Tom Jones International

Today TJI has a video of Sir Tom doing a beautiful job singing Save The Last Dance For Me the not-a-country-song originally done by Ben E. King and the Drifters that was discussed at some length in an earlier post. It is a lovely rendition but it also crystallizes the reasons why many videos posted on the web can be so frustrating to watch.

The first few bars of the song are missing and the camera isn’t as steady as it might be. It is, nonetheless, valuable video for those of us who haven’t seen this song performed.

A fine example of making a potentially terrific video pretty bad and frustrating is found in another video I saw on youtube. At first, it looked terrific. The first minute or so is excellent. But the rest is a mess. It’s nine+ minutes of Tom performing but the person who put it together just edited it willy-nilly — with songs inexplicably cut off and strung together like a set of beads that don’t match. And it had to take a great deal of time to do that. Better do nothing. This all makes me appreciate the people who send video to TJI that is done with such care. Oh, well, editorial finished.

You an watch the video of Save The Last Dance For Me here.

As usual, if you cannot view it, please drop me note using the “Contact TJI” link at right and I’ll send it to you.

Thanks, Dre.

This is nice but, of course, the millionth visitor would have come to the MEN Arena anyway. But, good for Sir Tom. And, have you noticed that both this arena and the Echo Arena in Liverpool are owned by newspapers? Where do they get the money these days? Please do not forget to check out the post below with the audio from Cardiff!

Sir Tom Jones helps Arena break record

The Diary by Dianne Bourne/October 20, 2009/Manchester Evening News

IT’S not unusual for the M.E.N. Arena to set new records – and Sir Tom Jones’ weekend show was no exception.

Last Friday the venue welcomed its millionth reveller of the year – knocking weeks off the previous record set in 2007.

Lucky ticketholder Claire Barwise was stunned when she was then invited to meet her idol before the show.

Claire said: “To meet Tom Jones and chill out with him before his Manchester show was amazing. He was so friendly and even signed my framed picture the venue made for me – this has just been the best night.”

John Knight, general manager of the M.E.N. Arena, said: “This is the earliest date we’ve reached the annual 1m milestone and, with another 40 events before the end of 2009, we’re on course for one of our busiest years ever.

“Last year we didn’t reach this mark until mid-November so to hit it so soon – and in such challenging economic times – is great.”

With many shows still to come in the next two months including multiple sold-out nights by Pink, Green Day and Miley Cyrus – another 400,000 people are expected to crowd into the arena before the end of the year.

TJI has a special post today. In addition to a review from his gig in Birmingham (UK, not US) there are five photos. They were uncredited in the newspaper, otherwise I’d have given credit to the photographer.

There’s also a brief story and very small photo of Tom at a tree-planting ceremony at the LG Arena’s “Celebrity Wood.” Tom’s is the first tree (almost said “wood,” but that would be rude) planted there.

But, what makes this post special is that just below here are two small audio clips. Any songs that have only been performed on this tour thus would be of special interest to fans who cannot hear them in person are, unfortunately, too large to post (and I’m sure posting them would be frowned upon) on this site but these clips give an idea of what those TJI friends who reviewed the Cardiff show of October 9 were talking about. And I sincerely thank the person who sent these.

The first clip is from the time right after the third song when Tom — as he always does — greets the crowd.

Next, he gets a laugh out of the fact that something was taped to the stage in “Cardiff, Wales.” And, I’m sure you agree, that his is an infectious laugh.

Tom Jones, at the LG Arena, Birmingham ****

Oct 19 2009 By Ben Goldby in the Birmingham Mail

SILVER-haired superstar Tom Jones christened the newly opened LG Arena with a barnstorming performance last night.

The welsh warbler was on fine form as he brought the expectant crowd along on a tour through his life in music.

For the rest of this review, four more photos and the picture and story of Tom planting the tree, click to (more…)

Question for all of you: Posts here have been long lately. Too long? What do you think

A Note If You Are In Or Near New York City: Herman Matthews is touring this month with Eagles member (and former Poco member) Timothy B. Schmit in support of Schmit’s new album, Expando which is being released tomorrow, Tuesday. On Wednesday, October 21, they’ll be at the wonderful club, The Bitter End, 47 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia), NYC, NY 10012, (212) 673-7030. It’s a wonderful venue. When I was in high school we’d go there on Saturday nights. Over the years amazing people played the Bitter End. Here are some of them. If you are in the neighborhood you should try to go. (FYI: I vowed only to use what we’ve come to call “TJI Blue” for type on the site but decided to make an exception here (and I’m sure I will do so again) so people who can go won’t miss it.)

Norman: Echo Arena, Liverpool, October 16, 2009

The Echo Arena is located in the banks of The River Mersey which has probably seen more rock and roll in the last 50 years than any other river in the world. Last night it was rocked by the amazing voice of Tom Jones.

Tom did a very contemporary set keeping the 60′s hits to half a dozen plus He’ll Have To Go, Hard To Handle and ‘She’s A Lady from the 70′s (which was well received), Kiss from the 80s ( what happened to A Boy From Nowhere?), and the rest from his current CD, his 90′s Reload CD You Can Leave Your Hat On and Stoned in Love which was probably the weakest song he sang not because of his vocal performance just because its not a great song.

I didn’t really like Sugar Daddy on the CD but live it’s amazing and a great way to open the show, the audience loved it, sharing the joke with Tom that its a send up of his own image. At the end of Thunderball he held the note for as long as he did when he originally recorded it and he nearly passed out then!!!

For the rest of Norman’s review, Nathalie’s review and more photos (that’s one of hers from Cardiff) and an interview with Tom from the Malta newspaper and a newspaper review from Liverpool (“Phenomenal: 10/10), click here to (more…)

Three more articles were added to this post at 9:30 am Pacific Time so, if you looked before, you may want to look again. Tomorrow more reviews from fans and, perhaps, newspapers.

Please keep your show reviews coming to TJI. Fans who couldn’t get to a show love to read about it. TJI was told that there are no Sunday papers in Liverpool so, until there’s something Monday, we’re dependent on fan reviews. (Of course, there’s an eight-hour time difference between the UK and the western US where this site is put together, so maybe we’ll have something late tomorrow.)

I also want to thank those of you who have already ordered the 2010 TJI Calendar. If you haven’t done so, please remember to order because there is a minimum number to be ordered to prevent the price going way up. Thanks!

The photo above is the full front page of the the Manchester newspaper yesterday, the day after Tom’s show at the MEN Arena there. Their review is below, as is a newspaper review from Liverpool and a particularly mean-toned article from Ireland. The thing is, four-letter words and facts (no matter how embarrassing the latter may be) are OK if that’s how one chooses to write an article. And I am fairly certain Tom was accurately quoted. It’s just the tone of the piece. Well, you’ll see and there’s a link to send an email to the editor, should you so choose.

Another review comes from the fun website PowerfulPeanuts.com. It offers this video take on Tom’s European tour. Their too-frequent use of the word “cheesy” is more than balanced by their conclusion. In addition to a review there is a brief glimpse of Tom onstage.

You can watch the video here.

As usual, if you cannot view it, please drop me note using the “Contact TJI” link at right and I’ll send it to you.

The newspaper review from Manchester comes complete with two more photos, including one of fans behaving the way everyone who doesn’t know believes fans behave. There’s also a Liverpool review from a Welsh paper, a very snarky interview with Tom from Ireland (although the guy got to do it in LA) and a four-star review from Glasgow. To see all that, click here (more…)

A bit of moderator’s housekeeping: I’ve been lucky enough to have been assigned a lot of writing lately and, along with this site, have been trying to get it done. Today, in addition to meeting wonderful friends from Colorado Springs for lunch and a visit, I got to interview Jerry Springer and Engelbert Humperdinck. I’ve got to write those stories (a pleasure, as I love to write and they were good interviews) and, then, get things here ready. My youngest daughter is arriving in a few days and we’re going to see U2 next Friday. Then, my sister arrives and we go to Palm Springs where I have been assigned to write about a luxury hotel and spa (I know, poor me). So, I’ll do my best to keep up the site, get my work done, work on the calendar, etc. But please be patient. And, please, don’t forget to order your 2010 TJI Fan Calendar!

Here are two photos and a review from Tom’s opening night in Cardiff. I have to say that Chas — whom I met with his wife Rosina when they were in Las Vegas a couple of years ago — has to be one understanding husband, in addition to being a nice guy. He has sent 60 photos from that show and will be sending more from Manchester this weekend. The review below Chas’ is a canned job — if whoever wrote it — there’s no byline which is always an indication of this — actually spoke to Sir Tom, one would never know it. They also chose to run the most sad sack, awful photo of Tom.

Friday 9th October 2009 — The place: Cardiff — The man they call “The Voice:” Sir Tom Jones!

We set of to Cardiff from London at 3:30 that afternoon. It was a nice leisurely drive that took us four hours, but we were not that bothered about the time as we knew Tom would not be on until around 9pm. As we got to the C.I.A . (Cardiff international Arena) we could see the fans queuing outside waiting to get in to see their hero Tom Jones. There must have been maybe 200 fans waiting to get in. We took our place in the queue and before long we were inside the arena, Rosina was getting excited at the thought of Tom being on stage soon.

As per normal we went to the kiosk to see what tom goodies were on sale the usual stuff t-shirts of which Rosina bought four, and the new tour programme that was selling a treat.

The arena was soon packed. Rosina and I met a few friends of ours. They were as eager as Rosina to see Tom. We were in the seventh row and they were in the sixth. Nice seats.

The time was nearly nine pm when the lights went down and the music started to play. You could just make out the band coming on to the stage and you could feel the excitement as it was getting close to the time for The Man to appear. In the distance behind the stage you could just make out a figure walking towards the middle of the stage. The audience knew who this was and a roar went up. Then, yes, you guessed it — Tom Jones came on stage and the whole arena went wild. Tom looked fantastic with that great smile of his which really sends Rosina off on one.

When he started to sing that was it! What a man! There is no other to compare to this man they call “The Voice.”

For the other review and to take a quick glimpse of that awful photo they ran with it, (more…)

You can now order the TomJonesInternational 2010 Fan Calendar!

Full of photos you may not have ever seen before (because they were taken by fans) and with lots of info about Tom Jones’ career, the calendar is a treasure for any fan.

The calendar is 8.5 inches high and 11 inches wide. It has 28 pages, including covers and is printed on 100# gloss cover stock and 100 # gloss text in full color. The back cover has photos of fans with Tom and, inside, are fan photos of Tom. It comes shrink-wrapped with a cardboard insert to hold it in place.

If you think you want a calendar for yourself or as a gift, order now because, honestly, the number of orders dictates the number printed. Extras for ordering later is not an option. The number printed is the number sold, plus the free ones that go to people whose photos are chosen and three or four “just in case.” I do work with a small “fan panel” that helps me when I have questions about photos, layout, etc.

The calendar costs $24 for orders going to the United States; $27 outside the United States. The price, of course, includes shipping and handling. Note: This is the same price as was charged for the 2009 calendar.

To order click the link at right. Remember to choose your location (the location where the calendar will be mailed) — buyers inside the US or buyers outside the US — and then just do what you do on PayPal. If you don’t use PayPal and need to send a check or money order, just email me using the “contact” link or the link just below.

You have until early November to order. The calendars will be sent out in plenty of time for the new year.

Please click the appropriate button in the sidebar at right — inside the US or outside — to place your order via PayPal.

Remember, too, you can still send in your photos. Especially prized are pictures of Tom off stage, but any good quality photo taken by a fan will do.

If you have any questions about ordering or photos, just email me.

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 (more…)

First, be sure to catch up on the last two or three posts if you missed them. Then, be aware that the stuff right below this is posted with any apologies necessary to Sir Tom, his Management and anyone who may be offended. I read about this film about a year ago and have not said a word, but have been watching for news since. Now, it’s going to be shown in Wales, so I thought it was time — on this site dedicated to Tom Jones news — to share. If you are offended, I am sorry. I don’t make the news. I just report it. And, the opening of a film like this is news. If ignored, it becomes the elephant in the room. If you don’t want to read about it, just scroll down to the Glasgow photos and review.

(I’ve been wondering what The Man himself might think of this. If he doesn’t like the film, he can at least take comfort in the fact that it is enriching the Welsh economy. Also, not quite sure of the name. The word “little” keeps appearing and disappearing in various accounts.)

Speaking of the Glasgow review, I found it interesting. The reviewer is very objective but that’s not always bad. What do you think?

If you do a search, you can find lots of stuff about the movie …A Bit Of Tom Jones on the internet, including the official site. That site, by the way, is heaps of fun; hilarious! Just check it out — everything from the cast and crew to the art work — and, maybe, you’ll want to enter the competition.

If you do a search, you’ll also come across the website of one of the actors, Eve Myles. And, in looking at the cast list, mharding (with whom I consulted on this a few days ago) tells us, “Denise Welch is the lady who, in An Audience With Tom Jones who steps in to ask a question on behalf of her husband Tim Healy whose mouth had dried up when faced with his musical hero.”

Synopsis: A Film For Anyone Who’s Ever Made a Dick of Themselves.

In a late night bar, Henry is approached by a mysterious woman who offers to sell him the severed “manhood” of Wales’ greatest vocal entertainer… Believing he can make a fortune selling the infamous appendage on to obsessive fans, Henry stumps up the cash.

To help find the right buyer, Henry teams up with his slightly dodgy best friend Teddy and together the two head off on an insane journey that leads them deep into the secret world of celebrity body part trading. Along the way, they have a fight with a Gorilla, are bubbled bathed by a randy pensioner, kidnapped by adult babies, break into a police station, take a day trip to Belgium to meet the World’s biggest dealer of celebrity off-cuts and even get caught up in the slowest Police chase in movie history… …and all for a bit of Tom Jones?

The site says of the title: What’s in a name?

The original title of the film was Tom Jones’ Cock. Much of the original artwork was drawn up with this title (like the sample above) and the producers had hoped to release the film under this banner – until someone with half a brain told them that Multiplex’s wouldn’t show it, and ASDA couldn’t stock ‘cock’ DVD’s!!!! Realising that the title would indeed prevent the film being seen anywhere outside porno theatres and on the top shelves in sex shops, the producers went on desperate quest for a new title, even running a competition in their favourite pub – The Rhyd Hall, Tredegar.

Finally, after what seemed like several lifetimes, the rather more acceptable ..A Bit of Tom Jones was decided upon – after a brief flirtation with A little bit of Tom Jones? The question mark was added by our lawyers, to lessen the chances of being sued by Wales’ leading male vocal entertainer…

We are particularly looking forward to reading the translations for the international releases… “Crazy Welshman buys love organs of famous singing Welshman” is no doubt destined to be dragging in the big audiences in down town Delhi soon!

Tredegar film will bring a bit of Tom Jones to silver screen

For the article about the film’s release, the film’s trailer and a Glasgow review and photos, click (more…)

Please do not forget the notice about the 2010 Calendar in the post below and don’t forget to vote!

Here is news of Tom in Newcastle. The you-gotta-look-close photo at right is from Pat. (And do check out the shirt!) The ones below are from the Newcastle newspaper. (And, for the record, in reference to the review below, Pat says: “There is a remark about knickers being thrown on stage. Well, I was in the 5th row right in the centre and I only saw one pair thrown near the end of the show.” )And his age litany with I’ll Never Fall In Love was tried out in Las Vegas in August. Apparently it worked, so he kept it in.

Pat sent this brief — but on-target, quite heartfelt and perfect coming from a fan — review of Tom in Newcastle:

I have just got in from seeing Tom he was brilliant he just gets better and better. I am just too hyped up at the moment — I don’t know how I will sleep tonight. I love the songs when Tom sang with just the rhythm section. He said that was how he sang when he started out, as it was all he could afford. When Tom sang Delilah everyone jumped up and sang it with him. He looked surprised then started to laugh and really enjoyed it. When he sang I’ll Never Fall In Love Again Tom said he was 27 when he first sang it. He sang it when he was 37, then 47 and added, “I can’t remember how old I am.” I shouted, “69!” Tom said, “69 is a good age isn’t it?” and everyone shouted, “YES!!”

It’s late so I’ll say good night now. My hands are sore from clapping. My throat is sore from — okay I’ll say it — yelling. My feet are sore from dancing and my ears in heaven from listening to that voice. My poor heart is so full. Don’t wait another three years before we see you again TOM, PLEASE!

Tom Jones thrills fans at Metro Radio Arena

ChronicleLive.com

THREE minutes and 39 seconds.

That’s how long it took for the first piece of underwear to find its way on to the stage of the Metro Radio Arena last night.

And if it seems rather unseemly that women are throwing their lingerie at a 69-year-old man then two words explain it all – Tom Jones.

For the rest of this review and four great photos of Sir Tom singing his heart out, click to (more…)