Tom Jones International

Don’t forget the Question of The Month below.

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In the absence of newspaper reviews of Tom in New Orleans, we’re posting these photos. We think they’re terrific and the photographer assures us the shows were “fabulous” and the bad video on youtube doesn’t begin to tell the story. Although we’ve seen enough stage photos to last us a long, loooong time, we really like these because they are pictures of a man lost in his music and the passion he feels for it shines through.

Of course, if you’ve seen him since the the end of 2006, you know he’s singing Git Me Some. If you haven’t, then that’s what it looks like when he does.

We thank this nice fan for sending them.

This story appeared in Brushes With Greatness: An Anthology of Chance Encounters With Celebrities, a book published in 1989 in Canada. AF came across it, we contacted the author, Sonja Skarstedt for permission to post it. She checked out tji.com and graciously granted us permission. What we love about it is the author’s voice: a preternaturally mature teenager who got a wonderful gift from her local radio station. And we love her conclusion about Tom in the last sentence.

If you want to get an idea of the woman this 15 year-old turned out to be, check out her website. She’s a writer and an artist. We thank AF for finding it and Sonja for permitting us to post it.

Enjoy this, but please don’t forget to answer the Question of The Month (below).

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Montreal, 1975: I was fifteen, gawky, and introspective. My chief goals were to sing like Judy Garland and to invent a formula that would shrink my five-foot-eight inch frame down to an appropriately insignificant five-foot-two. I believed that anything was possible, even meeting somebody famous.

Opportunity presented itself in the form of a radio announcement one afternoon: “Ladies, how would you like to catch Tom Jones’ concert at the Place des Arts? How would you like to meet Tom backstage after the show? All you have to do is mail in your name, address and telephone number and—who knows? Maybe you’ll be the lucky winner!”

Winning radio contests had become one of my specialties. In the preceding two years I had managed to win everything from grocery samples and dinners-for-four to a Mother’s Day hat. Why not Tom Jones?

Actually I was more familiar with Glenn Miller and Fats Waller than Tom Jones. The last time I had seen the performer was back in the sixties, during the heyday of his television show. I was eight, more enthralled by the chorus of neon-caged gogo dancers than the tight-suited, gyrating star they were backing up. I could also recall the screaming all-female audience.

I found a thank you card in my mother’s stationery drawer and inscribed a word balloon on the cover, so that the watercolor frog on the card’s exterior seemed to exclaim: “I listen to CJAD!” Inside, I wrote: “I have always wanted to meet a famous person. There are many questions I would ask Tom Jones about fame if I could meet him in person. And I would love to go to a real show at the Place des Arts.”

I returned home from school one Wednesday afternoon and turned on the radio. “This is the day, ladies!” chirped Jack Finnegan. “Later on this afternoon, I’ll be announcing the name of the lucky gal who’ll get to meet Tom Jones backstage at the Place des Arts!” My stomach prickled in anticipation. No, I shook my head, it’s probably rigged. . . .

An hour and a half later I was upstairs in my room, sketching, when I heard my mother shouting my name. “You’ve won, Sonja! You’ve won!”
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Let’s all agree from the start that Tom Jones shows are (probably) the favorite of everyone who regularly visits this site. But, let’s just say, you’re asked to name your favorite concerts by performers other than Sir Tom. That’s our question for July:

Other than Tom Jones, whose are the best concerts you’ve seen in person?

We’ll get you started with our answers:

Ursula cites (aside from Tom and in no particular order): The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, BB King, James Brown, The Rascals, The Beatles, Prince, Garth Brooks, Chris Isaaks, Lou Rawls, Coco Taylor and Earl Turner.

Ellen’s favorites are (aside from Tom and in no particular order): Elvis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ruth Brown, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Suffocation (early Streisand and early Suffocation), Prince, Jimmy Buffett, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, The Oak Ridge Boys, Fats Domino and early Jerry Lee Lewis.

We hear from people in the audience that Tom added Polk Salad Annie to the Louisiana shows. It’s an oldie Elvis did and when Tom recorded it the popular lore is that Elvis coached him on the Southern accent. You can get it on an off-label (but terrific) CD called Loaded, released in 2001. Don’t think it’s a permanent addition, but it is fun.

Someone in the audience took some really bad video of the HOB show Monday. Looks like they used a cell phone. But if you wish, you can see Tom singing He Stopped Loving Her Today and Delilah. These should be taken down, only because they’re terrible. But as long as they’re up, we thought we’d post ‘em.

Marian, our good “Friend Through Tom,” sent us this review and photo of herself in Biloxi along with the photo of the venue and the marquee where, she tells us, that’s Tom’s picture in the middle. We are thrilled that she took the time to write such a careful, thoughtful review for us and do hope others who see him (or have seen him) on this southern swing do likewise. The newspapers don’t seem to be covering his shows and the only news fans get is from other fans. So, thanks to Marian and to the other fan who sent us the brief video clip at the end of this post. That fan didn’t want to write, but was pleased to share the clip. We wonder (but are not complaining) why all the video lately seems to be of Delilah. The video follows the review.

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Beau Rivage/Biloxi, MS/June 26, 2008

What Makes This Man Do What He Does???

I have always thought I can’t imagine why any man would do what Tom does, a lifetime of grueling touring and being onstage almost every night of his life. Why does he do it??

About to burst with anticipation and excitement, we arrived at the Beau Rivage Theatre about 40 minutes early, with only a sparse crowd. I tried to get better seats when we arrived at the hotel, but no luck. The theater is built so that the tier we were in wasn’t too bad after all. I had been told the show was sold out…and that it was!!! The latecomers filled even the “high-rollers” area. An audience of all ages seemed to be wound as tight as I was…waiting for the Man to come onstage. The well-known introduction with the outer space video, and Tony’s exuberant announcement, after the Tom Jones International video was familiar to me…but not sure if it was to many in the crowd. The sound of the video seemed muffled to me, so maybe it wasn’t clear to others. Tom was welcomed onstage, wearing a striking red jacket, (and I thought I heard a gasp from the crowd) with rapturous applause and cheers from the audience.

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The ever-tasteful Sunday Mirror today (June 29) has a story about the Christie’s auction. The paper continues it’s tradition of amusing, yet lame, headlines (and they’ll never be as good as the New York Post classic: “Headless Body In Topless Bar,” but that’s another story). Meanwhile, please note, that if you count the internet as “media” and remember that this site has a bona fide award-winning journalist as one moderator and a magazine writer as another, what “media” had the auction story in print first after it was on the radio in the UK? Um…..that would be www.tomjonesinternational.com. That’s why we love doing this.

Note: The Western Mail reconsidered the headline (”Want to hear young Tom Jones singing in the toilet? You’ll need to be feeling flush”) they used in yesterday’s first edition and in later editions changed it. Twice. First they said, “Rare Tom Jones recording goes under the hammer.” Then, they reconsidered and went back for the laugh or, at least, for the mention of a toilet: “Our Tom singing in the loo up for grabs.” Ah, well, no guts, no glory. Wonder who complained. The story’s the same, though.

Anyway, here’s today’s story:

Sing a lav song, Tom

A recording of Tom Jones singing in a toilet is expected to sell for up to £3,000.

The star made the demo in the YMCA in his home town of Pontypridd, Rhondda, in 1962, three years before his first hit, It’s Not Unusual.

Tom’s band, Tommy Scott and The Senators, recorded in the toilet because of the acoustics. The reel-to-reel tape contains four songs — Don’t Pretend, Time Alone, What About Me and That’s What Love Will Do.

Its unnamed owner is putting it up for auction at Christies in London on July 10.

For our original post about the auction, click here.

Another story — surely more to come as the July 10 auction gets closer — about the Christie’s auction of early tapes from a Tom Jones-Senators session (see June 19 post below). If the provenance is exactly what the seller claims, these are, indeed, valuable. We just sense there’s something missing somewhere. We can certainly believe that Tom recorded in the Ponty YMCA with the Senators. And we have no doubt that the acoustics were fine. What we have problems with are, first, the person who owns the tapes, a former recording engineer from Cardiff, telling Christie’s that Tom himself sought him out to manage the recording. Second, we’ve read the Ellis-Sutherland bio again and all it says about the recordings (on page 30 of the book) is:

“…the songs were recorded on a portable eight-track studio in the unlikely setting of the football changin room toilets at the YMCA in Pontypridd. Apparently that was wehre myron and Byron deemed that the acoustics were optimal.

“The resulting tracks included an original Godfrey-Glastonbury instrumental called ‘David’s Theme’ and songs such as ‘Lonely Joe.”

None of the songs mentioned in the book are part of the auction. And the book, containing little or no original research, just a tired rehash of old interviews, gossip and innuendo, doesn’t seem a particularly reliable source. We hope all is on the up-and-up. In truth, Christie’s probably wouldn’t be listing the lot if it weren’t. We just cannot help considering the source. But we love the headline of this story.

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Want to hear young Tom Jones singing in the toilet? You’ll need to be feeling flush

Jun 28 2008 by Robin Turner, Western Mail

AS FAR as Tom Jones recordings go, this one definitely is unusual.

A rare reel-to-reel master-tape recording of Tom in 1962 made in the unlikely setting of the toilets at the YMCA in Pontypridd is about to go under the hammer at London auction house Christie’s. The unique tape, the earliest known recording of the Welsh star to have survived, is being sold by a one-time “sound man” at former Cardiff based TV firm TWW (Television Wales and West) who actually made the recording.

The recording’s current owner — who wishes to remain anonymous — hopes to gain between £2,000 and £3,000 for it.

Back in 1962 when the tape was made, Z-Cars was making its debut on TV and the charts were dominated by the Tornados (with their hit Telstar) and the likes of Ray Charles, Cliff Richard and the Shadows and Elvis Presley.

Tom Jones – born Thomas Woodward in Pontypridd in June 1940 – was going by the name Tommy Scott at the time and was fronting a rock and roll band, The Senators, who played in South Wales’ lively pub and club scene.

It would be another two years before Jones received global acclaim with his hit single, It’s Not Unusual.

The origins of the recording date back to early in 1962, after a gig in Bedwas, near Caerphilly. Jones and The Senators (later known as The Playboys and The Squires) were approached by two local songwriters, Ray Godfrey and John Glastonbury who had adopted the music management name of Myron & Byron.
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After shows tonight and tomorrow at a casino in Lake Charles, LA, the gang’s headed to New Orleans for two shows at the HOB Sunday and Monday.

We can say unequivocally that Sir Tom Jones is at the head of the class when it comes to singing the music indigenous to that city. He did a lot of that stuff — blues, R & B, and so on — in his eponymous CD with Jools Holland. Here, on a Parkinson’s show in September 2004 is their fabulous version of St. James Infirmary Blues, one of our very favorites from that collaboration. Tom and his own terrific musicians did this for awhile in his show. We miss it.

St. James Infirmary Blues became popular in the US with a 1928 version by Louis Armstrong. It’s based on an English folk song called The Unfortunate Rake, the story of a sailor who, as a result of his consorting with prostitutes, dies of venereal disease. In the ever-Puritanical US the cause of death became over-indulgence in drinking and gambling.

The location of a real St. James Infirmary is in dispute, but many favor London — either in what was a workhouse or what is today St. James Palace.

At any rate, it’s a great song and Tom and Jools do it proud. (And, doesn’t Sir Tom look grand?)

Sorry it’s so small, but it had to be crunched to fit online. It was on youtube but, now, it’s gone or we’d have linked to it. It is, by the way, a QuickTime video.

Tom opens tonight in Biloxi, MS, and will then play two nights in Lake Charles, LA, two nights in New Orleans and one night near Dallas. Until we get some reviews from those of you fortunate enough to be there, we’re finding other TJ tidbits to post. We’re really looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

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We love the top story from this guy who — as if with a bolt of lightening — was struck by the talent that is Tom Jones. He was one of thousands at the venue where Tom played truimphently and it’s a pleasure to read his recollection — still sharp 16 years down the road, so it must have been an amazing show. As for the second bit of “news,” the paper is just being dopey at the end but, why not? What a kick it would be to fly into Sir Tom Jones Airport….can see the luggage tags now: “STJ” or, better yet, from our point of view — “Tom Jones International!” Not bad. Not bad at all.

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The Glastonbury Festival opens Friday and a blog from New Zealand called webweavers world looks back on the sensation that was Tom Jones who was the “surprise guest” at the 1992 festival.

“Immediately after the Family Cat had finished playing on the NME stage, the weekend’s “special guest” was due on the Pyramid Stage. I don’t remember there being a special guest in previous years, so maybe this was the first time. No one knew who it was in advance — it hadn’t been announced — but by the Saturday night the rumour was flying around the festival site that it was going to be Tom Jones.

“Tom Jones? At Glastonbury?? You have got to be kidding me!!!

“Sandra, Sean, some of The Family Cat and I all decided it might be good for a laugh, so we headed around the corner to the Pyramid Stage to join the 70,000 other crusty folk ranged all the way up the hill on that beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. We approached the stage from behind the left-hand side, so we were able to push our way into the crowd right near the front, and gradually moved closer to the middle as time went on.

“Imagine the scene. You’ve got 70,000 grubby hippies (for that was the Glasto crowd in those days) all standing there waiting to take the piss out of Tom Jones — a performer more used to entertaining our mothers — and we’re all thinking how completely incongruous this is, and wondering what on earth was Michael Eavis was on when he chose Mr Jones…

“And Tom comes on stage with his band, and starts up with the first song - and his band is so tight, and he’s so bloody professional that they have the entire crowd in the palm of their hands before they’ve even finished the first verse.

“It.was.amazing. Tom Jones was amazing!
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In 1976, a group of Tom Jones fans from Benoni, South Africa decided that the Tom Jones Street in their city should be properly dedicated to their favorite singer, even though it was really named after a former mayor and council member.

They hung Tom’s photo from the sign and made a bit of a ceremony of it. Below left is the photo of them; right is the photo of Tom looking at a picture of what they had done. The brief tabloid article accompanying the photos says:

“Tom Jones Street: Tom Jones is the name of one of the main streets of Benoni, a small town near Johannesburg, South Africa.

“It was named after one of Benoni’s pioneers, a Tom Jones who was mayor in 1920. But fans of the other Tom Jones, the singer, decided recently that history could be changed, and hung a large picture of him on the street sign. In Los Angeles, when he received a photo of his fans and the picture, Tom Jones said, ‘I never knew I was so famous.’”

Thanks again, AF