Tom Jones International

Our question of the month is: Let’s just say Tom’s management offered a fan appreciation program.

What should it be? AND, how much more over the ticket price — if anything — would you pay for it?

Last month we played “let’s say” and asked what you’d like to hear if, let’s say, Tom were to replace the two songs in his encore. This month we’re playing that game again.

Before you answer, you might want to read the information below.

Barry Manilow reserves the first three rows for his devoted “Fanilows” and, his most devoted Fanilows — known as “Barry’s Girls” — may choose to pay $1,000. For that price they get front row center seats, a pre-show cocktail party with Barry, a photo with him and an autographed program.

On a less grand scale, fans of U2 can pay an annual fee (about 40 USD) and get preferential ticket ordering privileges — for all U2 concerts worldwide — a few days before tickets go on general sale. Bob Dylan fans can go to his site and, for free, can get a code to order tickets for any of his concerts anywhere in the world at a presale.

NOTE: These services are available worldwide and the actual geographical location of the site has no bearing on ability to take advantage of the offer. It is a function of the performer/performer’s management taking the initiative to work out the details with the ticket outlets and venues.

Julio Iglesias has a party for fans when he plays Las Vegas and Bruce Willis had one, too. And there was no admission fee.

Of course, all any performer owes an audience is a good performance. We know that. But this is a place for dreams, isn’t it? So, please share yours.

Stoned In Love has fallen to #23 from #14 last week on the Top of the Pops (BBC) singles chart. (But all is not bleak. The honor of being the fastest-dropping single on that chart goes to Mary J Blige & U2 who tied with Dirty Pretty Things. They each fell 12 places.)

Alas, the song is completely off the BBC Dance Chart. But it seems to be holding at #10 on the Welsh singles chart.

The good news is Stoned In Love is back at #1 on the Galaxy Dance Chart (MTV UK).

As the brief MTV news story says, “Chicane and the knickers magnet reclaim the top of the Galaxy Chart.”

“It’s like some kind of crazed yo-yo in the Galaxy Chart this week, as Chicane featuring Tom Jones whizz back up to No.1 with Stoned In Love.”

You can still click and add your vote to this viewer-vote-based list..

We believe that this proves there’s no fan more loyal than a Tom Jones fan.

While we really dislike the quality of this video, it’s fun to watch. Our friend from the Netherlands sent this video posted on youtube.com of Tom on The Beat Room in 1964 performing What’d I Say.

The video complements the photos posted a few weeks ago in our Screen Shots set of Tom performing Chills and Fever on the same show.

And be sure to check out Tom’s performance of Purple Rain (screen shot at right) from The Right Time. Just amazing.

Also, we want to say again how much fun youtube.com is. There’s so much more on it than TJ (although there’s lots of him) that, if you don’t mind getting lost in cyberspace for awhile, it’s worth the trip. Let your imagination be your guide.

Shirl, a Rhondda Valley girl transplanted to California wanted to share a recent experience:

Last week I was admitted to Stanford University Hospital for surgery.

I got to Stanford at 5:30 am and they took me into the pre-op room. Little did I know that my secret of having been a Tom Jones fan for so long was out.

They put in the IV and then wheeled me to the operating room. As I was pushed through the door to the OR, whole staff — including my surgeon — started to sing Deliah, then What’s New Pussycat and, by the time they got round to the Green Green Grass of Home, they had given me the anesthetic and I was out.

I came round in the recovery room two hours later with a nurse bending over me. She was apologizing “for not being Tom Jones,” but said I would have to make do with her for that day.

On my last day in hospital my surgeon came round with some students and was telling them how well the surgery went. He went on to say there was only one down side to it — everyone on the OR staff couldn’t get Delilah out of their heads and were singing it right through the surgery.

By the way, when I awoke in my room after the surgery, I found flowers and the card you see at the left sitting by my bed. At first, I just couldn’t figure out how a card with Tom’s photo got there. But, I really didn’t care. The people who sent it knew it would be one “get well” card that actually made me feel better. Tom Jones has a way of doing that.

I LUV YA, TOMMY!!!

In tracking worldwide use of its search engine, google.com has unveiled a new tool, Google Trends.

The site allows you to see how many searches were done — and where the searches originated — for just about anything or anyone you can imagine. You can compare up to five different search names and even specify a time frame for searches and break them down into regions (US, UK, Denmark, Romania, etc.), cities and time periods back to January 2004.

So, we discovered that when you compare searches for Tom Jones and Rod Stewart, you find that the US city in which by far the most Tom Jones searches originated is — ta dah!!! — Las Vegas. And searches for Tom outnumber searches for Rod in Seattle, Dallas and New York, too. Compare, say, Tom and Engelbert and….well, see for yourself.

The site is at the moment only available in English as it is still in development, but it is endlessly fascinating.

What do you think?

Stoned In Love has slipped to #14 from #9 on the Top of the Pops chart. It is at #22 on the BBC’s dance chart, down from #20 last week.

On the Welsh singles chart, the song slipped to #10 from #4 this week.

Stoned In Love is also now at #2, down from #1, on the MTV (UK) Dance and Galaxy chart which comes out, like the TOTP chart, Sunday night. As the brief MTV news story says, “It had to happen eventually.” And they did run this photo of Sir Tom with the story, so that may be some compensation.

But, you can probably still click and add your vote to this viewer-vote-based list..

Not a great quality picture or sound (and the brief voiceover is in Dutch), but here’s video of Tom and Robbie Williams at the Btit Awards, February 7, 1998 performing a medley of songs including You Can Leave Your Hat On and Land of 1,000 Dances. The performance, you can see, is a prime example of master and student. Just look how relaxed Tom is while Robbie is working so hard to keep up with him.

Tom was quoted after the show as saying this performance was critical for both singers. Williams’ album and career took off and Tom’s career was revitalized. The next year he released Reload and the rest is modern music history.

(Getty Images photo from a Norweigan website. Thanks for the video link, Andre.)

The Kumars at No. 42 episode with Tom and Jools Holland will be rerun June 2nd, 3rd and 6th on BBC America. Times vary, so check your local listings.

Meanwhile, you can watch a clip of this really, really funny show. Sanjeev and his family welcome Tom and Jools to their home/talk show set and the result is hilarious. Here Tom is discussing his days as a vacuum cleaner salesman.

In 1964 Tom and the Squires appeared on the British TV show The Beat Room, singing Chills and Fever. Matthew was kind enough to send a set of screen shots from that show and they are posted here. Or, you can click on “Screen Shots” at the right.

Since photos are posted in reverse order with the most recent first, you’ll have to scroll through the entire set of Screen Shots to find these at the end. But, does having to look at photos of Tom really bother anyone?

Note the drummer in these photos was Chris Slade, a Pontypridd native who went on to work with AC/DC from 1989 to 1994. You can find out more about him on his wikipedia page.

Here’s a Tom Jones trivia quiz. We’ll post the answers in a few weeks. Meanwhile, feel free to email us with your own questions about Tom’s career (and answers if you have them) and maybe we’ll do it again.

Of course, feel free to comment, just don’t give away the answers, please, and if you’re stuck, remember you can find many of them here on tomjonesinternational.com.

Have fun!

1. On which of Tom’s songs did Reg Dwight sing backup?
2. What was the name of one of the films it was announced Tom would make? And the other?
3. If they make a film of Tom’s life story, who did he say should probably play him?
4. What was Tommy Woodward’s first stage name? His band’s name?
5. On what street was “Dean Martin’s house?”
6. When did Tom always say onstage that “Dean Martin’s house” would become “Tom Jones’ house?”
7. When Tom sings, “The old house is still standing” on what street is the “old house” to which he is referring?
8. Which of his songs did Tom once tell an interviewer should be his epitaph?
9. Why did he choose that song?
10. What song contains this lyric: “I could never throw my knickers at you And I don’t come from Wales”
11. What kept Tom in the house for about two years?
12. Who is Tom’s favorite singer?
13. What is Tom’s favorite movie?
14. What song did Tom record to benefit ChildLine?
15. What was the name of the 12-episode Canadian series? (You know, the one that seems to go on forever? In fact, isn’t it amazing that it was only 12 episodes?)
16. What did Tom do at the end of each episode of this Canadian series?
17. Gordon Mills discovered and managed three performers —Tom and Engelbert and….?
18. What was the name of the TV film Tom did with Kirk Douglas?
19. What was the name of Tom’s series that was shown on VH1?
20. What did it say on the banner Tom really liked that was held aloft at Glastonbury?