Tom Jones International

A review and some photos arrived today from Tom’s show in Melbourne and, soon, there will be video. I’ll get it all posted ASAP. Just returned from four days of covering ShoWest, the annual film exhibitor trade show here in Las Vegas. It was four days of learning, watching films to be released in the next several months (do not miss Toy Story 3! and being present when people like Robert Downey, Jr., Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Zack Galafiniakis, Sam Worthington, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon (all three from Sex and the City) and several others present their new films and/or win awards. Long hours, much work, but lots of fun. So, I apologize for the delay.

Tom played in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, tonight. When there are reviews, they’ll be posted. Meanwhile, here’s an article from yesterday when he arrived and, below it, another from Abu Dhabi announcing his April concert.

Tom Jones glad to be back

Star e-Central/Thursday, March 18, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: Welsh singer Sir Tom Jones is gearing up for what is expected to be a rocking concert here at the Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre tomorrow at 7.30pm.

The 69-year-old, who flew in from Perth, Australia yesterday following a sold-out leg of his world tour there, will be treating audience to his many hits from the past four decades.

Jones is famous for hits like It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Delilah and Green Green Grass Of Home.

The singer, who was knighted in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II, said he was excited to be back in Malaysia. He was previously here in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

A keen fan of arts and culture, Jones is looking forward to soaking in the Malaysian way of life.

“I like to see authentic things and there’s plenty of that in your country,” he said upon his arrival at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

For ticket details on his concert, call the Tom Jones Box Office, 1st Floor, Hartamas Shopping Centre at 03-6201 8840.

Click here to (more…)

A local radio station is reporting that Tom will be playing in Oman (as shown at left). Oman is on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula near Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This is not definite, as even one news report from there says that “it is not even on his official site.”

Tom will be in Manila, Philippines, on March 28. Here’s a six-question preview interview from the local newspaper:

Tom Jones vows to sing non-stop

By Pocholo Concepcion/Philippine Daily Inquirer/First Posted 22:45:00 03/16/201024 Hours, features collaborations with U2’s Bono and The Edge.

Two weeks before his concert on March 28 at the Araneta Coliseum, Jones granted this phone interview, facilitated by DJ Baby John of RJ-FM.

Is it true that you were heavily influenced by Elvis Presley? Yes, we were then playing rock and roll in South Wales. That could be anything from Elvis Presley to Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis…

For the rest of this interview and for Tom’s version of Danny Boy, click here to (more…)

Here’s a very nice tribute video that is also decent quality. So, because I have an unbelievably busy schedule between now and Thursday night, I am just embedding it. I usually prefer not to, but for this one it works.

The video has clips from Europe, San Francisco (left at Outside Lands) and lots of other shows. At one point the picture is sideways, but that’s just for a small while. He also says Tom’s birthday is in July, but we can certainly forgive him for that since he took the time to do this and what he says on it is really nice.

And, since I do have such a busy week, if you have, or find, anything you’d like to share with other fans via TJI, please send it along. Please!

On Wednesday in Melbourne, Tom added a song to his set list. It is the Elvis number, One NIght. The song was on his 1981 Mercury album, Darlin’ and, as is Elvis’ version, it’s lots of fun to listen to.

The people at Cirque du Soliel just recently opened their new show, Viva Elvis and the song is included in the show but, sadly, Elvis himself probably wouldn’t recognize it.

The actor playing Col. Tom Parker, came onstage and informed the audience that Elvis had a twin brother who died at birth and Elvis missed his twin his entire life. Thus the it is introduced.

Now, if you know this song, you know that it is a love song, a song about sex, more shouted than sung and is very effective. But here, for some reason, it’s used to portray brotherly love. So the two acrobats do their thing on a large wire guitar suspended upstage center. As they’re doing their acrobatics, there’s a woman sitting at an old upright piano very softly playing and singing the song. No argument that Elvis missed his twin. And no argument that these two guys cavorting on the guitar are really good at what they do. My only argument with it is against taking such a passionate number and doing this to it.

Anyway, you can see video of Tom’s version in Melbourne.here. It’s shot from far away from the stage and the sound could be better, but you get an idea.

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

Thanks, Olli!

The Pepsi Kona ad (in the March 8 post below) was shot on a soundstage in West LA in 1996 or 97. It was directed by Joe Pytka who started in documentary films and went on to direct more than 5,000 commercials, including “this is your brain on drugs…” (Remember that?) He also directed spots for products including Nike and McDonald’s. To encourage the economic redevelopment of New York City after 9/11, he directed four of the so-called “New York Miracle” ads, including spots with Woody Allen skating, Henry Kissinger sliding into home plate, and Yogi Berra* conducting the Philharmonic. Pytka also directed music videos by many artists including Michael Jackson. Along the way he directed two feature-length films. Let it Ride (1989), with Richard Dreyfuss and Space Jam (1996), with Michael Jordan and others from the NBA. To get the horn sound Pytka wanted in the spot, the TJ band was augmented with a few more musicians.

Shortly after that ad was done, Tom worked on, and released Reload. To promote it he made lots of TV appearance in the UK (CD wasn’t released in the US. (Perhaps it was believed we wouldn’t get it?) At any rate, among the promo appearances was the usual one on the Jools Holland BBC show, Later.

TJ has almost 10 minutes of video from that appearance where, accompanied by the tremendous Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Tom sang solo and with Cerys Matthews, performed Baby, It’s Cold Outside. (The cover of their single is at left, in case you didn’t guess. That is not them in the picture.)

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

*Yogi Berra, a beloved figure in New York, is a former catcher for the NY Yankees and, after he stopped playing ball, was a broadcast commentator and a manager. He is famous also for his unique turns of phrase. There are many, many examples, including: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” It’s like déjà vu all over again,” When you get to a fork in the road, take it,” “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

If you missed it yesterday, please scroll down to see the video of Tom and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Several years ago Pepsi briefly marketed a product called Pepsi Kona. As the name tells us, it was a combination of Pepsi and Kona coffee.

The product, produced in a Pepsi plant in the Philadelphia area, was test-marketed in a few places on the east coast. Couldn’t find an exact date but, if this really was a commercial, it looks like the late 1990s or early part of this century.

Pepsi Kona was pulled as, apparently, the consensus was that it tasted terrible. But the commercial is clever and fun.

If anyone knows about this, please email me using the contact link at right so I can post the info where all can see it.

You can watch the commercial here.

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

Sorry! I apologize if you tried to see the video earlier and it wasn’t there. It is now! Late night last night and I had done it early in the day and forgot to publish it until this morning.

There can be no argument: Sammy Davis, Jr. was one of the greatest entertainers we were ever fortunate enough to see. Dancing, singing, acting — he did it all. I saw him in person a few times, the first when I was nine years old. I will never forget it.

Las Vegas also, indirectly owes Davis a debt. When the Rat Pack — Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford — played here originally, Davis had to stay on the “West Side,” that part of Las Vegas where black entertainers — who had to go in and out of the casinos through a kitchen door — stayed. They couldn’t stay where they were playing. (At the time, very segregated Las Vegas was known as “The Mississippi of the West.”)

Well, one day around 1960, Frank Sinatra had had enough of that. He told the management at the Sands Hotel, “If Sammy can’t stay, I can’t play.” Thus, for the first time — and always from that day on — a black performer could stay in a hotel on The Strip. Davis — with and without the Rat Pack — continued to play here for another 30 years or so.

That’s why, when Dre sent links to some 1966 video of Tom on the Sammy Davis, Jr. Show, (March 18th) I got caught up in nostalgia and looked for more of them together, found it and put them together in a video.

The first two clips, in black and white, are from 1966, Davis’ TV show. The first song they do is the beautiful Scarlet Ribbons. Check out how Davis sort of imitates Tom while they’re singing. Then they do a unique version of What’s New Pussycat.

The last three clips are from two episodes of the second season of This Is Tom Jones in 1970 (season #2; episode #s 2 and 26). They sing Thanks For the Memories, A Little Help From My Friends, A Boy Named Sue, Oh, Sweet Blindness, My Way, and And When I Die, Next up, from that same show, is the very moving Mr. Bojangles, which is included on one of the TITJ TImeLife DVDs. And, finally, Sammy — dressed in a 1970s-defining jumpsuit, sings one of his maay hits, For Once In My Life.

The clips from Sammy’s show are very old, transferred from a movie camera to video, but I still hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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

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…)

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.