Tom Jones International

Between February 6th and 10th, Tom played three dates in Chile where the audiences were ecstatic to have him there. On February 6, he played Viña del Mar, a beach resort on the ocean. The next day February 7, Tom played in Talca, Chile and on February 10th he was in Santiago. By now you know that, on February 27 at 3:34 am, an earthquake hit the country. Talca is just 65 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake that shook the city as if it were a small toy in a giant’s hand. Santiago and Viña del Mar, were also hit very hard. How big was the quake?

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Data from the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that this morning’s Chile quake tied in fifth place with an 8.8 quake that hit Ecaduor and Bolivia in 1906. Only four quakes have been bigger since 1900. The largest was a 9.5 magnitude event that struck Chile in 1960, causing 1,655 fatalities, leaving 2 million homeless, and triggering a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.”

For this post TJI posted video of Tom at the Festival Antofagasta that hasn’t been posted here before. The quality isn’t terrific but it leaves o doubt about the crowd’s response. Watching the audience one cannot help wondering where they are today. Hopefully, those joyous people loving the show are all safe.

How You Can Help:

The Huffington Post (a wonderful website that features great writers) offers constantly updated information on relief efforts.

• American Red Cross —The Red Cross has made an initial pledge of $50,000 from their International Response Fund, which you can contribute to to further assist.

• Save The Children — Save The Children is sending an emergency assessment team to Chile, and they are asking for contributions to their Children’s Emergency Fund to aid these efforts.

• AmeriCares — AmeriCares Vice President of Emergency Response, Christoph Gorder, says AmeriCares is sending medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Chile. Make a direct contribution to AmeriCares’ Chilean earthquake fund.

• World Vision — World Vision is sending emergency relief supplies and staff to Chile to help injured survivors. Donate to World Vision’s Disaster Response Fund to directly contribute to aid heading to Chile.

And, of course, let’s not forget the British Red Cross.

You can watch Tom singing It’s Not Unusual and Kiss at the Festival Antofagasta on February 7…

…AND, right below that video, you can hear the 20+ minute radio interview which contains one of the few times he’s discussed his bands. You will find them both in the TJI.com Video Library.

First, the art: Welsh fan Melvyn Chircop is a talented artist. He works in a variety of media: acrylics, oils, pencil and watercolor. You can see his work, including this and other portraits of Tom here. You’ll recognize Tom, Enge, George Michael and Robbie Williams. The other subjects are all British snooker champions.

Next, the commerce: (Note: One US dollar = 89.5 cents Australian) Tonight (February 27 there) Tom performed his first winery concert in Australia. The promotion material notes, “In a very special offer to celebrate the release of 24 Hours, everyone who purchases a ticket to the Bimbadgen Estate concert will receive a free copy of the album!”

It was an interesting day in New South Wales: One newspaper forecasts the events:

$10m boost for vineyards as Whitney Houston, Tom Jones head for wine region

BY TESS CAMPBELL/27 Feb, 2010 04:00 AM/The Herald, Australia

THE Hunter Valley is gearing up for one of its biggest concert weekends, expected to inject more than $10 million directly into the wine country region.

New data has confirmed that outdoor concerts are a major money-spinner for wine country, with each show generating tens of millions.

About 15,000 fans will flock to two separate concerts today featuring Whitney Houston at Hope Estate Winery and Tom Jones at Bimbadgen Estate.

For the rest of this article and to see the TV commercial, click here to (more…)

Tom will be interviewed on Australia’s 60 Minutes Sunday on February 28. The online preview promises: ?He’s the coal miner’s son who hit pay-dirt with his great voice. The original, hip-swivelling smoothie from the swinging sixties. Now he’s pushing seventy, but Tom Jones is still a sex bomb and hard at it, singing, that is. He says his days as a serial philanderer are over. But on stage, Sir Tom, yes he’s even scored a knighthood, can still bump ‘n’ grind with the best. And as Liam Bartlett discovered when he caught up with him on the eve of his Australian tour, there’s still no shortage of knicker-hurling fans.”

---

Non-stop fun as Sir Tom struts his stuff

By Al Jones/The Press, Christchurch, NZ/February 26, 2010

Sir Tom Jones justified the moniker of The Voice beyond a shadow of a doubt in Christchurch last night.

The Welsh singing star took the stage at the Town Hall to a deafening roar from a crowd that was there for a good time. So was Tom actually. He smiled, joked, winked, danced and of course sang, non-stop for just under two hours.

Jones, who turns 70 this year, didn’t miss a beat. Apart from the 10-piece backing band being slightly overwhelming a few times, the show was slick, tight, professional and heaps of fun.

Hitting the stage with Sugar Daddy, (written for him by U2′s Bono), the Welsh singing legend revelled in the lyrics which are essentially a mickey take.

Things quickly warmed up on stage and off. A size 24 pair of knickers were being waved around at one point. They looked as though they had something written on them; it might have been a phone number but on size 24 undies? Maybe it was an international number.

As the sweat poured and the songs flowed, Jones asked the audience, is it hot in here? Or am I just having a hot flush? He was really enjoying himself and so was the audience.

Delilah had us on our feet singing and waving. Leave Your Hat On, Mama Told Me Not To Come, Hard to Handle, What’s New Pussycat, Put your Sweet Lips — they were all here and they were stunning.

After answering the demanding audience and returning for an encore, he blew the roof off the Town Hall with another two songs, including the Prince hit, Kiss.

Sweet and strong support was provided by the very talented Auckland musician Anna Coddington.

You must read comments from people who attended the concert! My favorites are that Tom’s a “70 year-old twenty-something” and a very enthusiastic: “What A Man What A Show What A Hornbag!!” Click here to (more…)

This is an out-and-out rave review. Thus, who cares if she didn’t know the name of the song He’ll Have To Go? Look at the adjectives she used to describe Tom: “enthralled,” “consummate,” “lovely,” “master class [in] entertainment,” “strength of his presence”…Wow! This is also, judging from the 90-minute length, the same set list as he used in Las Vegas last month.

Knickers fly for consummate performer

By Dene Mackenzie on Thu, 25 Feb 2010/Otago Daily Times

Welsh entertainer Tom Jones last night treated a remarkably enthusiastic Dunedin audience to a master class of entertainment.

Make no mistake, the only thing he left on the stage last night was sweat.

Everything Jones had to offer from his vast array of talent was on display in the Dunedin Town Hall.

He sang, he danced, he gyrated — still a lovely mover — for 90 minutes without a break.

Sublime.

From the moment he walked on to the stage, the personality of Jones filled the auditorium.

It would be surprising if anyone in the nearly packed Town Hall felt he was not singing directly to them; such was the strength of his presence.

The audience responded readily to any calls for participation through clapping or singing some of the ballads.

To read the end of this review and to watch the excellent TV interview, click here (more…)

The story below is distasteful on two levels. Firstly, the woman’s remark about her decision to buy the painting of Tom — “buy…and then wait till he dies and then sell it” — is crass but, secondly, the response from the promoter (who, of course didn’t know what she said) is, from a pubic relations perspective, just stupid.

The promoter’s response should simply have been, “Give us the contact information and if the opportunity arises we’ll arrange for Tom to sign it for her.” Then, the “opportunity” didn’t have to arise.

That promoter has no idea if this woman is or is not a long-time, devoted fan. Since the natural assumption would be that if someone possesses such a painting she would be a fan, this remark thus reflects the contempt with which someone regards fans.

That “someone,” by the way, is not Tom himself. As many of you have found, he is cordial and gracious to fans. He knows who has kept him thriving all these years — fans, only fans. If it weren’t for fans — long-standing and new — it wouldn’t matter what he records or where he appears. He has a remarkable ability to gather new fans as he goes, and it’s they who buy CDs and tickets. So, it was really dumb to say that and even dumber to say it on the record so it will be printed for thousands of people to read — especially because many readers will interpret it as Tom himself saying he “doesn’t have time” for a fan.

Without debating whether or not this person “deserves” to get the autograph, if you were the promoter responding to the newspaper, what would you have said about the autograph request?

Pop star portrait plan foiled

By Mark Price on Wed, 24 Feb 2010/Otago Daily Times, NZ

A Mosgiel woman’s hopes of having her oil painting of Sir Tom Jones signed by the famous Welsh singer at his concert in Dunedin tonight have been dashed.

Cat Hunter came across the painting in an op shop in Perth four or five years ago, where it was for sale for $10.

“I thought ‘Well, the least I can do is buy that and then wait till he dies and then sell it to some sad Tom Jones fan’,” Ms Hunter said.

When she returned to New Zealand with her partner the painting came too and it now hangs, in its tatty frame, on a wall near her front door.

Visitors often remark that the eyes appear to follow people, like those of the Laughing Cavalier.

“Tom follows you everywhere . . .

“There’s something about Tom, and now I’m sort of starting to think I’ll never sell him.”

Ms Hunter says the painting is in the style of an old master, is dated 1969 and is signed by VA Kirton, of Skegness, Lincolnshire.

For the rest of this article and another about Tom and Whitney Houston in “dueling” concerts Saturday night, click here to (more…)

Correction: When I wrote about Tom playing Korea, I said it was his first time. In fact, it isn’t. He played there 27 years ago. I stand corrected.

On Sunday, once again, TJI was quoted in the Welsh press. It’s accurate, it was indeed on this site last Wednesday. My only quibbles? He spelled my name wrong. And, I should have noted when the comment about stage makeup was posted that Tom doesn’t wear any. Certainly not as he did in the glam days back in the 70s (photo left) with eyeliner and pancake makeup. Remember that?

Tom Jones’ backstage concert demands revealed

Feb 21 2010 by Nathan Bevan, Wales On Sunday

SEVEN dwarves, submachine guns, a Bob Hope impersonator and a huge bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones taken out — it’s not unusual for rock bands to make the occasional odd request while out on tour.

But in the case of Tom Jones’ recent appearance at a music festival in Chile it seems the 69-year-old Ponty Sex Bomb’s backstage needs are far from the wild excess of his musical peers these days.

According to a South American newspaper, the Valleys singing legend is quite content to perform providing there’s two people on standby to iron his clothes and plenty of black towels to wipe up the sweat and ensure “the audience does not see anything dirty”.

The story in Estrella Norte revealed Jones, who they dubbed The Tiger Of Wales, requested that promoters for Festival Antofagasta supply him with specific French white wines, including a bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet 2008 exclusively from the vineyard Domaine Paul Pillot, a van actor Daniel Craig used while filming the 22nd Bond movie Quantum of Solace nearby, a shower in his dressing room at the side of the stage and a safe.

“Compared to the most mythical of documents that was the Van Halen tour rider of 1982 — a 52-pager asking for such things as herring in sour cream, malt liquor, K-Y Jelly and, most famous of all, a dish of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed — Tom’s requests are downright dull,” said Ellen Stirling, a US journalist who runs tomjonesintl.com, the web’s largest fan site dedicated to The Voice.

Meanwhile, one of the site’s subscribers posted her thoughts on the mystery of the black towels.

Click here to (more…)

Monday in the USA: 3rd Review Added! See below.

Below are two reviews from Tom’s show at Villa Maria Estate winery. It is, apparently, a lovely setting and the outdoor show was very, very well-received. They’re both very good, quite appreciative, but they both have all sorts of factual errors and I cannot understand why. Just sloppy work.

Review: Tom Jones at Villa Maria Estate

By Jacqueline Smith/4:00 PM Monday Feb 22, 2010/New Zealand Herald

It’s an old joke, but ladies are still flinging their undies at the king of love and soul, Sir Tom Jones.

Looking as nimble as his fresh-faced ten-piece band, Jones shimmied about the stage, throwing in some cheeky pelvic thrusts and Welsh quips along the way.

Opening with a saucy little number, Sugar Daddy, his famously resonant voice shook the vines with songs from his new album 24 Hours and nostalgic hits Delilah, What’s New Pussycat and She’s a Lady.

As daylight faded, the set took a moodier turn as he showed his introspective side: “I tried to write a song that would explain what music had done for my life, and to thank God for giving me this voice,” he said, before launching into a heart-wrenching tribute to everything his career had given him.

He stopped grooving and clutched the microphone as he sang his stirring promise to never fall in love again.

His elaborate band was stripped back to acoustic guitars for the third installment of Sir Tom’s performance – a seductive return to the old pub-singing days.

The crowd swayed along to He’ll have to go, Green Green Grass of Home, and Save the Last Dance for Me. These sing-alongs led into the strobe-lit disco finale, which built to a crescendo in a pulsing version of Sex Bomb and ended with the banger It’s Not Unusual.

And, with the mesmerised crowd left wondering what Sir Tom’s secret to life-long party charm could possibly be, he returned, still twinkle-eyes and twinkle-toes for a stage-show encore – Take Me Back to the Party and his version of Prince’s You Don’t Have to be Rich.

He thanked his fans and said he had had a ball, and their squeals and kisses — and the odd pair of knickers – said they had too.

For two more reviews (one from Monday night), a good photo and some video, click here to (more…)

If you haven’t checked in for a couple of days, scroll down to see the video that was posted. It’s all very good.

This commercial was released last November to advance Tom’s March 4 show in Wollongong, New South Wales. It is advertising tickets to see the man who, “for over four decades has been the ‘King of Cool.’”

You can watch it here (on a nice, big screen).

Reflecting on the fact that Russian figure skater Yvgeni Plushenko won silver in the Olympics the other night, rather then the gold he believed he deserved, many writers have recalled his version of Sex Bomb at the 2001 World Championships.

In fact, the video seems to have almost become viral since Thursday night.

A few news stories say Tom “approved” the routine. Don’t know about that but I do know a few people requested that TJI post it.

So, if you want to see Plushenko’s unique take on Sex Bomb, you’ll find it here.

As usual, if you cannot play either or both of these videos, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.

Moderator’s Note: Tonight, after hearing about it for years, the new Cirque du Soleil show Viva Elvis officially opened. Since so many of Tom’s fans are also Elvis fans, I thought I’d share. My review is here. I have to add that it was a lot of fun — more than these things usually are — being there during the blue carpet. (That was Elvis’ favorite color, so they didn’t have a red carpet for celebrities to walk.) It was an eclectic crowd of celebs. Among those present were Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed, Wynonna, Chris Noth, Neil Patrick Harris, Regis and Joy Philbin, Priscilla Presley and her grandson Ben (who has those Elvis/Lisa Marie eyes) and a bunch of others. It was a fun evening.

New Zealand TV reporter David Farrier put together his own take on Tom’s press conference (Farrier calls it a “presser”) in Auckland, Wednesday. If a little repetition of rumors and some mild blasphemy bother you, don’t look. But it’s very amusing and original and the end is worth the entire price of admission.

If you try to look and can’t see it, you know the drill: if you cannot view it, please drop me note using the “Contact TJI” link at right and I’ll send it to you.

If you choose not to watch it, you know there’ll be more video soon.

If you do look, enjoy.

Whatever — Watch it here.

First, to give you an idea of the kind of crowds Tom often draws in places where he doesn’t play often, here’s video of Tom at the Festival Antofagasta Junto del Mar in Chile on February 11. Check out his “¡gracias!” at the beginning when the previous song ends. check out the crowd. Can you imagine playing to such a crowd? 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.

Ladies, prepare your panties, Tom Jones is coming to town

The Voice comes to Singapore for a one-night only performance at Resorts World Sentosa

by Larry Loh, Singapore Editor/11 February, 2010/CNNGo

My, my, my, the one and only Sir Tom ‘The Voice’ Jones, aka Sex Bomb, will be Resorts World’s first international celebrity to perform at the integrated resort. It’s a one-night only concert on March 26 where the hairy-chested Welsh singer will belt out his signature tunes like It’s Not Unusual, She’s a Lady, What‟s New Pussycat, and Delilah.

We mentioned it in passing to some ladies already and got some wild-eyed “really?!?” reactions, so we reckon this should be one sold-out concert. Tom Jones obviously needs little introduction, but for those of you still blogging in your diapers, his official bio credits him as “a man without whom the likes of Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson, Joss Stone and Duffy would never have existed.”

Tickets go on sale February 24 at 9am sharp here. Prices range from S$88 to S$358.

What Time Is It There? Time zones are a funny thing. For example, I am in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. That’s Pacific Standard Time (PST). I am three hours behind the east coast of the United States, eight hours behind the UK and 21 hours behind New Zealand. Then, there’s Australia! My son lives in Adelaide. That is 17-and-a-half(!) hours ahead of Las Vegas. That’s just on time zone in Australia. Thus, it can get very confusing.

So, since I am so far behind in terms of time, it may work out that news from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and South Africa will be posted a bit later than they would be if the news originated in either North or South America or Europe. I apologize but I am determined to bring TJI visitors the most complete coverage possible.

Toward that end, I’ve posted about 24 minutes of Tom and the press in New Zealand.

The first, major portion is of Tom’s press conference. The last several minutes are of a TV interview he did. Interesting setting: either a wine shop or a wine cellar. (The screen shot posted here is from that video.) You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.