Tom Jones International

Item #1: News of a former TJ band member you may know:

Pete Olstad, who, until 2008 played trumpet in Tom’s brass section, wrote TJI inviting all of us to check out his new website.

He endorses P. Muriat trumpets. His musical background is impressive and, if you’ve seen him with Tom, you have an idea of how good he is. Pete has begun a solo jazz trumpet career. Look for him to play near you.

Item #2: In an article in The Sun about the third and final season premiere of Gavin and Stacey on the BBC (it will be run on BBC America, too), Ruth Jones, who was in the Comic Relief video with Tom and Rob Brydon, was quoted:

“The Comic Relief single in Vegas with Tom Jones was something special for me. He’s so alpha male. He sat there at the end of the table and had a big plate of oysters.

“I think everybody else had ordered half a dozen and he’d ordered a dozen, and the way he squeezed lemon juice over them – a whole lemon that’s not even cut in half – squeezing and the juice coming out…

“When we were doing the song in Vegas, I had a bit of a cold and I asked if he had any chewing gum or mints and he said, ‘I got a Strepsil.’* He gave it to me and I thought I should have kept that Strepsil for ever. For generations to come – Tom Jones gave me his Strepsil.”

*Strepsil are a line of lozenges manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser in Nottingham, England and available at Boots Chemists there. Tom has repeatedly demonstrated his loyalty to Brit over-the-counter products and to Boots.

To find out about that fun “mythical musical match”-up, click here

Item #3: And, finally, before you read this, carefully note the source:)

Kanye West & Tom Jones Smash Download Recording History With ‘Rap Da Valley’

From TheSpoof.com/November 24, 2009

New York & London: Music moguls are bracing themselves for a new genre of rap music predicted to take the world by storm.

‘Valley Rap’ invented by megastar Kanye West and recorded as a Rap da Valley duet with veteran superstar Tom Jones is set to go double platinum within an hour of its internet release this coming weekend.

“Music and Street Literature unite in Rap Da Valley”, proclaimed London impresario Max Stiffard as he announced the collaboration to worldwide media channels.

“Kanye has brought the world of rap to the musical valleys of South Wales”, Stiffard declared.

“This is coal mining rap – Ebbw Vale rap – slag heap rap – Davy Safety Lamp rap – all the paraphernalia of Welsh Choir Chapel life meeting the hard-edge of urban hoodie culture from Brixton to The Bronx”, he explained.

The accompanying video to Rap Da Valley sees Kanye West driving a 1950′s Chevrolet into the centre of Merthyr Tydfil. He parks it on the pavement, gets out and walks up the street to take money from a hole-in-the-wall machine.

At the bank an old codger in a miner’s hat is ahead of him. The miner turns around, his face black with coal dust. It’s Tom Jones.

The two of them start a rap sequence. Then an old lady arrives pulling her shopping trolley. She hits them with her umbrella but they carry on rapping. So she takes off her old coat and joins in. Suddenly we realise it’s Dame Shirley Bassey.

The three of them stop the traffic in Merthyr Tydfil High Street just when the combined Brass Band of the Taf Valley strikes up with Cwm Rhondda – better known as Bread Of Heaven.

This tune, planned as a follow-up to Rap da Valley soon gives way to Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau – which everyone knows translates into the Welsh National Anthem Land Of My Fathers.

It all ends with a close-up of Kanye West, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey at the pit-head as the steel cage doors close and they begin their descent a mile underground to cut the coal that will power the industrial revolution.

Out next Saturday FREE on download.