Tom Jones International

From Willamette Week, a newspaper in Oregon, comes an article called The Housewife’s Choice, in which the writer lists “six reasons why the ladies love Tom Jones.” Those reasons are that he’s: romantic, playful, comfortable with his sexuality, versatile, honest and knows his own shortcomings. It’s fun fluff with a grain o’ truth. (We noticed they borrowed some photos from this site for the collage they did that is shown at left.)

One review of Tuesday night’s show from The Edmondton Sun is overall a good one and we do understand why there is almost always mention panties (except the reviewer here in Las Vegas who unfailingly reviews Tom Jones, singer). When people don’t see him often, audience-tossed items are an unusual occurrence that one tends only to see at a Tom Jones show and it naturally draws comment. When people see him frequently, they often get annoyed by the interruption or, sometimes, even guess what he’ll do with a particular item — ignore it, pick it up, comment on it, etc. Practiced fans know there are ways to forecast what will happen.

This guy explains his dwelling on the panties by saying “it’s interesting that Jones can deal with this potentially embarrassing phenomenon, indeed make it part of his act, and still manage not to look silly in his music.”

He also says, [Tom] “enjoys his gift. He’s having fun. He’s also a master of timing, of using his voice to highlight emotion, of restraint to give his big notes more meaning.” On the whole, a good review, right? The color photo, right, is by Robert Taylor, Sun Media.

The other photo is from a review in The Edmondton Journal. This reviewer loved the show, opening with, “As brilliant and high-concept as Kanye West’s recent concert was, the brooding, “I’m-so-misunderstood” hip-hop star was missing one important component from his live show.

“Fun.

“That point was brought crashing down to earth as the devilishly silly Tom Jones and his 2,500 fans clapped, sang and laughed during Tuesday’s love-in at the Jubilee Auditorium.” She found a few, very minor, issues with the performance but it is on the whole a terrific review. Enjoy!

The Red Deer Advocate had a preview the other day of tonight’s show. The writer did her research on this one.

The black and white photo is by Shaughn Butts, The Journal.