Tom Jones International

When Tom walked onstage at the MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre on Thursday, January 15, 2009, the usual suspects among the fans were largely absent. Your moderator, one fan from Florida and one from New Jersey were the only “regulars” in the house. So, when Tom came out with his hair — as he later said — “au natural” it was a strange moment. But, it was a good one. This photo was posted here, on one other site and then made it to Wales and the BBC. In the UK this was huge news. It was the photo seen ’round the world. Literally.

To promote 24 Hours Tom toured Europe and did lots of electronic and print media interviews along the way. At the MGM on March 19 there was even — gasp! — a new lobby card to replace that 20th century photo that was outdated as soon as Tom grew a beard. In the US Tom’s summer tour was interrupted by his bronchitis.

Notable gigs in 2009 included a triumphant return to Glastonbury and a standout turn at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival. (There are lots of big festivals in the US for Tom to play. Hope he does some. Soon.)

Tom was also back on the UK music charts in a very big way with the Comic Relief charity single he did with Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones from Gavin and Stacey. Their rendition of Islands In the Stream sold more than one million copies for this very good cause and the video is a hoot.

(TJI.com has a good search engine. So, if you’re looking for any of this material, all you have to do is search and it’s there to be found. If you missed any video you can go straight to the TJI.com Video Library and search there. It’s also fun just to revisit the video library from time to time and wander around watching.)

With Tom recording a new CD now, we can look at “2010: The Year In Tom Jones” to be a very good one, indeed. Hopefully, any new product will be released and heavily promoted here in the US, as well as overseas.

The year in Tom Jones ended with the news — rumored for a full three months before it was confirmed — that the band that had played with Tom for many years — the so-called “US Band” — would not be back with him, even in the US. The news evoked lots of reaction, especially in the USA but, also, in Europe. Hopefully the “new” band will only add to the show and will come to be as liked and accepted as were the men and women we came to know over the last several years. TJI looks forward to seeing them.

(The photo above right is from the Sunderland Echo and is a promo for tonight’s annual Jools Holland show on which, clearly, Tom will be a guest. Thanks to Pat Lowndes for sending it. We will have good video of the show, hopefully for tomorrow. Stay tuned)

The year here at TJI.com was both very bad and very good. To get the bad out of the way — on July 1 somehow, mysteriously, this site’s domain name wound up owned by someone in Sweden — and no one knows how it happened! Right. — and the site was down for awhile. That wasn’t all bad because, while the site was down it became apparent how much so many people depend up TJI for news, updates and a daily bit of diversion. Though I am sorry that happened, I cannot really apologize, as it was not my fault. If you run into the person who was at fault, perhaps she will apologize to you. But it will not happen again as now this site is owned and moderated by one person only. And that person has learned a great deal about friendship and trust and which “friends” should not be trusted.

At any rate, I want to thank you again for your support. The 2010 TJI Fan Calendar sold 25 percent more copies than it did last year and, despite postal rates jumping way, way up, they are all delivered with a few stragglers on the way as of yesterday. Also, more fans are sending in materials — audio, video, photos — to share with other fans so TJI can fulfill its stated mission of serving Tom Jones fans around the world. That is just terrific!

Wishing each of you and yours a happy, healthy new year. May 2010 bring peace, health, prosperity and lots of good music!