It was a one-sentence review, but People Magazine gave Praise and Blame 3.5 stars this week. The only other album reviewed to do that well was God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise by Ray LaMontagne (whom I am going to see in concert tonight at one of the greatest venues anywhere).

Sir Tom Jones has added his name to the list of performers who will appear at Twickenham Stadium September 12 in a benefit for Help For Heroes, an organization that aids England’s service men and women.

Also at the event will be Robbie Williams and James Blunt, among many, many others.

Tickets range in price from £60 up to £155 depending upon location and amenities.The profits all go to the cause. Tickets are available here.

On September 15, Sir Tom will be performing Praise and Blame at Union Chapel in London.

This appears to be a rather singular venue with moderately priced entertainment of an unusual sort. For example, actor Tim Robbins is doing one of his few European gigs there with his band. Tom’s show there will be £30 + booking fee. Tickets are being sold through LiveNation.

It will be curious to see how the P&B-only set is received.

(Moderator’s Note: Several days ago I was invited by a public relations company in Las Vegas to interview a singer who is playing The Pearl, the outstanding venue at The Palms Hotel and Casino. I had heard this guys’ music when I was writing about Ethan Johns, who produced his first three records. I liked what I heard and was, thus, eager to do the interview. Maye you’ll like Ray LaMontagne’s music, too. Check out the interview in theHuffington Post.com)

The TJI September Question of the Month is:

What do you think is the best follow-up album to Praise and Blame? And, why do you think it is the best?

Anyway, it is a lovely show with lots of tributes, a partial replay of Sir Tom’s Latitude Festival interview with Bethan Elfyn on BBC Radio Wales and some reminiscing by people who knew Tom when.

It is posted in two parts and you’ll find it in the TJI Video Library. (There’s a strange grinding noise at the beginning of the show. That’s the broadcast, not an error I made. And, there might be a break in the recording for news. Sorry, didn’t have a lot of time to edit.)

And! I awoke to an email from someone on the BBC Radio Wales Call-In Show asking if I was interested in participating in a discussion of the question: “Who looks better at 70…Cliff [Richard, — photo right — from his new calendar] or Tom?” Even if the guy who wrote knew I live in Las Vegas and there’s an eight-hour time difference I wouldn’t have been interested in participating. But, while they were able to find a fan of Cliff’s the best they could come up with for Tom is Gwen Russell, author of that awful, rumor-laden, gossip-heavy, full of old-news biography of Tom. She is the worst kind of celebrity leech and never talked to Tom for the book. Now, she’s acting as if she’s his official spokesperson. Gross.

Anyway, the show was silly and pointless. If you want to hear it, go here and forward to approximately 1:35.

First, a note: Gail has written TJI saying that at the Friday, August 6 show at the MGM Grand a fan took photos of her and her mother with their British flags. With permission, they were on the stage after the show. She was hoping, since the photographer had asked her about TJI, that the pictures might have been sent to me. They haven’t. But, if you are the photographer, please email the photos using the “contact” link below right and I’ll pass them on.

So, for today we have about 12.5 minutes of a half-hour interview Sir Tom did on Jazz FM Radio in the UK with presenter Anthony Davis (with Tom at left) that was broadcast July 29. Oddly, Jazz FM is not an FM station and, also oddly, the entire interview was not posted. This is a jazz outlet, so there’s a bit of Satchmo’ and Sir Tom gives his definition of the term “jazz.”

And, after a couple of views and four requests, I’ve decided to post this season’s thus-far “wow” performance on the UK show X Factor. It’s a 50 year-old Irish grocery store checker named Mary Byrne singing a stunning rendition of I (Who Have Nothing). Check it out here. And look for a big smile from Simon Cowell. (The other judges are Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and, on this episode, seated between Walsh and Cole is guest judge Katy Perry. Producer and judge Simon Cowell is bringing the show to Fox in the USA next year. This episode was recorded in Dublin.

Personally, Tom’s version (especially the updated one he did on Mr Jones) is still my favorite but I think Byrne’s take beats Shirley Bassey’s by a mile.

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

And the radio interview? Of course, you can listen to it in the TJI.com Video Library.

Finally, a bonus: Sunday night the Primetime Emmy Awards celebrating the best in primetime American television, were broadcast.

For the last several years the Emmy Awards have gotten very low ratings and, I’d guess, this was the producers’ attempt to recoup. You’ll especially enjoy this clip if you watch Glee and, since it is broadcast in so many countries worldwide, I figured there’s be a good chance you are familiar with it.

For an award show it was spectacular and it got started on a high note that was maintained throughout the entire three hours.

I loved this number, just smiled the entire time it was on and I thought, even though it’s not TJ-related, it’s worth posting. I think it’d be great if Sir Tom were to do a visit to Glee as Madonna, NPH, Kristen Chenoweth and lots of others have done.

You’ll recognize the evening’s host, Jimmy Fallon (it was on his show that Tom played with The Roots band), and lots of others, including many from the cast of Glee and cast members from 30 Rock (Tina Fey), Mad Men (John Hamm), Lost (Jorge Garcia) and others, including Tim Gunn from Project Runway,

I hope you enjoy this performance set to Bruce Springsteen singing the terrific, rousing Born To Run as much as I did.

I can’t think of anyone around who sings better than me’ Welsh crooner Tom Jones on his latest comeback

By Jon Wilde / Daily Mail / Last updated at 10:04 PM on 28th August 2010

To experience the full force of Tom Jones’s voice, try sitting two feet away from him as he belts out the chorus to It’s Not Unusual. Tom Jones sings like other people breathe. He just can’t help himself. Mention any of his 38 Top 40 hits and he’ll generously treat you to a few bars. And, when he sings, there are no half measures – he gives it everything he’s got.

The Welsh rock star Cerys Matthews got it just about right when she said that hearing Tom sing up close was like standing in a tunnel with an express train speeding towards you. Not for nothing is he universally known as Jones The Voice.

‘I’m sure I’ve been singing from the moment I sprang out of my mother’s womb,’ he says. ‘The second I’m out of bed I’ll start singing, usually some old country song. I sing in the shower. I sing in the car. I never bloody stop.’


Jones recently celebrated his 70th birthday but the power of his voice remains undiminished.

‘Actually,’ he says, ‘I think I’m in better voice now than I ever was.’

To his astonishment, along with everyone else’s, his career continues to hit new peaks. In the past few years, and not for the first time, it was widely assumed that he’d had his day.

Despite reaching No 1 with an all-star charity version of Islands In The Stream in 2009, the hit singles were hard to come by. His new albums were struggling to reach the Top 40 and even his greatest hits compilations were performing badly. After selling 150 million records and earning a fortune of £175 million, Jones’s career seemed to be in terminal decline.

Even his record company seemed to have lost all confidence. Earlier this year, on the eve of the release of Jones’s new album, the pared-down gospel/blues of Praise & Blame, Island Records’ vice president David Sharpe sent an email to colleagues asking whether the record was some kind of sick joke.

‘Pull back this project immediately,’ he demanded, ‘or get my money back.’ The email was leaked and spread like a virus around the world. Jones was furious. But he would have the last laugh as the album was greeted by his most ecstatic reviews in years and shot up the charts to vie for a position at the top with Eminem’s Recovery.

It has proven to be his most successful release since 1999′s Reload. Naturally, he feels vindicated. ‘For a record company executive to condemn an album before anyone has heard it is the most stupid thing ever,’ says Jones.

‘This guy’s objection to it was that the songs weren’t what people would expect from Tom Jones. What exactly would people be expecting from me?

‘I’ve been releasing records for 46 years. I’ve always been into all kinds of music. Growing up, gospel music was as important to me as rock ‘n’ roll. Religion was important in those days in terms of the local community. Every Sunday I’d go to the Presbyterian chapel.

For remaining 3,094 words in this story and three more nice photos, please click here to

‘I can still hear the heavy organ sound that greeted me when I walked in. It used to put the fear of God in me. Wherever I went there’d be religious songs. I’d hear gospel standards like The Old Rugged Cross at funerals and parties.

I wanted some of that flavour on my latest album. Some people have responded to the album as though I’m a born-again Christian. But I’ve always been a Christian and I’m not going to apologise for that. It’s not all I’m about but it’s a part of me.

‘These songs represent that part. People shouldn’t be surprised I’ve gone down that road. I’ve always been a versatile singer. Except maybe for Elvis, there’s never been a more versatile singer than me and, to be truthful, I can’t think of anyone around who sings better.’

He is not lacking in confidence. That much is evident from the moment he walks into the top-floor suite of one of central London’s hippest boutique hotels. More white than grey, his trademark curly locks have long since given up the fight against ageing.

Nip-and-tuck surgery has ensured that the rest of him could easily pass for middle-aged rather than anything more advanced. Casually dressed in black shirt and designer jeans, he looks as cool as any 70-year-old man could ever hope to be, cooler than any OAP has the right to look. There’s no mistaking the superstar aura around him. But there’s no pomp and swagger.

Casually referencing his close friendship with Elvis and the times he hung out with Sinatra, he never lets you forget that you are in the presence of pop royalty. Yet, as he reflects on his astonishing journey from the villages of the Rhondda Valley to the dazzle of Vegas and beyond, he does so with an air of childlike wonder, as though he still can’t quite believe he was lucky enough to live the life granted to him.

The world knows him as Tom Jones and, make no mistake, he loves every minute of being Tom Jones. But there’s a part of him that will always remain Thomas John Woodward, the son of a Welsh miner, who was born to sing, dreamed of stardom, and almost had it all cruelly snatched away.

If you’re looking for the key to how Jones has managed to bestride the pop world over six decades and yet remain so absurdly down-to-earth, then rewind 57 years. Tom is 13 years old, already certain that his extraordinary voice will bring him fame and fortune, when he contracts tuberculosis and is confined to bed for two years.

‘I was just starting to go through puberty,’ he says, ‘the worst possible time to be stuck in a bed. I wanted to be out there with my mates, chatting up the girls. Life went on outside my bedroom window.

My friends would pass by the window and shout, “Alright Tom!” as they went up the hill to play. I barely had the energy to wave back at them. The worst part of it was that I didn’t even have the strength to sing.

From the window I could see a lamppost at the end of the street. I’d stare at that lamppost for hours and tell myself, “If ever I get well and I’m able to walk as far as that lamppost I’ll never complain about anything as long as I live.”‘

The bout of TB damaged Jones’s lungs and meant that he would not have to follow his father down the mine. Miraculously his illness left his singing abilities intact. After leaving school at 15, he worked as a labourer’s mate by day, and singer at night. His showbiz apprenticeship was served in the unforgiving environments of the local pubs and working men’s clubs.

‘I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t singing. From the age of four I’d be pulling on my mother’s sleeve at weddings, asking when I could get up and do a number. At home I’d tell my mum to pull the drapes open and grandly announce me before I climbed on a table and sang in the living room.

Performing came naturally to me. When I was old enough to sing in the clubs I wasn’t daunted. Those places could be rough as old boots though. If a crowd didn’t like you they’d let you know.

‘Most of the actual violence occurred because some fella would object to the fact that his girlfriend was enjoying my show. Then it would all kick off. I’d see the first bottle coming towards my head and think, “Here we go again.”

In no time at all it would be like something out of a Wild West saloon, chairs and tables flying everywhere. Sometimes there was no escape, so I’d end up in the middle of a massive punch-up. That’s how I broke my nose. Other times I’d leg it out of the back door.

‘On one occasion I was playing a social club in Caerphilly. A big fight started out so I headed for the exit. I saw this raffle prize – an oven-ready turkey sitting on top of a hamper. I thought, “I’ll have that”, and ran out with it under my arm. I was banned from that club for nearly 50 years.’

Jones was a father at 16, getting married just a month before the baby was due. His marriage to Linda Trenchard is something of a showbiz miracle, having endured for 53 years despite Jones’s well-publicised infidelities.

‘People talk about it like it was just notches on the bedpost,’ he says. ‘But I never treated women like groupies. I’ve always been old-fashioned around the opposite sex. Like I’m careful not to swear in front of them. In Wales we eff and blind all the time but not in front of women. I love a dirty joke but I’d never tell one in female company.

‘People are always asking me what makes my marriage work. There’s no great mystery to it. We were kids when we met and we were completely in love. We still love each other and we’ve managed to remain friends too.

‘We enjoy each other’s company. Walking away from Linda would be unthinkable. We go back too far. I was Tommy Woodward to her then, and I still am. If I start giving it too much Tom Jones she’ll remind me who I am.’

Between 1956 and 1964 he plugged away on the Welsh club circuit, supporting his family in a series of jobs including glove-cutter, paper miller and door-to-door vacuum salesman.

‘Those jobs didn’t feel like a blessing while I was doing them. But I’m forever grateful that I did them because they gave me an important grounding. I might have days now when I’m on my way to a photo shoot or a TV interview.

‘I might be suffering from a hangover and I’m really not in the mood for any of it. I’ll pass a building site and see all these fellas carrying bricks up a ladder and remind myself that I’ve got bugger all to moan about.’

Success finally came Jones’s way with 1965′s It’s Not Unusual, and he was more than ready for it. After all, he’d been preparing for it all his life. When it came he accepted it like an entitlement. Few entertainers have taken to fame so naturally. Few have enjoyed their celebrity quite so whole-heartedly and yet so humbly.

‘When I had that first hit record I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven. I’d always liked the idea of nice houses, great food, flash cars, posh seats on planes. Now I could afford those things. People would say to me, “Don’t you miss shopping at Woolworths?” Why the hell would I?

‘I enjoyed the fruits of my success when they arrived and I’ve never stopped loving the lifestyle. Not everyone is like that. Robbie Williams was a close neighbour of mine in Los Angeles. When I first met him he asked me, “How do you still do it after all this time?” I said, “Because I bloody love doing it.” And Robbie said, “I wish I did.”

‘He’s had all this amazing success but it doesn’t make him happy. I’m the complete opposite.’ It’s Not Unusual was also a Top Ten hit in the United States. Then the hits came thick and fast: What’s New Pussycat?, Green Green Grass Of Home, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Delilah. He toured relentlessly, quickly graduating from small clubs to giant arenas.

In 1967 he performed in Las Vegas for the first time, becoming an instant sensation – in the early Seventies he was reportedly raking in £5 million a year from the Vegas casinos alone. By 1969 he had won a lucrative TV deal for his own American series, This Is Tom Jones. His albums were all bestsellers.

Then, at the dizzying height of his success, he experienced the dark side of celebrity. June 1970 brought the trial of the notorious Manson Family, accused of a series of gruesome murders in Los Angeles.

During the trial it was revealed that the group’s leader, Charles Manson, had drawn up a list of famous names that his followers had been ordered to kill. These included Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones. When the subject is raised, Jones is visibly surprised, admitting that he’s never talked about this episode publicly.

‘But it’s all true. I was definitely on that list. Manson reasoned that if he got his followers to take these people out, he would become more famous and more powerful than they were. He wasn’t thinking straight, obviously. I mean the guy was a complete nutcase. I didn’t worry about the threat too much.

By the time they found the list, these loonies were all safely locked up. If I thought about it at all, I felt flattered I was on the same list as people like Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor.

‘See, I believe in taking a negative and turning it into a positive. If I’d have taken the threat to heart I’d never have left my house ever again. I didn’t even increase the security around me. I figured that, if it was going to happen, then there’s nothing I could do to prevent it.

‘If someone’s coming for you, they will eventually get you because you’re bound to be alone at some time. I’ve been through periods when I’ve employed big bodyguards and walked around with an entourage. The problem with that approach is that it draws attention to you.

‘That’s something Elvis could never understand. He wouldn’t go anywhere without his entourage. He’d say to me, “Tom, how can you just walk into a restaurant, sit down and have a meal? Because I can’t do it.” I’d say, “Of course you can’t do it, Elvis. You’re walking in there with six other fellas and you’re wearing your big white Vegas suit and your sunglasses.”

‘But he couldn’t do it any other way. He loved being Elvis Presley. He wouldn’t have wanted to go somewhere and not be recognised.’

No one relishes telling a story more than Jones. And he loves nothing more than to talk about his longstanding friendship with Elvis. The two first met in 1965 on the set of Presley’s Paradise Hawaiian Style movie.

To his complete astonishment, Elvis walked towards him and sang Jones’s 1965 hit With These Hands in its entirety. In no time at all, Jones was ushered into Presley’s exclusive inner circle. They would regularly meet up in Las Vegas and even took holidays together.

‘Music was our bond,’ says Jones. ‘We’d always end up singing together. Once Elvis got hold of a song he couldn’t let go of it. He would always want to stay up with me all night and party. One time I’d just come off stage at Caesar’s Palace when Elvis walked into my dressing room.

‘He kept going on about a song he thought I should record. I told him I’d have a quick shower and then we could talk about it. So I’m in the shower washing my hair and I hear this singing. I turn around and Elvis is right there alongside me.

‘When I got out he was standing in the dressing room with his trousers around his ankles but he didn’t seem to have noticed. Very gently I pointed it out to him and he calls for one of his guys. ‘Red, ma pants.’ So Red has to get down on his knees to pull up Elvis’s trousers.

‘I’m thinking, “It doesn’t get any stranger than this.” So I walk into the WC and there on the cistern was Elvis’s Colt 45 automatic. I say to him, “Elvis, you left your gun in the toilet.” And he says, “Thanks Tom, I was wondering where I left that.” When Elvis was around, things were always interesting.

‘I was always encouraging him to move to Wales. He was fascinated with choirs and I’d tell him we had the best choirs in the world. I’d say, “Come to the Rhondda, Elvis, we’ll have a bloody great time.” Sadly it never happened. They’d have loved him in the pubs of Tonypandy.’

Thirty-six years have passed since Jones moved to America to avoid high taxes, buying a Bel Air mansion formerly owned by Dean Martin, where he still lives with his wife. After all that Californian living, his rich Welsh accent remains unchanged. Rumours often surface that he is about to return to live in his homeland and he admits that it’s still a possibility.

Return to Pontypridd, South Wales, 1974

‘Whenever I go across the Severn Bridge into Wales I get a bit choked up because that’s where my heart is.
Luckily my home in LA is near a British shop that sells all my home comforts – Heinz Baked Beans, PG Tips and Branston Pickle. My local supermarket even stocks Welsh ale – Felinfoel Double Dragon. Bloody lovely drop that is.

‘There are things I don’t miss about Britain. The politics, for starters. I’m still a British citizen but I haven’t voted in years. When I look at the parties over here now I wonder who I could vote for. It’s not like years ago when there was a difference between Labour and Tory.

‘When I lived here I voted Labour. But they were the party who were clobbering people like me with about 90 per cent tax so I’d have been biting off my nose to spite my face if I’d carried on voting for them.’

When asked if he’s been affected by the recession, he reacts as though it’s the daftest question he’s been asked in a long while.

‘What, me? Nah. It hasn’t touched me at all. Maybe I’m lucky in that people still pay money to come to my shows. Entertainment has a way of surviving during tough times. When times are bad, people need a bit of escapism to cheer themselves up. And my career is on a high once again. So there’s no shortage of takers.’

Not only are his records riding high in the charts again, he remains a formidable live draw. When he performed at the Latitude Festival in July, chaotic scenes ensued, causing the area to be closed and thousands of fans turned away. Suddenly everything is going right for Jones.

So much so that you need to remind yourself that there was a time in the late Seventies and early Eighties when his career was in the doldrums. The hit singles had completely dried up. Indeed, between 1973 and 1986, the Top 30 was entirely resistant to his charms.

Somewhere along the line he became an icon of naff, more famous for his chest hair and the knickers that were thrown at his shows than for his music. Then he returned to the charts in 1987 with A Boy From Nowhere and cemented his comeback the following year with his version of Prince’s Kiss.

There followed a long run of success, climaxing in 1999 with the Reload album, a set of collaborations with stars such as Robbie Williams and Van Morrison. The latest comeback is huge testament to his astonishing resilience and powers of recovery.

‘If there’s a secret to my longevity it’s that I’ve always looked after my talent. I see it as a God-given thing and I’ve always taken care of it. Sure, I’ve always enjoyed a drink. But I’ve never been the kind of fella who drinks in order to reach a state of oblivion.

‘Drugs, I’ve never been interested in. I’ve been to parties where people have been snorting coke off the tables and I’ve never fancied that. Aside from that, it’s always been the music that has kept me going.’

Ask him how he’d most like to be remembered and he takes a rare pause, thinks long and hard.

‘There have been so many great things. Like getting the knighthood in 2006. Bloody amazing, probably the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me. When I got the letter saying I was being considered I had to wonder, “Am I worthy?” I kept thinking back, wondering if I’d done anything wrong they might find out about. Even when it came to the day itself I was worried that they’d change their mind. Only when the Queen hit me with the sword could I relax about it.

‘As for how I’m remembered, I’ll probably settle with what Otis Redding said to me. I met him just before his plane crash in 1967 and he told me I was the greatest living soul singer.

‘It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? So I’d like to be remembered simply as a great singer. But I haven’t finished yet. There’s plenty more singing to be done. I’m Jones The Voice.

‘It’s what I do. They’ll be nailing down my coffin and I’ll still be belting out a tune, don’t you worry about that.’

Praise & Blame is out now on Island Records

The site also said that Praise and Blame has reached gold status. In the UK, a record is certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) when it has shipped (not “sold”) 100,000 units; a platinum, 300,000 units. (In the US, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold status means 500,000 shipped; platinum, 1,000,000 units shipped.

Mazel tov, Sir Tom!

You will absolutely want to read the review posted below! It says, at the top, “Jones is aging with Paul Newman’s elegance and grace. Amazing grace, as it happens; Jones’ new release, Praise & Blame, his latest in a catalog exceeding 60 studio, live and greatest hits albums, is a raw, raucous, Gospel-drenched, Soul-infused marvel.” And it gets better from there!

Tom Jones: Praise & Blame

By Brian Baker/CityBeat.com (Cincinnati, Ohio) / August 17, 2010

If there was any justice, the panties thrown at Tom Jones these days would be the size of parachutes, but the fact is that Jones, who turned 70 in June, has built an audience populated with the granddaughters of his original fans. He covered Prince’s Kiss with Art of Noise in 1988, and his 1999 album Reload was a set of hip cover duets with the likes of the Cardigans, Portishead and the Stereophonics. Jones is aging with Paul Newman’s elegance and grace. Amazing grace, as it happens; Jones’ new release, Praise & Blame, his latest in a catalog exceeding 60 studio, live and greatest hits albums, is a raw, raucous, Gospel-drenched, Soul-infused marvel.

Jones has long claimed Mahalia Jackson as an early influence and he proves it conclusively on Praise & Blame, a collection of traditional and contemporary songs concerning the search for salvation. Jones opens with a reflective acoustic take on Bob Dylan’s What Good Am I, his extraordinary voice exhibiting equal measures of restraint and power over the track’s tribal pulse, followed by Lord Help, an explosion of snarling Blues electricity. Jones goes pure Gospel on Did Trouble, swings with chapel-rattling force on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Strange Things Happen Every Day and tears into John Lee Hooker’s Burning Hell with a visceral glee, while his robust and defiant take on Ain’t No Grave stands in stark contrast to Johnny Cash’s end-of-life resignation.

Praise & Blame easily stands among Jones’ best work. If he and producer Ethan Johns translate this vibe into his next Pop album (Rick Rubin and T Bone Burnett must be kicking themselves that they didn’t pull this assignment), Tom Jones’ triumphant return to the top of the charts will be assured.

There were two good things to come out of that idiotic site host indulging in name-calling and unnecessary bitchiness yesterday: TJI had an uptick in visits (always welcome) and I remembered that I hadn’t posted some vid from last month’s Latitude Festival in the UK. I also forgot a slew of photos, screen shots, that are quite good. (And thanks to all of you who sent me such nice notes.)

So, two of those photos are posted here and the rest will be added to the appropriate TJI flickr set in the next few days (I’ll let you know).

Meanwhile, here’s almost 12 minutes of Tom singing at the Latitude Festival. The first few minutes are bits of Strange Things and Burning Hell. This is followed by the complete Nobody’s Fault But Mine and Didn’t It Rain. I included the first part because it gives an excellent idea of what the crowd was like that summer Sunday. The last two songs are very good and it’s especially fun to watch the musicians and singers with Tom. Of course, that’s Ethan Johns with the beard. (If you can ID any others, please email me.)

You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.

As for that guy to whose site I had the gall to link openly and with praise, when I saw the ultra-personal, name-calling post he wrote about me elsewhere, I commented as follows: “Mr. Boles you have called me names, threatened me and been generally rude. I linked to your site and gave you substantial credit for being knowledgeable. I’ve removed the offending [post] without resorting to name-calling or posting your private information all over the net. A simple, private email to me would have accomplished the same thing. In fact, I received your email about my “theft” at 9:24 am PDT and it was removed at 9:28 am. PDT. That was before I saw the nonsense [you wrote about me]. One must ask if you favor execution for someone who steals a car or wallet. You clearly don’t believe in “let the punishment fit the crime.” Ridiculous. But, on the other hand, you helped to publicize my site and given more publicity to a most worthwhile recording, so I must thank you.”

Turns out, his diatribe against me and posting of TJI is good publicity as the number of visits to TJI have shot way up this morning. Maybe those people will return. Thanks to all the regular visitors to this site who emailed me about this but, I must tell you, I care a great deal that you feel as you do but do not care about this self-important, shameless self-promoting person. The issue, like the mind of the person who raised it, is smaller than the proverbial tempest in a teapot. It is, rather, just crap and should be ignored.

Tom On TV: Except for the few minutes of an hour Sir Tom is likely to get, it all sounds very 1950s, the kind of thing that killed old-fashioned variety shows, doesn’t it? Whatever, various news sources are reporting that:ITV has confirmed that Paul O’Grady’s new program will launch on September 10. Paul O’Grady Live! is billed as a “lavish new entertainment show and a perfect part of the weekend. There will be crazy games, stunts and big song and dance routines as well as few special surprises and Paul will be touch with viewers across the land live via Skype,” the network confirmed. Sir Tom Jones will be among O’Grady’s guests on the first show. The presenter will also make his “acrobatic debut” alongside Britain’s Got Talent winners Spellbound. More guests have still to be confirmed.

Below is a review of Praise and Blame. It was published last month in The New York Times, written by Stephen Holden, one of the papers two worthwhile film critics. I just came across it and am happy I did, as I didn’t see it on other TJ sites. Like so many others, Holden liked the album, but the last sentence of the review, especially, is terrific. He gets it!

Photo of Sir Tom leaving the MGM August 18, 2010. Thanks to the person who sent it.

TOM JONES: Praise and Blame

By Stephen Holden/The New York Times/July 25, 2010

Praise and Blame finds Tom Jones on his knees trembling before God. This studly Welsh baritone, now 70, certainly has the voice to make a lean, tough country gospel album. His baritone, gnarly textured when he sings softly, is still the roar of a Samson when he belts. Mr. Jones may not express the rock-bottom Christian fatalism of Johnny Cash, but he still conveys the contrition of a penitent sinner as he delivers a mixture of traditional spirituals and contemporary gospel songs tautly arranged for a small band. The group includes his producer, Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon) on guitar, Jeremy Stacey on drums, and Dave Bronze on bass; Booker T. Jones, B J Cole, and Gillian Welch make guest appearances. The florid, brassy arrangements of his most famous hits are nowhere to be heard on a record that doesn’t waste a note

Outstanding cuts include Bob Dylan’s knotty What Good Am I? growled in a near murmur to an accompaniment of funereal drum beats, Mellotron, and guitar. Susan Werner’s Did Trouble Me, whose narrator regrets the years wasted not heeding his conscience, sounds like a spiritual cry in the wilderness. Burning Hell, John Lee Hooker’s stormy blues, follows him “down to the crossroads in fear and trembling,” where he considers making a deal with the Devil. Billy Joe Shaver’s If I Give My Soul is the prayer for another chance from a roustabout musician who lost his family to wild living while “traveling with the Devil’s band.”

Mr. Jones’s sudden swerve into the devotional apparently took his record company by surprise. A leaked internal e-mail message from a vice president of his British label wondered if Praise and Blame was “a sick joke.” It isn’t. It is a respectful, expressively focused exploration of a genre beloved by Mr. Jones’s American counterpart, Elvis Presley.