Tom Jones International

This video from the great, hilarious Rob Brydon’s TV show was posted on youtube by OFFICIAL Tom Jones. Thus, the totally unnecessary placement of the ad for Spirit In the Room. Honestly, if anyone watching this doesn’t know what is being promoted, then they are likely not a potential customer. That quibbling aside, it is very funny and Tom shows his terrific sense of humor about himself when all that name-dropping on The Voice is touched upon. If, for some reason, you don’t know Rob Brydon, he has got Tom’s speaking voice, speech patterns and mannerisms down better than anyone else. It is genius.You can see a bit of it here.

Spirit In The Room is #1 on the Amazon UK pop chart and #2 in all music! Nice news!

What makes the review just below especially impressive is that it appears in the online edition of The New Yorker, a magazine famous since its first publication in 1925 for it’s wit, sophistication and good taste (not to mention its cartoons by the likes of Charles Addams and Peter Arno and its stories by such as JD Salinger and — this week, too — Woody Allen). It is extra-impressive because they choose to review a record that is not being released in the USA. That is very cool.
Music Pick: Jonesing
Posted by The New Yorker

In the twilight of his career, Tom Jones, like Johnny Cash before him, is producing a series of sparse covers records that showcase his still-powerful vocals. The last time out, on “Praise and Blame,” he took a stab at songs by Bob Dylan, Billy Joe Shaver, John Lee Hooker, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. On his new record, “Spirit in the Room,” also produced by Ethan Johns, Jones has a slightly more contemporary bent, with recent compositions by Paul Simon (“Love and Blessings”), Tom Waits (“Bad As Me”), and the Low Anthem (“Charlie Darwin”), along with older songs by Leonard Cohen (“Tower of Song”) and Blind Willie Johnson (“Soul of a Man”). The vocals are heartfelt and powerful; the arrangements are unobtrusive; the results are impressive.

In the twilight of his career, Tom Jones, like Johnny Cash before him, is producing a series of sparse covers records that showcase his still-powerful vocals. The last time out, on “Praise and Blame,” he took a stab at songs by Bob Dylan, Billy Joe Shaver, John Lee Hooker, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. On his new record, “Spirit in the Room,” also produced by Ethan Johns, Jones has a slightly more contemporary bent, with recent compositions by Paul Simon (“Love and Blessings”), Tom Waits (“Bad As Me”), and the Low Anthem (“Charlie Darwin”), along with older songs by Leonard Cohen (“Tower of Song”) and Blind Willie Johnson (“Soul of a Man”). The vocals are heartfelt and powerful; the arrangements are unobtrusive; the results are impressive.

BBC boss wants Voice judges back
Contact Music

Sir Tom Jones wishes he was immortal.

The ‘Voice’ coach – who is turning 72 in June – hates getting older because it means he does not have much time left on the planet and he would love to live forever if he could.

He said: ”I’ll be 72 next month and so I suppose I’ll be lucky if I have another twenty years left. Twenty years is nothing. The last twenty years have gone like that. 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 any more.”

However getting older has worse side-effects for Tom – he has had to stop drinking wine as it causes him to gain weight.

He added: “I do still like a drink – drinks – especially with food, but the problem is that I find wine fattening now.

“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.”

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(Moderator’s Note On The Voice UK: Why does an attractive woman like Jessie J have to model her look this week on Minnie Mouse?)

Tom will be a guest on Roy Noble’s show on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow, May 19, at 2 pm. (Thanks, Gill)

Tom named his favorite 13 albums (a baker’s dozen) in the article below. It is crystal clear that Tom was influenced by these musicians and has spoken of some of them (Amy Winehouse and Jerry Lee come to mind immediately) often.

Please read it and think about it. Do you know this music? What do you like?

Baker’s Dozen
“Shit, That Sounds Tremendous!” Tom Jones On His 13 Favourite Albums
Laurie Tuffrey , May 17th, 2012 05:33, The Quietus.com

With his new album, Spirit In The Room, on the way, Sir Tom Jones reflects on his favourite LPs and tells Laurie Tuffrey about his friends Elvis, Aretha and Stevie.

Big Bill Broonzy – Trouble In Mind
It was on the radio, I was just getting it, I was thinking, ‘Fuck, what is that? Who is that?’, it was so different. I would say ‘Black, Brown and White’ is my favourite song. It was played on BBC radio, and at the time – he said it himself – that he couldn’t record it in America, so I think he recorded it in France, because they said it’s too controversial. Even black friends of his said, ‘Don’t you stir up the shit here! We could get repercussions.’ But I thought he put it… He was just stating a fact. He wasn’t saying ‘you white bastards’ or ‘the whites won’t let us’, he wasn’t saying anything like that. It’s just ‘me and a man was working side by side, this is what it meant, they were paying him a dollar an hour and they were paying him 50 cents’. You know, he said, ‘If you’re white, you’re alright, if you’re brown stick around, but if you’re black, get back.’ Which I thought was tremendous.

Little Richard – Little Richard’s Greatest Hits
It’s got all the classics on it: ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’, ‘Rip It Up’. It’s tremendous, when you put that thing on: from start to finish, it’s boom all the way! First of all, I thought he was a girl, because I heard him do ‘Rip It Up’ and I’d heard Bill Haley & The Comets – they covered a lot of things where we didn’t know what the originals were at first, but then you’d hear them – sometimes in movie houses funnily enough, like in Pontypridd, between films, they would play records. Sometimes they’d play the original American ones, but that’s when I heard ‘Rip It Up’ by Little Richard. I thought, ‘Some chick has covered Billy Haley & The Comets’, but it was the original record. And then the same thing with ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ – I heard the Pat Boon version before I heard Fats Domino. We never got to them that early – there was always somebody covering them first, getting the jump on it.

It definitely made me appreciate the songs more when I first heard it, no doubt about it. Americans – they’re paranoid about the lyrics that might be a little risque. With Big Joe Turner, on his version of ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’, there’s some – ‘you’re wearing those dresses, the sun comes shining through / I can’t believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you’ – [laughs] well, they cut that back out straightaway! Bill Haley & The Comets: ‘Wearin’ those dresses, your hair done up so nice / you look so warm, but your heart is cold as ice’ – they changed it.

For the rest of Tom’s choices and to comment, please click here to (more…)

TJI was sent a copy of King of the Teds. There are issues with the quality of the video and I am not sure it should be posted as it’s not of the quality that was on TV. Stay tuned to TI. I am hopeful that it can be posted because the wonderful, loyal and fun fan who sent it worked so hard to do so for all of us who couldn’t see it.

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JUST ADDED!!! PLEASE CLICK TO SEE A 2-MINUTE, 37-SECOND PREVIEW OF TOM IN KING OF THE TEDS. (Thanks, Garrett!)

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Breaking news (with updates): According to The Mirror, all four Voice UK coaches have signed for a second season. Update #1: The exact quote from Tom is: “I’m really loving it, it’s been great fun. The BBC has already asked me to come back for the next series and I’ve said ‘yes’ – we have already begun discussions.

“They are on-going but I would very much like to do it again. They’re happy with the judges as we are, and it looks like all of us will be back, even Will.”

Don’t be surprised if the news is picked up by several outlets and, at first, denied by OFFICIAL Tom Jones. History has revealed this is a pattern. Tom said yes, he wants to do it. So it’s almost certain he will (unless someone decides the money isn’t enough). If they acknowledge it as fact right away, it’d be terrific. Anyway, congratulations, Sir Tom!

UPDATE #2 TO BREAKING NEWS NOTE ABOVE: @REALSIRTOMJONES, Tom’s twitter feed, says Wednesday, May 2: “Hey – re MIRROR article today – complete BS – all of this…no matter what the ‘fansites’ say. Cheers all x” Again, the oft-demonstrated need to be first with everything is in play here. As noted above, this is a pattern. Also as noted, if it’s true that he’s resigned to The Voice UK that means another success for him and that’s terrific news. Again, “congratulations, Sir Tom!” What it also means is that Tom’s management — that is absolutely not Sir Tom Jones himself tweeting! — reads TJI.com. But, really, “BS”? Nice.

And, by the way, they wrote “‘fansite’” on Twitter in reference to TJI as if this weren’t a fansite. Well, www.tomjonesintl.com IS a fansite — here to give voice to the fan community, whether that voice is, in the opinion of Management positive or negative. It is, as you all know, the fans who gave/give Sir Tom his career. (Although as is clear below, that Gordon Mills got it all going and, one must say, Mark Woodward revitalized it at one point. They, too, get credit for what they did. And, part of what they did was get the fans to notice and, when fans notice, they’re the ones who buy tickets and recordings.)

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Please don’t forget episodes 7 and 8 of The Voice UK in the post below. And, please, take time to read this entire post, watch the documentary and answer the Question of the Month! I know this is a long post, but please give the time to your answer!

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Because Gordon Mills brought Tom to prominence and because last night (May 1) on BBC Wales there was a short documentary about Mills (embedded below) he is the topic this month:

The TJI Question of the Month for May is in two parts:

(1) Did you ever meet or did you know Gordon Mills? If so, please share share your story.

(2) What do you think the career of Tom Woodward would have been if he had not met Gordon Mills?

Published Saturday, April 28, 2012 in Wales Online:

He was the man behind Tom Jones’ worldwide success and worth an estimated £50m. But, writes Nathan Bevan, a new documentary will show how the same gambling streak that brought Gordon Mills huge success also brought his music empire crashing down

WHEN collecting eggs as a boy, Gordon Mills’ father would warn him against being greedy.

“Only take one from each nest,” he’d say. “That way its parents won’t notice.”

One day though Mills found a heavily stocked bed of twigs, moss and feathers and emptied it of all its contents, resulting in him being swooped upon and attacked by the distraught mother bird.

“He was completely broken up by that,” recalls Juliette Terry, one of Mills’ four daughters, in a new BBC One Wales documentary about the Tonypandy lad made good. “That incident really changed him.”

Although watching further reveals how in going from rags to riches and back again – leaving the Valleys to become a multimillionaire music manager and producer behind some of the world’s biggest talents, only to lose it all in messy legal wrangles and neon-lit Las Vegas’ gambling joints – the temptation to take too much and leave too little never fully left Mills.

“I met Gordon at a 21st birthday party, he arrived with Engelbert Humperdinck, who was still Jerry
Dorsey at the time,” recalls his widow Jo Mills.

“There was just something about him, you just felt he was very sure about his life – we were soon engaged and got married in London.”

Mills himself was also quick to reveal in various vintage television interviews that he had an innate drive and determination to succeed that put him ahead of others.

“I would look at a nice car and think, ‘I’d like that car’, not because I was jealous of the man driving it or wonder why he should have it and not me,” he once admitted.

“Same with a house – if I saw a beautiful place in the country in some magazine it would stay at the back of my mind because I always knew I wanted my own little place in the sun, as rosy as I could make it.”

And that chance finally presented itself when he came across Tommy Scott (AKA Tom Jones) and The Senators on the South Wales working men’s club circuit, Mills realising half way through the band’s opening number to a packed house that it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen.

For the rest of this article, to new photos and to answer the Question of the Month, please click here to (more…)

On episode 7 of The Voice UK the coaches (Jessie J. has changed her hair) sing U2′s Beautiful Day. (Remember when TJI posted U2′s Bono sings a snippet of Sugar Daddy? On episode 8, Sir Tom himself has to send one of his team members home.

For people who get BBC Wales: On Tuesday, May 1, a documentary about Gordon Mills will be broadcast at 10:35 pm on the show They Sold A Million. TJI will have that for you.

And, on Thursday, at 9 pm, SkyArts 1 will show King of the Teds, the half-hour teleplay in which Tom appears.

In Wales Online Nathan Bevan interviewed playwright Jim Cartwright (are names destiny?) for the April 28 edition:

Jim Cartwright on how Tom Jones went from Sex Bomb to depressed ex-Teddy Boy

He’s been one of the most famous singers in the world for the last 40 years – so why, at 71, has Sir Tom Jones decided to try his hand at acting? Nathan Bevan talks to the hit playwright responsible for recasting Wales’ Sex Bomb as a depressed former Teddy Boy

All you see of him at first is the crown of grey hair poking out from above the copy of The Racing Post he’s hiding behind to escape his wife’s nagging.

But when that voice comes, with a rumbling Valleys burr – exasperated, pleading, “What are you going on about now, woman?” – the penny suddenly drops and you realise it’s the same one that’s thrilled music fans all around the world for the past four decades or more.

So begins the opening scene to King Of The Teds, in which Sir Tom Jones makes his much-publicised first foray into acting – aside from his self-lampooning turn in the 1996 Tim Burton B-movie homage, Mars Attacks! – alongside the Oscar-nominated likes of Brenda Blethyn and Gavin & Stacey’s Alison Steadman.

For the rest of this insightful, interesting article, please click here to (more…)

It’s always sad to report something like this:
Lorraine Giordano, a long-time fan of Tom’s from New York, passed away Thursday. She was a dear friend of Mary Muratore’s and they went to lots of shows in lots of places together.

Like Mary, Lorraine cherished her “get well” message from Tom on a photo another fan had him sign for her.

Deepest condolences to Lorraine’s family, her dear friend Jean and to all who knew her.

May flights of angels sing her to her sleep and may she rest in peace.

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On Friday, James Gill reported in the Radio Times:
The Voice UK: Tom Jones on his Live Shows final five
Read what “The Voice” himself thinks of Matt and Sueleen, Sam Buttery, Leanne Mitchell, Ruth Brown and Adam Isaac

Matt and Sueleen, 34, Canterbury: This couple dreams of appearing on Jools Holland — a step up compared to their gigging in the local pub.

Tom: “I thought they were brilliant. I love their harmony — they complement one another.”

Sam Buttery, 20, London: While some might have groaned at hearing another Adele cover, Tom heard something special in Sam’s version. Watch out for the big quiff and big glasses as battle commences.

Tom: “There were a few notes in there that I thought sounded like me — sounded like me in my head anyway! I think he’s got a great voice.”

Leanne Mitchell, 28, Lowestoft: Leanne almost had a record contract when she was just 15 and, 13 years down the line, she’s ready to aim for the big time once again. She plays piano and the organ, and writes her own music.

Tom: “I listened to the tone of her voice and liked the lower register. When she started, I thought she had a lot of timbre in her voice — very appealing for me.”

Ruth Brown, 20, London: This shy girl is completely transformed when she takes centre stage. It’s a wonder she finds the breath for those fantastic long notes.

Tom: “She’s a great singer, that’s why I hit the button. I really wanted her on my team.”

Adam Isaac, 29, Exeter: Adam is a very cool customer, having played regularly in the South West for ten years. He’s already released an EP, but this boy wants more…

Tom: “I’ve sung with a lot of people and I’ve recorded a lot of different kinds of songs — I needed somebody with a strong voice who can sing and play like that.

For a funny video and the latest on what Tom allegedly said about Britain’s Got Talent and for some nonsense about Tom vs. Will. i. am, please click here to (more…)

This is amazing! This third cut from Spirit In the Room (SITR), this is Tower of Song, written by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes (you know her from her duets on Up Where We Belong with Joe Cocker from the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman) and (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, her duet with Bill Medley from Dirty Dancing.) Tower of Song was recorded by Cohen in 1988. It’s just the perfect choice for Tom, as was Ethan Johns to produce it. What do you think?

In the Tuesday, April 24 edition of The Telegraphis a story quoting Tom saying something that is interesting and, I think, appalling. And, I believe, very wrong.

First, the small stuff: If he wanted to stop dying his hair, he simply should have done it. It’s too bad if he regrets it.

Second, the important stuff: He says that he stopped playing Las Vegas because “he was sad to have given up his annual stint singing in Las Vegas last year but that he had been ”flogging a dead horse” and was ”taken for granted” because he had been there for so long.”

Come on. Raise your hand if you think this is true — if you believe that Tom was “flogging a dead horse” because he played here so for so long and was “taken for granted” in Las Vegas.

I don’t know who told him that but it is absolutely not true. The last time Tom was here, in August 2010, he sold out about nine of 14 shows. When he wasn’t sold out, there were, maybe, 50 seats available. Bear in mind that Tom and all the entertainment in Las Vegas had a rough patch in 2008 and ’09. But he did very well by in 2010. And reliable sources told me he is very welcome to return. Let’s face it: Fans came to Las Vegas from, literally, around the world — all across the USA and Canada, Mexico, South America, Australia, Europe and Asia — to see him. Those trips cost a lot of hard-earned money, plus more than $92 for each ticket and many of them see him every night for five, seven or 10 nights. No one I ever met took him for granted. The fans who come to see him spend most of their money in the hotel where Tom is playing. Some are here for several days and never leave the hotel grounds. They dine, drink and gamble wherever Tom is playing. Those are the guests hotels love to have.

So, his statement about the dead horse leads me to believe that somehow, for some reason, someone is not being honest with Sir Tom and that, perhaps, this is an attempt to deal with the attention his absence from North America — particularly Las Vegas — has gotten in the British press.

A response from him or his people is certainly in order and long, long overdue but this is just sad, I think.

To read the article — and be sure to share your opinion after you’ve read it! — please click here (more…)

You can ask Sir Tom a question…sort of. That means, you cannot ask directly but you can do it through a London newspaper. The Mirror is set to do a video interview with him later this week and promises to ask questions submitted by the public. Thus far the only question submitted is “Have you ever had a crush on another celebrity?” Surely, this fan community can do better, right? To submit your question, simply click here. And, if you wish, share your question.

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Soon there’ll be an interview with the King of the Teds playwright and you’ll find out why Sir Tom got the part. Watch for it!

Catching Up With the News: There are lots of stories coming out prior to tonight’s first battle round on The Voice UK. Some are about Danny O’Donoghue being “impressed” with Tom and believing Tom has the strongest team (“Initially I thought Tom had the weakest team but now I have seen him become a front runner. He got real trigger happy on the first day of filming. He literally had five people on the first day, so I said ‘Dude, you need to slow down.’”)

There’s also story about one of Tom’s team members gushing about a team dinner with him and a story about Tom “wanting to play a villain.” (“I was a teddy boy and I was singing so if I hadn’t had a hit record that could have been me.’ Following on from that, when asked about future roles he said ‘I wouldn’t mind playing a bad guy, again it wouldn’t be that far removed.’”)

A Smart Critic: The first review of King of the Teds was in the Times Friday. I said the critic is “smart” because — and I freely admit I am bragging — he said exactly what I did on this site when the SKY Arts assertion that this 30-minute drama would be Tom’s “first acting role” went unchallenged. NO! Absolutely not true!

In addition to a few small roles as fictional characters and larger ones as himself, anyone who believes Tom has not acted before hasn’t heard, among others, Delilah. Or, for that matter, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Daughter of Darkness, I (Who Have Nothing) and many, many more. When he sings, he infuses his songs with wit/emotion/sadness/joy. That fact — and the fact that his singing is an example of his acting — is obvious and seems to be ignored by the masses, thus effectively depriving Sir Tom of some of the credit he is due. Not surprising, but sad. It’s great that Andrew Billen got that in the review.

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The king is dead — long live the king

Television Andrew Billen, The Times, April 20, 2012

King of the Teds
Sky Arts

As viewers of The Voice will have heard by now, Tom Jones sang with Elvis Presley. In the forthcoming King of the Teds, part of Sky Arts’s Playhouse Presents season the Welsh legend gets to sing elvis Presley.

As a retired bottle factory worker named Ron, Jones seduces one of the two women who have loved him forever (I’m not saying which) with Love Me Tender. It has never sounded more beautifully Welsh.

But we knew that Jones sang. Can Sir Thomas act? Sky claims this little drama provides Jones’s first acting role. The Internet Movie Database with its cruelly unforgiving memory would disagree, citing his performance as a photographer in 1994′s Silk n Sabotage and a Dick Turpin cameo in ten years earlier. What is proably correct is that Jim Cartwright’s tight one-act comedy drama is the first acting role that has required him to act.

Well, he is terrific — not perhaps as terrific as his co-stars, but then they do happen to be Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman. Steadman, shedding her Essex excesses, plays his wife Tina. Blethyn as Nina, her ex-best friend. In their teens the local teddy-boy king picked them both up and they became a chaste ménage a trois. Then, Ron chose. King of the Teds is set later on the day Nina visits the couple. “You stood there ike the most beautiful thing in my life,” Jones purrs in recollection, and for a moment you believe that the young Tina and Nina might have outshone anything available at Graceland.

Marriage dethroned the king. Ron became the bottled-up bloke from a bottle factory. Hiding behind his Racing Post, shuffling to the offie [editor's note: a term used in the UK for a shop licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises], he is an empty vessel. Today this infusion from the past fills him up to brimming.

Jones plays the role unsentimentally and then, in the final moments and without irony, the risen man, negotiating a difficult bottle metaphor speech along the way. But, of course, Jones can act. What else was he doing with Delilah?

King of the Teds is broadcast on May 3.

For two most surprising photos of Sir Tom in a story about tonight’s The Voice UK episode, please click here to (more…)

Moderator’s Note: Aside from SSS (stalker Sally Stevens), I’ve never discussed a specific fan before and, really, will only do so if their actions become personal to me. So, if my doing so now bothers you, just skip this note. I’m writing this because I’ve been royally taken to task on Facebook for the article that appeared in the Welsh press (below). I was told I should not have spoken to them.

In addition, I was also criticized for posting news about other people on TJI.com. For example, I am sure the fact I am writing right now that Engelbert’s new single — Love Will Set You Free — is the #1 single on Amazon.UK, will be offensive to these people — actually, to one person, Melvyn Chircop and his many noms-de-plume, among them, Bob Green (and I have the email from Melvyn informing me that they are the same person).

Among other issues, Melvyn apparently is upset that the Welsh press didn’t bother to speak to him, a Welshman. I will not apologize for either talking to the press, for telling the truth (which, like love, will set you free) or for liking other singers. He was apparently horrified that I dared to mention Elvis, Jerry Lee, Engelbert and some others on TJI. When I told him that even his idol Tom Jones likes lots of entertainers he banished me from his Facebook pages. I shall endeavor to ignore this person and others his ilk. Not worth it. This — Melvyn Chircop/Bob Green — is the kind of fan who gives fans a bad name and who, out of jealousy, will trash another fan.

Melvyn/Bob Green has two groups on Facebook — The New Tom Jones Appreciation Society and “FOR THE FAN,S OF SIR TOM JONES.” (That way of writing “FAN,S” is not a typo. That’s how he wrote it.) Then, he wrote under his fake name pretending to be his own friend (that’s kind of sad in itself, isn’t it?) and, as Bob, asked fans to write to Management to get Melvyn (himself) a meeting with Tom. Hopefully, no one did as he requested. His groups are made up in large part of people whom he — without asking — signed up from other fan groups/fan sites. I apologize to anyone who got roped in via TJI and, as so many have already done, encourage you to leave these groups. To do so, just go to the top right of the group page and, just to the right of the “notifications” drop-down menu, click on the little thing that looks like an asterisk (*) and a menu will drop down. Just choose “Leave Group.”

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Odetta was an amazing singer of American folk music, spirituals, blues and jazz, as well as being a standard-bearer in the USA Civil Rights movement. She sang a lot of other people’s compositions and, also, wrote a few of her own. Here is one of those. Click here to listen to Tom Jones’ interpretation of Odetta’s Hit or Miss

Tom Waits is a multi-talented musician — singer, composer, actor — with a very distinctive voice, both literally and in what he writes. Here’s a few seconds of Tom Jones singing his cover of Tom Waits’ song, Bad As Me.

IN THE NEWS: Mark Smith in the Pontypridd Observer wrote of Sir Tom’s inclusion on a portrait bench in his hometown (which, apparently, “looks the same”) and of some controversy about it:

TREFOREST legend Tom Jones will forever be stood on the green, green grass of home after plans to resurrect a decorative bench in his honour were given the go-ahead.

Residents in the town voted the Welsh crooner to feature on a new piece of artwork to mark a new walking and cycling route between Treforest and Tonteg.

A life-size steel portrait of Sir Tom, known as The Voice, will be officially opened during Bike Week in June.

John Hughes MBE, the owner and founder of the World of Groggs, has also been chosen to feature on the bench, as has Pontypridd’s James James, composer of the Welsh National Anthem.

Children of St Michael’s RC Primary School picked James, who also has a statue dedicated to him at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park.

Rachel Lister, Sustrans Cymru project manager for the scheme, said: “Featuring local people on the portrait bench is a great way to make this artwork, and the walking and cycling route, unique to Treforest.

“It should reinforce how much there is to celebrate about this beautiful area of Wales and be here for people to enjoy for many years to come.”

Nigel Brinn, service director for highways, transportation and strategic projects at Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, said: “The new walking and cycling route will be a fantastic asset for the community of Treforest and beyond, offering a beautiful, relaxing way for them to spend time outdoors and enjoy activity.

“It is an important and valuable project from both a transport and recreational perspective.”

But the cycle route, part of a national project from Sustrans, has not been without its setbacks.

A pathway between Tonteg and the University of Glamorgan campus in Treforest is close to completion.

But because an application for village green status was submitted along the second part of the route, plans to create a footbridge linking the railway line to the Taff Trail had to be put on hold.

The move angered local councillor John Bell, who said the new road would be more dangerous for cyclists as it ran alongside a busy road.

He said: “This application for a village green is standing in the way of the future for Treforest.

“I’m not totally against the application – once the bridge is built then they can apply for it.

“The plans were already in place for the bridge, which had £650,000 lottery funding, but now that’s been stopped in its tracks.”

In response, Sustrans say they are looking into plans to create a 20mph speed limit along the new route to the Taff Trail.

The bench project received funding through the Valleys Regional Parks initiative via the European Regional Development Fund, as well as the Regional Transport Grant from Sewta, both through the Welsh Government.

The Treforest Community Route will provide a walking and cycling link between the Church Village Community Route at Tonteg and Llantwit Road in Treforest and is due to be officially opened during Bike Week in June 2012.

Last Friday, April 6, KCRW-FM, the National Public Radio (NPR) station in Santa Monica, California, chose Evil to be their song of the day. That’s really nice, considering how the release was pretty much brushed off by OFFFICIAL Tom Jones (“side project”). Anyway, if you haven’t heard it in awhile or haven’t ever heard it, check out Tom’s appearance in 2008 on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic when Tom did 25 minutes promoting 24 Hours. On the show Tom is backed by lots of familiar faces — Brian, Herman, Rick, Frank, Kenny, Bill and a few others. It’s terrific fun! Do yourself a favor and check it out.

On Sunday, April 8, 2012, Nathan Bevan wrote an article in Wales On Sunday. Because of Easter and a bank holiday it didn’t get posted online, but it is below. (Please note the clever turn of phrase — “vinyl” straw — and the fact that Bevan clearly recognized TJI.com’s articulate fan community by quoting the outstanding comments of Joe and Stewart.) Note, too, the not unusual, but nonetheless sad, last line of the story:

HE HASN’T toured there properly in years and recently vacated his decades long residency in Las Vegas.

But for American fans of Sir Tom Jones the decision not to release his latest album Stateside has proved the vinyl straw.

Indeed, some supporters of the Pontypridd-born legend have been voicing their fears over the internet that the no-show of his new CD, Spirit In The Room, represents the legendary singer turning his back on his loyal US followers.

“It may a sound silly but I have an 81-year-old friend, a lifelong listener of Tom’s, who was in tears on the phone to me the other day because she’s probably never going to see him play live here again,” said Ellen Sterling, the Vegas-based journalist behind the online US website dedicated to the star, www.tomjonesintl.com

“Other than a handful of shows he did in early 2011 to promote Praise And Blame, Tom’s gigged here less and less in recent years – so this new album not getting a US release means it’s extremely unlikely any live dates will be scheduled either.”

Ironically, the album – Jones’ second since his reinvention as a grey-haired belter of old blues standards – will be emerging in the UK next month at a time when the singer’s profile has never been higher, courtesy of his appearances on BBC One’s hit Saturday talent show The Voice, a credibility boosting team-up with White Stripes star Jack White and his much-hyped foray into acting in the impending Sky Arts drama The King Of The Teds.

Yet across the Atlantic things couldn’t be more different.

“People are angry, hurt and increasingly feel like giving up on Tom,” added Sterling. “It’s odd because, aside from one Paul McCartney tune, every song on the new record is a cover of a US artist, so its non-release here seems to suggest that someone’s made the decision that Tom Jones is completely irrelevant outside of Europe.”

And she’s far from alone in voicing her disappointment, with plenty of others flooding her site to register their opinions.

One subscriber called Susan posted: “They have thrown out the fans that supported Tom when no one else did, when he was just a tabloid joke in England. Why is this happening?”

Another, Joe Murray, wrote that US fans had “supported him in both good times and bad” and called on him to override any decisions and return to the other side of “The Pond”.

And a contributor called Stewart added: “It is so unfortunate that the person who is arguably the best pop singe who has ever lived has been reduced to second rate status in the US.

“Celebrities like Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow and Tony Bennett have all done albums of old standards in the past few years and those have all gone to the top of the charts.

“Tom, by comparison, releases Praise & Blame and it barely cracks the top 100 before disappearing completely in the space of a fortnight.

“It’s beyond frustrating – it’s pathetic,” he added.

Sir Tom’s management were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

There was a technical glitch with episode 3 of The Voice UK and it hasn’t been posted. When I get it, I’ll post it even if it’s delayed. I’ll post Ep. 4 in a week or so as there should be no problem. Also, I’ll be at a film festival in Sonoma, California from Wednesday through Saturday. I’ll try to post but I can’t guarantee the internet connection or having the time. Hope you will understand. Thank you!

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Please take a few minutes to read my column about Mike Tyson. It’s a Tyson you never thought existed. Guaranteed!

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Please note: I didn’t post all that stuff about Catherine Zeta-Jones playing Pussycat while she was in labor because it’s old news to Tom’s fans. If you didn’t know this, just google “Catherine Zeta- Jones, Tom Jones, What’s New Pussycat.”

Sir Tom was mentioned nicely in an article about Jack White in The New York Times on Thursday, April 5 by Josh Eells, who is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal. In the article, White talked about Tom and unveiled something I didn’t know about Tom’s career. See if you do:

“…White played a song he recently produced for Tom Jones. ‘Seventy-one years old, and he just came in and murdered it,” White said. Then he told a story about the time he was in Transylvania, filming the movie Cold Mountain (he played a minstrel). Every morning on his way to the set, the driver would be listening to Tom Jones. Later he went to a local record store, and there were something like 60 Tom Jones records. No one could explain what the deal was, so White asked Jones about it. It turned out that everyone in Transylvania thought Tom Jones was a Gypsy. He insisted that he wasn’t, but they still didn’t believe him.

“‘What an incredible story,’ White marveled, no doubt jealous of a narrative that brought together slippery notions of identity, misleading your audience, dubious Romanians. ‘They really thought he was a Gypsy, and he was hiding it. He didn’t think that was the answer, but it seemed to me like it was the answer. Even if it wasn’t,’ he said, ‘I’d make it that.’”

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From writer Nathan Bevan in Wales Online came this March 25 story about Tom’s mate Kelly Jones’ plans for Sir T. There’s also negative stuff about Gordon Mills from someone alleging to be the “former manager” of Tom and Engelbert. Absolutely not true. He’s writing a book and this is a way to get attention. This guy, Tony Cartwright, traveled with Enge — maybe Tom, too — but never as manager. So, please, don’t believe all you read:

Kelly Jones hopes to cast Sir Tom Jones in possible screenplay

Stereophonics rocker Kelly Jones has revealed that he passed up the chance to be Sir Tom Jones’ co-judge on TV talent show The Voice…

The Cwmaman singer, who plays the annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity bash at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday alongside Paul Weller and Paul McCartney, has revealed he was approached to occupy one of the four hot seats on the show last year.

“They called me in for a meeting and I most went along out of curiosity because I knew they’d already confirmed Tom’s involvement, as well as Will.i.am and Jesse J – so, had I said yes I’d probably have been sitting where that the singer from The Script is now,” said the 37-year-old dad-of-two.

“They actually asked me to go in for a second meeting but I just backed away after that because I think the show goes on for about 11 to 12 weeks and that was just too much to commit to.

“It was being pitched as being different to other talent shows on telly – but really, how much different can it be? Besides, I’m not really sure I’d want to judge other people on their singing anyway, although I think it’ll be a great gig for a bloke with as much hard-earned experience as Tom.”

Kelly said he also missed out on another opportunity to team up again with his old Mama Told Me Not To Come singing partner when the mighty-lunged Pontypridd legend asked him to be a guest mentor on the programme.

A clash of schedules meant that the slot eventually went to ex-Catatonia star Cerys Matthews with whom Tom duetted in 1999 on pop standard Baby It’s Cold Outside.

However, the ’Phonics frontman says there might still be another – non-musical – way he and the other Mr Jones can work together in the future.

For the rest of this story please click here to (more…)