Palladia HD TV showed a bit of Tom at the 2011 Isle of Wight Festival. It had very little music, but some nice chat. Thanks to Lois for sharing it with other fans!

If you, as I was, wondered why Tom didn’t have a presence at the London Olympics, the wondering is over. Even though he’s not performing (as far as we know) at the games, he will be doing a London concert on the opening day. It’s free to the public and, hopefully, it will be broadcast on TV.

In The Mirror on May 15, 2012, Laurie Hanna wrote:

Voice of the Olympics: Tom Jones to headline massive free London 2012 party in Hyde Park

It is part of a series of parties across the capital which will see bands, DJs and giant outdoor screens showing live 2012 event

Tom Jones was today named as the headline act of a huge free gig to celebrate the start of the Olympics.

The Voice star, 71, will perform in Hyde Park on the first day of action on Saturday, July 28.

It is part of a series of parties across the capital which will see bands, DJs and giant outdoor screens showing live 2012 events.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We’re presenting an unprecedented number of events to suit every taste and make this a summer like no other.

“It’s a fantastic way for hundreds of thousands of people to experience live Games action for free.”

More than one million free tickets are available for the outdoor parties.

They will be in Hyde Park, Central London, and Victoria Park close to the Olympic Stadium in East London. Events end in Trafalgar Square for the Paralympics.

Visitors can play volleyball, tennis, basketball and cricket.

There will also be a 180ft observational wheel in Victoria Park where people can see into the stadium. There will also be some guaranteed entry tickets.

Dame Kelly Holmes, who won gold at Athens in 2004, joked it made the Games accessible to everyone “from posh blokes like Boris to normal people like me”.

Ian Livingstone, chief of BT which is sponsoring the events, added: “The Olympics will not only be a great sporting event, it will be a great cultural event for London.”

The parties open and close with two paid-for gigs in Hyde Park.

Duran Duran will headline the first on July 27, where they will join Snow Patrol representing Northern Ireland, Stereophonics for Wales and Paolo Nutini for Scotland.

Blur headline the closing show on August 12 along with the Specials and New Order.

The photo at left is of Tom leaving The Punch Bowl restaurant in the Mayfair section of London on May 16. It is one of four in the TJI flickr set Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom.

It was nice to see personal assistant Don Archell back with Tom. It was not nice to read the caption on the photos. The photographer wrote “Tom Jones appears to have taken his tanning a little bit too far, as he appears slight orange after leaving The Punch Bowl.” I, for one, disagree and wish the idiot British tabloids and paparazzi would just stop trashing Tom (and their other celebs). Is it supposed to be a sign of respect?

This is not a film you’re likely to see in theaters but, if you wish, you can see a few seconds of the trailer for Suing The Devil.

NBC in the USA just announced that there will be a fall edition of The Voice and they are looking for judges. The four on the season just wrapped — Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, Blake Shelton and that woman “XTina,” who wore the rhinestone frisbee way too often, will be back for the spring edition but, the network says, “two commitments a year is more than they expected.”

So, let’s see: is it time to contact your local NBC station or, perhaps, start a Facebook page to promote your choice for the fall USA judging panel?

This is absolutely the best episode of The Voice UK from the perspective of fans of Sir Tom and Will.i.am. It is well worth watching the entire one hour-27 minutes-57 seconds. You see a bit more of them and see their human side. (Moderator’s Note: I was correct about Tom Jones, golfer:)) There’s footage from Team Tom’s no-reason-to-happen golf outing. Both Team Tom and Team Will sing Ray Charles. Reaction in the press and on blogs has not been fabulous, but they are fun songs.

Several news outlets have written that Tom is very pleased with the marriage of Prince William and the Dutchess of Cambridge (which must, in turn, please them no end:)). One source, Canada’s CTV says:

Tom Jones praises William and Catherine.

Sir Tom Jones believes Britain’s Prince William and Duchess Catherine have the “ingredients” to succeed at marriage.

The ‘What’s New Pussy Cat?’ singer – who has been married to wife Melinda for 55 years – admits he thought of the royal couple’s nuptials at London’s Westminster Abbey in April 2011 as a “fairytale” and thinks they will have a long and happy union.

He said: “The wedding really was a fairytale and the fact it was so popular worldwide shows how much our royals affect people.

“Everyone was affected by the pageantry of the occasion, but ultimately it was great to see two lovely young people in love. You can never know if a marriage will last, but they’ve got the ingredients to succeed.”

Tom has met Queen Elizabeth before, and admits he was worried she would send him to the Tower of London when he revealed he lived in Los Angles instead of the U.K.

He said: “Before one of the Royal Variety Performances, she asked me I liked living in America. I said I only lived there because it was more convenient, rushing my words out as if Her Majesty could still send me to the Tower!”

Veteran crooner Tom Jones appears to be the most hands-on judge meanwhile, with recent departure Adam Isaac speaking of his ‘positivity’ and ‘warmth’.

The 29-year-old said: ‘Tom invited Matt and Sueleen and myself back to his dressing room after the show and said how hard the decision was for him to make.

‘He’s very positive and warm and was such a laugh backstage – it was really funny when we went to play crazy golf with him.’

From The Independent | Sunday, May 13, 2012
The fall and rise of Tom Jones: The singer reflects on an extraordinary life

He’s not only been thrilling the nation with his turn on the BBC’s reality show The Voice; Tom Jones has been back in the studio, too – and he has rarely sounded better, says Nick Duerden.

In a windowless but well-appointed basement suite of a London hotel – there are drinks and nibbles, and the sofas are plump – I have just asked Sir Tom Jones whether he harbours any major regrets in life. His eyes, which, up close, are pale enough to appear translucent, flash with the sudden effort of concentration.

“Regrets?” he repeats. “No, no. No, I don’t think so.” But then he changes his mind. “Actually, wait. One night in 1965, I was in this club in Los Angeles watching Little Richard perform. My visa had run out a few days previously, and my manager had advised me not to do anything that might constitute work. Halfway through the show, Richard invited me up on stage. He was on fire that night, and I wanted to help him rip all hell out of that tune, but I didn’t. I just stood there, shaking my head, like I was convinced the moment I opened my mouth, Immigration would appear.” He shudders. “I tell you, I still think about that sometimes. That’s a regret.”

And here comes another.

“It was one night, can’t remember the year, but I’d just finished a show in America. Elvis,” he says, before adding helpfully, “Elvis Presley, was in my dressing-room. Now, Elvis was well aware that people were forever taking pictures of him, so he always made sure he looked his best. Sure enough, somebody soon came up and asked to take a picture, and so there we were, arm-in-arm, Elvis looking all perfect, like, and me…” He waves his hand up around his face, as if to suggest the presence of a double chin. “…I hadn’t straightened myself up properly, see? I looked awful. And in that picture, I always will. I bloody regret that an’all.” He sighs. “But other than that, no, no regrets.”

Little wonder, really, for here is someone who seems, in every sense, to have had it all. Having served out his three score years and 10, Jones has recently tipped into his eighth decade looking remarkably fit and healthy. He confirms this, more than once, by exclaiming: “There’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t have any ailments!”

He certainly looks more robust than your average 71-year-old, and, in a general sense, remains statuesque: arms like tree trunks, thighs like bigger tree trunks, a wide smile and a voluble presence compounded by his deep, rich voice which fills the room with an almost biblical resonance. He stopped dyeing his hair Dracula-black a few years ago, and thank goodness for that, frankly, because the grey suits him more, as does the physical evidence of his advancing years. Given that he has called California home for the past 35 years now, you fancy he must have had some work done, but it doesn’t show. When he says something that causes him to frown, his forehead frowns right along with him.

At an age at which society tends to consign people to the sidelines, Jones is experiencing something of a renaissance. Of course, musically speaking he has been in the middle of a renaissance since 1988, but this is a multimedia renaissance. He now has Saturday-night telly fame – on the BBC1 talent show The Voice – and he has just made his acting debut in a short film called King of the Teds, which aired on Sky Arts last month.

“I’ve been asked to do things – films and that – in the past, but they were always too cheesy, and always musicals,” he says, lip curling in distaste. “Elvis – and I don’t want to name-drop too much here – but, well, Elvis bloody hated those things, so I always stayed well clear. I never wanted to be in a movie with a bunch of dancing girls.”

King of the Teds, which co-starred Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman, did not feature dancing girls. Written by Jim Cartwright, the man behind Little Voice, it was a poignant drama about a man with a natural talent for singing but for whom the cards never quite fell correctly.

Jones felt confident he could deliver, he says, because it was essentially the story of his life: “A fella from a small town, two girlfriends, got one pregnant, and married her. Only thing was, I escaped from the small town, he didn’t.”

Throughout the filming, he would experience eerie waves of not-quite déjà vu, a parallel universe in which another Tom Jones was condemned to live forever, undiscovered.

“The house it was set in was basically the house I grew up in, in Pontypridd, so it felt very weird. I couldn’t help thinking, “There but for the grace of God.” It made me feel so grateful that I got lucky. OK, I may have had this voice, but luck was definitely involved. It always was. It still is.”

Tom Jones escaped Pontypridd in 1962, and by 1965 was already on the way to superstar status, “It’s Not Unusual” spearheading a run of hits that would span the next six decades. Unlike, say, Cliff Richard, for whom fame always seemed to compromise the maintenance of his halo, Jones relished his success and, despite being a married man and a new father, he lived up to his reputation as one of the UK’s most virulent men with unstinting enthusiasm.

His musical career ebbed and flowed over the years, as he drifted in and out of fashion. Never a songwriter, he had instead to rely on the strength of the songs that were provided to him. Many of them – “Delilah”, “She’s a Lady”, “Thunderball”, countless more – proved timeless, but even the less memorable ones – 1977′s “What a Night!”, for example, or 1979′s “Dancing Endlessly”, neither of which make Greatest Hits retrospectives – were emboldened by a voice that, like his friend Elvis’s, could breathe life into the most flatlining of rhyming couplets.

By the mid-1970s, he had fallen out of fashion, famed now only – and wrongly, he still insists – as one of Las Vegas’s more enduring star attractions. “I only ever played two-week residencies maybe four times a year,” he grumbles, “but it was reported like I was always bloody there, and I did get tarnished with a particular Vegas-y image that probably didn’t do me any favours.”

A decade on, and he was, in effect, history, no more the leather-clad colossus with his own primetime TV show, but rather a singer of syrupy standards that were big in America’s country-music charts, and nowhere else. It was only after the death of his manager and long-time friend Gordon Mills in 1986 that his career was rescued by his own son Mark, who took over management duties and attempted something that seemed destined to fail: reviving a 1960s sex god into an artist of renewed relevance.

But he did it, and within two years Jones was back on Top of the Pops, chomping his way through Prince’s Kiss as if it tasted like Peperami. Over the ensuing three decades, Mark Jones, now 55, would continually reinvent his father, getting him to record better songs, with better producers, and often doing high-profile collaborations with the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Hugh Laurie and Jack White.

“We have a very special relationship, me and Mark,” he says. “I’m grateful he’s done so much for my career, of course, but I’m also gratified as a parent that he is doing something that clearly makes him so happy. He’s not just good at his job, you know. He loves it.”

Jones is now set to release a new studio album, his 38th. A scenario in which, say, Mick Jagger’s new work would be proclaimed among his very best would be an unlikely one, yet you could comfortably say this about Jones’s Spirit in the Room: the man has rarely sounded better.

Like so much of his back-catalogue, it is essentially another covers album, but the songs – by artists such as Paul Simon, Richard Thompson and Odetta Gordon have a depth to match the voice, and if there is a unifying theme, it is their sense of reflection. Like Johnny Cash in his latter years, Jones is increasingly using songs to brood over an increasingly evident mortality. “All my friends have gone, and my hair is grey,” he sings on the opening track, Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song”. “I ache in the places where I used to play.”

“I wouldn’t have been allowed to do this kind of music 30 years ago,” he suggests, “because it wouldn’t have been seen as commercial enough. But I love that I’m now able to make music that really reflects me, who I am.”

Only one track on the album gave him pause, Tom Waits’ “Bad as Me”, which, in featuring lyrics about Mother Superior in a bra and Jesus working behind a bar, he feared was blasphemous. Jones, a committed Christian – those crucifixes that used to nestle in his chest hair were not merely for show – would never knowingly blaspheme. But he liked the song, and his producer encouraged him to have a go at it.

It needed, however, some kind of damage limitation, just in case. “And so I inserted a laugh in the middle of it,” he says. “You know, to show I was only joking, like. Because, let’s face it, it is a pretty cheeky bloody song, isn’t it?”

His most recent album, 2010′s gospel-influenced Praise & Blame, reached number two in the charts, and Jones is already eager, if not downright anxious, to learn whether Spirit in the Room can go one better. This speaks volumes about his ambition. But why? What does a man who has already sold 100 million albums have left to prove? Shouldn’t he be off playing golf instead?

“Golf?” he booms, horrified. “I never bloody liked golf. No, no. I’ve no hobbies. Music is what I do. It’s why I’m here. I wouldn’t know what else to do, to be honest with you.”

Which is why this late renaissance has been so welcome. It gets him out of the house, and away from the pool – sunbathing being his only guilty pleasure these days. “Don’t get me wrong, I do like the pool, but there’s still so much more to do, the way I see it.”

Consequently, he is always open, in theory, to any offers of gainful employment. No, he insists, he was not invited to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision before they plumped for Engelbert Humperdinck, but when BBC TV executive Alan Yentob approached him to become one of the judges on X Factor facsimile The Voice, he jumped at the chance, and not only because Yentob was very complimentary: “He said that whenever I was on TV, ratings shot up,” he beams.

Nevertheless, surely he had to think long and hard before accepting what could so easily have become a poisoned k chalice? “Absolutely,” he agrees. “And I had to wonder whether I really wanted the fame and intrusion this kind of thing brings. I also wanted to know who my fellow coaches would be. That was really important. I wanted to know we could complement one another, you know, appropriately.”

Every Saturday night, then, Jones can be found sitting alongside Jessie J, the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am and the Script’s Danny O’Donoghue in his fancy red chair, dispensing wisdom and shedding, as is mandatory for TV talent shows, the odd tear. What is it, I ask, that he feels he brings to the show?

He stutters before answering, and as he does so, a blush actually rises to his cheeks. “Well, the others appeal to the young and hip folk out there, while I’m the old… the old… well, you know, the old-timer, I suppose, the one with all the experience, experience that I can hopefully bring to bear.”

He reveals that the producers wanted him to spend as much screen-time as he could boasting about all those he has sung with over the years – Elvis, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr – but he has so far proved resistant. Or so he seems to think. “That would be showing off,” he says, “and I don’t want people to think I’m showing off, you know?”

Last year, halfway through a tour, Jones was admitted to a hospital in Monaco suffering from severe dehydration. But, as his website later protested, “There were NO heart problems.” He recovered quickly, and says he has since remained in rude health. His vices, these days, are few. He has even cut down on his drinking. “I do still like a drink – drinks – especially with food, but the problem is that I find wine fattening now.” His eyes widen, like a scientist making a new discovery. “There are calories there, you see. I never had to worry about calories before. My metabolism took care of that. It doesn’t so much any more, so I’ve had to cut back.”

And if he is not taking his health for granted any more, he says, it is because he is becoming increasingly aware that time for him is running out.

“I’ll be 72 next month [Jones' birthday is on 7 June], and so I suppose I’ll be lucky if I have another 20 years left. Twenty years is nothing. The last 20 have gone by like that,” he snaps his fingers, “and that’s scary, it frightens me. You know, if I could have one wish granted, it would be for immortality. God has given me this most wonderful life, and the only thing I hate about the ageing process is that, one day, I’m not going to be able to live it any more.”

Suddenly, he looks quite bereft. He leans forward on the sofa and, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper, says: “Hank Williams once sang a song called I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. I never thought of it like that, but you know what? He’s right. None of us will.”

*The Error: In the 12th paragraph, the word should be “virile,” (defined as “having strength and energy”) not “virulent” (defined as “a disease that is extremely severe or harmful in its effects” or “bitterly hostile.”)

Don’t miss the story under the video at the bottom of this post.

Sir Tom arrives at BBC studios, May 10, 2012. Photo: Bauer Griffin

Just below are some select tweets from @RealSirTomJones, Tom’s twitter feed. The moderator of TJI has gotten a couple of emails about these tweets. (The moderator doesn’t read “his” tweets as she rarely goes on twitter. Too busy to keep up with everything, although she does have an account.) The writers say that the tweets are not reflective of Sir Tom. After all, would he use “v” for very? Does he use phrases like “cranked up” to describe music? He may (and often does) pronounce “beautiful” as “boot-i-full,” but would he write it like that? Or is it just supposed to be cute? And (the one with which your moderator heartily agrees): Would Tom Jones — usually very well-spoken — say “Me and my team rehearsing”? He probably would not. And, though he signs many autographs “with love,” would he end every tweet with “X?” Clearly, the RealSirTomJones himself has nothing to do with this Twitter account. It is (badly) written by someone hired or assigned to do the job. Obviously someone thought he needed a twitter account to be cool and appeal to a specific demographic but there’s nothing cool or appealing about putting words in his mouth that he’d never put there himself. What do you think?

In an article in the Daily Mail (photo top left) Tom allegedly talks about his family (“the missus?!”) and his career. He also “looks horrified” when asked if he tweets (or, as he calls it, “twits.”) Thus, the question above is definitively answered. You can read the article here.

Tom went out to dinner with Jessie J after they did their duet for Chris Evans in London (video above) on May 10. Of course, the paparazzi were on hand to catch the event. There are, thus, 14 new photos in the TJI.com Flickr set, Pap Shots: The Paparazzi Capture Tom. (One of those 14 is the bottom photo at left.)

Playing Games: On the Saturday telecast of The Voice UK Team Tom will be shown playing a round of miniature golf at Dinosaur Safari Adventure Golf near the studio (photos at right). News reports say Sir Tom got a “couple” of holes-in-one, which is very nice because he doesn’t really look too much at ease holding the clubs. (In looking a the group shot close-up you’ll see his hands are gripping the club tightly and you can also see his knees appear to be locked — not the correct stance. So, good for him that he got those holes-in-one!)

And, the genius who tweets in Sir Tom’s name tweeted on this occasion, “Me and #TeamTom playing some crazy golf!” One would think they could find someone who speaks English as well as Sir Tom to write his tweets. Not doing so is embarrassing and demeaning to Tom and his brand.

Anyone who knows him still misses* Herman Matthews, the world’s best drummer. He’s still drumming, but he’s also making his old family recipe peanut brittle. It comes in five sizes (5, 8, 12, 16 and 24 ounces) and is always fresh and delicious. (I loved it and Susanne PDX — a major peanut brittle fan said Li’l Herman’s is the best she ever tasted.) The link is in the sidebar, bottom left. Even though it doesn’t play the drums, Herman’s brittle is as wonderful as he is. It’s very reasonably priced for handmade/homemade candy. Makes a great gift!

(*Gary Wallis is also a great drummer, too. But it’s Herman’s personality — his warmth and humor — that are missed by people fortunate enough to know him.)

Tom with Jools Holland

SET YOUR DVR: If you missed Tom on Jools Holland’s show this week because it wasn’t announced in many places (including OFFICIAL Tom Jones for some reason) the show will be repeated on BBC2, Friday night at 23:50 (11:50 pm). You’ll see Tom sing Tower of Song and Traveling Shoes from Spirit In The Room accompanied by the wonderful piano of Jools Holland. He’ll be on BBC 1 with Graham Norton next week.

To watch Tom’s beautiful performance of Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song on Jools Holland’s show, please click here.Watching it performed live is so much better than even the very good video of the song.

Here is Tom singing Traveling Shoes.

Watching him respond to Jools Holland — his enjoyment of working with Jools — is an added pleasure.

There’s an article in The Express that manages to say how great Tom is (“TOM JONES’S A CLASS ACT”) while getting the name of the TV show he did wrong: (Gotta love those Brit tabs!) It is from Wednesday May 9,2012 and was written by Lizzie Catt with Lisa Higgins and Jack Teague (Imagine! Three writers and no proofreader!) Blethyn’s quote at the end is lovely:

HE HAS been a music superstar for nearly 50 years and is currently an expert judge on The Voice but Sir Tom Jones was a bundle of nerves when he recently made his acting debut in a TV drama.

He starred opposite award-winning actresses Alison Steadman and Brenda Blethyn in the Sky Playhouse drama King Of The Mods and Brenda recalls: “Tom had never acted before and was incredibly nervous. He just kept saying ‘sorry’ during the reading of the play and asking if he was doing right. We said he was doing fine and tried to reassure him and calm his nerves.”

She tells Yours magazine: “He’s a peach. He is such a gent and so down to earth. There’s nothing egotistical about him. It was so refreshing that someone who is a megastar is so lovely and amenable.”

REVIEWS: Please watch the video before you read the reviews!

In The Telegraph Rachel Ward gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said: “It’s not unusual to see Tom Jones on our TV screens at the moment. As one of the four coaches on the BBC’s popular talent show The Voice, he’s become a permanent weekend fixture, looking all dapper and having a ball on those spinning chairs. And now, like his friend Elvis Presley, he is trying his hand at acting, branching out at the ripe old age of 71.

“In the short three-hander King of the Teds – part of Sky Arts’ Playhouse Presents series of home-grown dramas – Jones played out a very different role. He was Ron, an embittered ex-Teddy Boy recently made redundant from his northern bottle-factory job.

“We got our first sight of Jones as he peered out from behind a copy of The Racing Post while sat at the kitchen table in his run-down terraced house. Dressed in a dowdy diamond-print cardigan and snapping at his long-standing and put-upon wife Tina (Alison Steadman), it was a tiny glimpse of how Sir Tom’s life might have panned out had he not gone on to superstardom (Jones used to work in a glass factory in his native Pontypridd and married his childhood sweetheart).

“The story was well formed and neatly unfolded as the couple received a surprise visit from their best friend from the fifties who had got in touch via Facebook. Nina (played by Brenda Blethyn) and Tina used to wear “way out pink” lipstick, matching sticky-out dresses, and walked out on the arms of local hero Ron.

“‘Eeeee, we were something else,’ they reminisced.

“Steadman and Blethyn were wonderful – their energetic jive scene in the living room a particular highlight – and although Jones made a credible debut, he occasionally looked awkward, which showed all the more alongside such accomplished actors. How Steadman managed to keep a straight face as he took her in his arms and upstairs to lay her on the bed and serenade her with Love Me Tender is just another testament to her unshakable talent, and maybe a tip for Tom that the green, green, grass isn’t always so lush on the other side.”

In The Independent Tom Sutcliffe said: “Tom Jones was apparently making his acting debut in Playhouse Presents: King of the Teds, helpfully cast as the kind of figure he might have ended up as if he’d never got his big break – a local hero reduced to painful memories of his glory days. Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman played his youthful sweethearts, one of whom had married him and the other of whom had spent her life regretting the fact that she never did.

“Jim Cartwright’s script didn’t really have the elbow-room to avoid coming across as a little trite. But Tom held up his corner of the triangle well and there was a nice echo of Nigel’s sorrows when Ron’s wife pulled an old drape jacket out of the wardrobe. “Keep meaning to chuck it,” she says. “Don’t you dare!” replies her friend. Careful, love – that kind of thing can easily get out of hand.

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan trashed Tom’s performance saying unkind things seemingly for the sake of being a smart-ass: “I am assured, by several ladies older and wiser than myself, that Tom Jones was once possessed of a raw sexual magnetism that made Bryan Ferry look like Val Doonican. (We’ll just wait a few minutes, to allow our younger readers to away and Google. OK? Back now? Then on we go.) I can’t see it myself, mainly because the cruel hand of either fate or an ill-chosen plastic surgeon has given him the look of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, but perhaps if I had the folk memory of his glory days, last night’s King of the Teds (Sky Arts) would have felt slightly more plausible.

“Then again, maybe not. Jones played the newly-redundant and emasculated Ron, husband of Tina (Alison Steadman) and former teddy boy who once held both her and her best friend Nina (Brenda Blethyn) in his thrall. Nina comes back for a visit after 40 years and the little terraced house in which her old friends live is soon filled with doubts, regrets and unlived dreams. The first half passes off nicely, thanks to Steadman and Blethyn, who could make you empathise with a cigarette packet if they put their minds to it, but after that it is revealed that Ron chased after the coach Nina took to London all those years ago when she found out Tina was pregnant, and Jones is required to do some Acting.

“And when it comes to Acting, well, Tom Jones is a very good singer. For the last 10 minutes, as Ron emerged in his old teddy boy suit, wordlessly announcing that he had chosen to stay with Tina rather than seize his long-delayed chance to run off with Nina, carried her up to bed and serenaded her with Love Me Tender, the whole thing took on the air of a Victoria Wood sketch gone horribly, horribly wrong.

“Still, it was quick and painful. And it was a chance to marvel anew at how very, very brilliant Blethyn and Steadman always, always are. If only the rest could have been silence.”

Check back here on Wednesday for some very special video that most of the TJI FANSITE community wasn’t able to see before!

As my TJI.com Fan Calendar tells me, 40 years ago today The Special London Bridge Special aired on TV. Tom Jones (at left as he was then — check those sideburns!) got top billing, ahead of Jennifer O’Neill, Kirk Douglas, Rudolf Nureyev, Merle Park, The Carpenters, Jonathan Winters, Hermione Gingold, Lorne Greene, Charlton Heston, Michael Landon, George Kirby, Terry-Thomas and Engelbert Humperdinck. In the show, Tom sang a number of songs, including a duet with Kirk Douglas and his favorite song from childhood. Click here to see Tom singing Ghost Riders In the Sky on The Special London Bridge Special in 1972.

If you recall the show fondly, or have never seen it, you can buy it on the Tom Jones Collector’s Page. There’s lots of other stuff there, too. Be sure to check it out.

Don’t know if this is true, but time will tell:
From The Sun | Monday, May 7, 2012 | Exclusive By LEIGH HOLMWOOD, Deputy TV Editor.

In truth, this sounds entirely made up. Yeah, they took a beating in the ratings, but BGT is ending soon and there’s a week of live shows so it’s natural the ratings of The Voice will suffer. Still, being mean is absolutely not the nature of The Voice. To make it so ruins the brand. One is hard-pressed to believe that the BBC is that stupid. But, not Jessie J. She can sing but, remember, when she speaks (as below) you are listening to the immature kid who bragged about peeing in a cup.

Producers want the Delilah star, Jessie J, Will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue to tell wannabe singers the truth instead of constantly sugar-coating their comments.

The move comes after viewers slammed the BBC1 show for being dull and too nice, while ITV rival Britain’s Got Talent surged ahead in the all-important Saturday night ratings battle.

The Voice’s audience on Saturday was down a MILLION on the previous week, leaving Simon Cowell’s BGT nearly two million ahead.

Producers hope getting the judges to talk tough will win back lost viewers. They are also planning a radical shake-up, axing four singers each week instead of two to up the pace of the show.

And contestants will sing with their coaches in an attempt to increase entertainment levels.

An insider said: “The Voice originally sold itself as being the ‘nice’ talent show and viewers loved that when it was coupled with the drama of the spinning chairs during the blind auditions. But once the show moved into its live stage, a lot of viewers have tired of it and criticised the coaches for being too nice to singers who just aren’t that great.

“Bosses have now told them to toughen up, be meaner and to really speak their minds — even if it means upsetting people.

Great photo from the lame BBC quiz linked to below.

Jon Harrison said: “Boring singers, boring songs and boring nicey nice judges.”

Kerplonker wrote: “Awful compared with last week. Dull, boring and obscure song choices. Wish judges were more honest.”

Julie Cooke blasted: “Could the judges be more sycophantic?”

Other viewers complained that the coaches used too many technical terms that weren’t explained, while some moaned that they talked too much.

Jessie has already admitted: “I am going to be meaner. It does get to the point where everyone is a bit too nice. It is hard when Tom, Will and Danny are saying people are great and I think they are c**p. The first results show got really emotional and everyone was in tears and it just really p****s me off!”

Four singers will now be axed each week until the final early next month. Producers hope it will allow the best singers to shine.

But The Voice faces a fight when the final of BGT overlaps with it by 15 minutes on Sunday night.

ITV chiefs were thrilled with BGT’s showing on Saturday, when it peaked at 11million viewers to The Voice’s 9.1million. BGT also won the highest average rating — 9.5million to 8.2million.

ITV chiefs hope to win bumper ratings for BGT’s week of live shows, which kicked off last night.

Cowell had a cheeky pop at The Voice when raving about boyband The Mend. He smirked: “Being a star in the music business is more than just a voice. You have got to have charisma and chemistry.”

Fellow judge Amanda Holden laughed as she shouted: “Nice!”

The BBC has posted a quiz about Tom Jones — with that great photo above — that is so simple that even someone who’s not a fan can ace. You can check it out here.

This is the first of the Battle Rounds on The Voice UK. There an explanation of how this part of the competition works at the beginning of the video.

Ruth Brown, the singer on Team Tom who has been getting a great deal of attention in the press (the one who had him in tears on this episode) is paired against her teammate Deneice. Their competition begins at 1:21:38. Tom brought in Cerys Matthews to coach with him.

This entire show is a good one — good music, good singers. You’ll even get to hear Tom sing a bit of Elvis’ A Little Less Conversation. Please share your responses.

(Still waiting for Tom to mention the “other” Ruth Brown on camera. But that’s just me recalling how much he liked and admired Ruth. He was lovely to her and she adored him.)

The Voice beat Britain’s Got Talent in the ratings once again.

HAVE you played The Voice UK drinking game yet? C’mon, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about – I’ve seen you shuffling around come Monday morning with jaundice-hued, gimlet-sized eyes deep set in a face the colour of wet slate.

What’s the problem pal, can’t you handle your booze?

Although, admittedly, you do need to be the possessor of an Olympian capacity for alcohol – or, better still, an Olly Reedian capacity for alcohol – to emerge unscathed or at least upright.

Basically how it works is this, you line up your liquor – best you choose your own poison but I recommend pints of Brains Dark, with a Bailey’s chaser for a little added sophistication – on the living room table just before tuning in to BBC One at 7pm on a Saturday.

Then, every time Tom Jones mentions that he’s worked with Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, you down three fingers.

Janis Joplin and Frank Sinatra are both the equivalent of drinking five fingers, while anytime Jerry Lee Lewis is name-dropped you have to shout, “Great Balls Of Fire!” and knock back a flaming sambuca.

However, given that each episode of The Voice UK seems to last for an eternity and the nearest understaffed and over-subscribed A&E is probably at least a 20 minute taxi ride away, there are two very important ‘time out’ signals to watch out for – after all, you don’t
want to over-do things too early.

For example, every time Tom turns his chair and greets a female hopeful with a husky, “What’s your
name, love?” (thereby making the entire 11 millon-strong viewing audience feel like they’ve been
transported to the flock-wallpapered surrounds of some Troedyrhiw working man’s club circa 1979) you have a bite of kebab or a glass of water.

Similarly, take a quick coffee break whenever he spins round looking confused and uttering the words which every long-haired male dreads hearing while standing at the gents’ urinals in a Valleys’ nightclub – “Blimey, I wasn’t sure whether you were a boy or a girl.”

Because Tom’s not big on androgyny – although he is said to be very partial to all other types of Greek cheese – preferring the blokes on his team to be big, bearded and blessed with a voice like a grizzly bear’s bottom burp, while the women should preferably be powerful thighed, sequined boilers with a set of lungs like God’s own bellows.

So how Samuel Buttery – sounds like Adele, looks like Morrissey with an over-active thyroid – slipped through the net is anyone’s guess.

That said, Tom better not start taking a leaf out of Will.i.am’s fashion sense and begin dressing like someone who’s just woken up from a bad car accident and thinks they’re a nu-rave Power Ranger.

And the minute our beloved Sex Bomb comes out with such Black Eyes Pea-isms as, “That’s dope, babieeez!” I’m switching straight over to BGT on ITV1.

But Nathan, I hear you cry, Will.i.am’s sold a gazillion records and penned some of the biggest chart songs of recent years – surely you must be impressed by that?

Will. i. ain’t.

Bad As Me and Hit Or Miss (below) make up the two sides (or, as OFFICIAL Tom Jones calls them, the “AA Sided Single”) Tom is releasing. Sadly, that site also notes the “maniacal cackle” Tom uses in this song, thus succeeding in making sound as if it’s both scary and very creepy. After all, aren’t witches described as “cackling?” When I first heard Bad As Me and heard Tom talk in it, I was reminded of the first time I heard Elvis sing Are You Lonesome Tonight. When he spoke in that warm, intimate voice, it was great to hear. This? Not so much. Truthfully, people like Richard Speck and Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy were described as “maniacal.” I just find it a bad choice of words. There’s a type of frog in Australia known as the “maniacal cackle” frog. Jeez! So inappropriate to use that phrase to describe Tom’s voice. Yes, Tom is clearly having a good time on the recording but….well….I dunno. What do you think?

Tom will be at the Rimpelrock 2012 Festival in Belgium on August 11. Tickets, including service charge, are €33. You can buy them here.

On August 14, he will be at the Pula Arena in Croatia, a venue preserved from the time it was built under the Romans. When they go on sale, you’ll be able to get tickets here.

On August 16, Tom will be in Linz, Austria. Tickets here. (Thanks so much, Sabine!)

On August 22 Tom will play in Turku, finland. Tickets on sale tomorrow (April 19) here.

And, on August 25, Tom will be on the bill with Van Morrison and Bobby Womack at Marlay Park in Dublin. Tickets are €59.50 including booking fee and are available at any Ticketmaster outlet in Ireland or by phone in the Republic of Ireland 0818 719 300 or, in Northern Ireland, at 0844 277 44 55

Today I met someone who sang a song to me. You can listen here.

We met so I could do an interview prior to his opening at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre next Friday, April 13 in his show Undisputed Truth. I mentioned that I’d met him there at one of Tom’s shows and he started to sing. He also spoke of how much he enjoyed Tom (that recording was ruined by my phone) and how amazed he was that Tom “still has such a great voice. And he’s in such great shape. He looks so good and can he move!”

I look forward to seeing his show and to writing about him.*

This is a special anniversary in the life of Tom Jones. You see, it was on April 6, 1968 that Elvis came to see him for the first time.

It happened in Las Vegas at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. (The photo here of Elvis watching Tom was taken in September, 1974.)

Anyway, we’ve all heard the stories about that friendship. Here’s a brief video clip of Tom on Jonathan Ross’s show on July 9, 2010. They talk a bit about Elvis. This clip is under two minutes. The entire 14+ minutes was posted in the TJI Video Library.

Finally, as much as Tom liked Elvis’ music, the feeling was mutual. Click here to listen as Elvis sings I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.

*By the way, the person I met, who sang to me, was Mike Tyson.

Universally graced with critical and commercial success – reaching No 2 in the UK, Praise and Blame saw Tom mark a return to his roots and emerge with a powerful body of work drawn from the American spiritual repertoire. Now moving forward with Spirit In The Room, Tom draws on an evocative range of compositions executed with an unprocessed passion that make them his own. There is a raging interpretation of Tom Wait’s Bad As Me, a wonderful rendition of Odetta’s Hit Or Miss, the front porch blues of Vera Hall Ward’s Travelling Shoes and a stunning reading of the other-worldly Charlie Darwin by Low Anthem— all revealing Tom as he continues to explore his artistic landscape.

Spirit In The Room once again brings together Ethan Johns (Brit Award Producer of the Year 2011) and Tom for intimate performances with a very considered and select group of musicians— multi instrumentalist Johns, Richard Causon on vintage keyboards, piano, guitars (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon and Rufus Wainwright), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on drums, and Ian Jennings and Sam Dixon on bass.

Recorded at Bath’s Real World studios, Spirit In The Room, like it’s [sic] predecessor, allows an unvarnished Tom Jones to bring a voice to songs as only he can. Accompanied by Ethan Johns throughout, the album includes gems from a diverse choice of writers – Richard Thompson, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney amongst others. Simple, raw and soulful, welcome to ‘Spirit In The Room’.

As we’ve been reporting, Tom has also graced a recent single on Jack White’s Third Man label . Featuring Howlin’ Wolf’s Evil in his own inimitable style and produced and played by White and some of his Racanteurs,[sic] the single comes backed with a reworked version of Frankie Lane’s classic Jezabel [sic] and has already picked up widespread praise .

1. Tower of Song (Leonard Cohen); 2. (I Want To) Come Home (Paul McCartney); 3. Hit Or Miss (Odetta); 4. Love and Blessings (Paul Simon); 5. Soul of A Man (Blind Willie Johnson); 6. Bad As Me (Tom Waits) 7. Dimming of the Day (Richard Thompson); 8. Traveling Shoes (Vera Hall Ward); 9. All Blues Hail (Joe Henry); 10. Charlie Darwin (Low Anthem)

There will be a Deluxe Edition album which will contain the additional recordings Just Dropped in, Lone Pilgrim and When The Deal Goes Down.

In the US, where it will be available on May 29 as an import, it’s $29.49 plus shipping on amazon.com and if you live in the US, it gets there much more quickly than the one from the UK. You can order from Amazon.com (US) using the link at right. Or, you can save your money and await the deluxe edition. It’s also less expensive if you wait for an MP3 download. And, one wonders if there will be a vinyl edition as there was for Praise and Blame.