musicals, the song You’ll Never Walk Alone would have meant nothing to you.

Now Marsden’s name is likely to live as long in the Anfield memory as those of Bill Shankly and Kenny Dalglish.

And thereby hangs a tale – because there are those who insist to this day that until Liverpool fans adopted his 1963 smash hit as their club anthem, he was in fact an Evertonian.

Perhaps it’s time for a chat with Macca and Ringo, Gerry!

Review: Tom Jones, Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

Oct 15 2009 by Martin Green, The Journal

HE may be losing his hair and his ability to gyrate at will, but the Welsh crooner can still belt out an array of powerful songs and the voice from the Valleys rings true.

Tom wowed a die-hard crowd with old-favourites Delilah, You Can Leave Your Hat On and What’s New Pussycat? among others.

These were interspersed with tracks from latest album 24 hours, which may be his best.

It is a collection of largely original songs that the boyo with the big voice co-wrote, containing some of the most revealing work in a five-decade career.

The crowd pelted him with underwear and twirled walking sticks as they danced to his beat.

There was something for everyone, young and old. Several of Tom’s songs were digitally remixed and accompanied by strobe lighting and a fast tempo.

By the time he sang It’s Not Unusual, the whole packed crowd was on its feet.

Highlights from his new album include a song, Sugar Daddy, that Tom asked Bono to write for him when they met in Dublin.

One of the most natural performers of all time received a well-deserved ovation.
The ScotsmanPublished Date: 16 October 2009/By FIONA SHEPHERD

TOM JONES ****
SECC, GLASGOW

ALTHOUGH Tom Jones still throws himself into the role of senior snake-hipped lothario, he has tempered the cheesier elements of his persona. His current album 24 Hours is a partially successful stab at a more sober style, in keeping with an elder statesman of pop.

The hair dye has also been binned, and Jones appeared in silver fox mode, with shiny silver grey suit to match. At first his audience seemed more subdued, although as stage-time approached there were random outbreaks of excited cheers as certain fans could not contain themselves.

Jones opened with the unrepentant Sugar Daddy, written for him by Bono and the Edge of U2. “You don’t send a boy to do a man’s job,” he boomed in his lusty tones. While the voice was wonderfully preserved, the moves were a little arthritic. The arrangements of the new material sounded fairly synthetic, but his band soon demonstrated their firepower on the Bond song Thunderball, while Delilah inspired a solitary pair of projectile panties.

The funereal 24 Hours was a glimpse of a more vulnerable side. He also turned down the bravado for an acoustic country interlude, including a nice harmony version of Green Green Grass of Home, but the old Tom was back with a vengeance for She’s a Lady and You Can Leave Your Hat On. At one point he admitted he often forgot how old he was. “Time goes fast when you are enjoying yourself,” he declared. The same could be said for this concert.