Tom Jones International

Yesterday we posted youtube video of Sir Tom at the Face The World Foundation gala in Vancouver on June 2 (newspaper photo at left).

As he said during that video, this year was his fourth at the event. In fact, Sir Tom, along with Jackie Collins and some others, is an honorary board member of the organization.

Face The World, a strictly local Vancouver charity, was formed in 1991 by Jacqui Cohen, president and CEO of Army & Navy Department Stores (greeting Tom at the 2007 gala in photo at right), the organization’s website says, “in order to give something back to the city she called home. She is still amazed at the generosity of the people of Vancouver and feels very proud of the fact that many lives have been improved through the hard work of those associated with Face The World.”

2007 was Sir Tom’s third time joining the festivities and, as he did again this year, he seemed to have a great time at the Face The World Foundation in 2007. Not much footage of him — or enough to please those of us who visit TJ websites — but it looks like a terrific event. Note: It is video from 2007 despite the number the video voice over guy gives as Tom’s age.

Here are two more photos from the red carpet at the 2008 event. Dom Perignon, the title sponsor, seems intent on teaching everyone how to drink champers! Without them, how would Sir T. and the others ever learn?

















Thanks so much to AF for finding the video for us and to the Wonder Woman at vegascommunityonline.com for helping us post it. You’re both terrific!

Video was posted on youtube from the charity event Tom did in Vancouver earlier this month. At 51 seconds in, you’ll see Tom and Don looking ever-so-elegant in tuxedos. Then, fast-forward (which you actually can do) to 4:50, where the interview with Tom begins. Then, there are clips of him singing. He does a subdued version of Kiss, a bit of Whole Lotta Shakin’ and It’s Not Unusual. We do apologize for all the other stuff that’s in there. We would have posted this hours ago, but we were trying to edit it and couldn’t. We’ll try harder next time and, if we can edit this in a timely fashion, we’ll fix it and repost it. (That’s a still of Tom performing taken from the video.)

On July 10, Christie’s in South Kensington (London) is having a “POPULAR CULTURE: ROCK & POP MEMORABILIA” auction. Among the items is Lot 109, described as, “A rare ¼ inch reel-to-reel master-tape recording of Tom Jones, 1962, on one reel of Emitape, featuring four un-released tracks, tracks comprise:
1.Don’t Pretend
2.Time Alone
3.What About Me
4.That’s What Love Can Do
the box inscribed with track details in an unknown hand.”

The Christie’s online catalog contains a full explanation of Lot 109, with a pre-auction estimate of £2,000 to £3,000. The four songs were recorded, it says — quoting as a source the unauthorized bio Tom Jones: Up Close — in the men’s football changing room (bathroom) in the Pontypridd YMCA during the time Tom (”Tommy Scott”) and The Senators (who were later briefly known as The Playboys and then The Squires) were being managed by Myron and Byron. You can bid for the lot online.

Anyway, we first heard about this auction when Dale, a UK TJ fan, emailed us suggesting we listen to the Chris Evans Show on BBC 2. For part of the show he is interviewing a woman from Christie’s and, at 26:47 into the interview he talks about the Tom Jones demo tape. You can skip to that part of the interview by using the fast forward arrow at the top left of the player.

(To listen to BBC’s Radio Player you need to have RealPlayer installed. If you don’t have it, you can download it here. If you have a pop-up blocker installed, just click on “launch BBC iPlayer” when you get to the BBC page.)

As he finishes talking about the demo tape, Evans plays a short clip from one song. It’s called Don’t Pretend. If you wish you can listen to the full demo.

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Our Fine Print — A Note About This Auction: We have copies of all four of these songs, clearly recorded onto a CD from records made from the demo tapes or from acetates, the test recordings made from master tapes before the record is produced. These recordings, like the one above, are complete with all of that terrific record-like ambient noise. The source material the auction house quotes — that book by Ellis and Sutherland — lists only songs that were done at that session by The Senators (”in a portable recording studio”), not by Tom Jones. The songs on the demo tape being auctioned aren’t mentioned at all in this source material but, of course, the source material may be incorrect about this as it is about so much. (It is a deeply terrible book, unoriginal and very badly written.)

We also want to tell you that someone we know paid a few hundred pounds on eBay for acetate recordings of these songs and he is not the person who gave us the demos on CD. So, obviously, these particular tracks are available if you look hard enough. Thus the price estimate of £2,000 to £3,000 seems a bit steep although, if you are insistent on the original, it may be right. If it is the original. But we do like the vintage photo Christie’s used, don’t you?

The June 15 post (below) in which Questlove (not us) is quoted saying he’ll be working with Tom, brought this email to us from Tom’s management’s office in the UK:

“Following up to your latest post re Questlove: Questlove has not been confirmed to produce anything on this album, but an announcement about Tom’s new project and the creative team involved will be made shortly on the official website.

“Feel free to post this update on your site.”

We thank them for the update. Stay tuned.

The Friars Club, as many of you know, is a show business shrine — a shrine to laughs and entertainment — and very exclusive club where members can gather. For most of its history it was an all-male bastion, formed in 1904 as the Press Agents Club. Its Roasts of the famous have become legendary. They’re private and feature what used to be “for men only” jokes. Through the years, the greatest names in entertainment — theater, music, film — have been members and have been roasted until well-done. In 1970 it was Tom’s turn. (He’s shown at the roast, top left, with Milton Berle — with whom he had another famous encounter — and, between them, stands the author of the article. What she wrote for what looks like some sort of tabloid is below. It doesn’t give much detail of what was said, only of what it was like to be a woman masquerading as a man and attending. (We’d have liked less of that and more of what actually went on, but it was almost 40 years ago and things were different then.) One note: Many of you may remember comedian Freddie Roman, who is now the Abbot (president) of the Friars Club, from the years he opened for Tom back in the day. Thanks to AF for the article.

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THE man with the mustache peering over the shoulders of singer tom Jnes and comedian Milton Berle isn’t really a man at all.

She’s freelance writer Gail Bryce — trying to find out just what men talk about when they get together for an all-male celebrity roast.

What she heard was enough to scorch her notebook.

Gail, disguised in men’s clothing, a fake mustache and wig, bluffed her way into a Friar’s Club roast for Tom Jones at New York’s Hilton Hotel. She was the only woman in a sea of men.

“I felt like Judas at the last supper,” she said. “one by one, actors, comics and singers stepped p to tell jokes that got dirtier and dirtier. In my opinion, the women haven’t been missing much.”

Gail mingled with Jones, Berle, Henny Youngman, Howard Cosell and Cab Calloway at an all-male cocktail party before the roast.

Then, during the roast itself, she noted such notables as Telly Savalas, Elliot Gould and Harry Guardino rolling in their seats as the dirty jokes were told.

Gail did have some touchy moments. Her stick-on mustache made her want to sneeze and at one point a man asked her for the time. ‘I just froze, pointed to my write and mumbled a throaty ‘eleven.’” She said.

Later, she was seated at a table with four strangers.

“I was a disaster as a dinner companion,” she said. “I coughed out ‘George’ during the introductions, pointed to my throat and then forked through the chicken, remembering to take bigger bites than usual.”

Her uneasiest moment came when she had to use the bathroom.

“Here was the moment of truth — men’s or ladies,” she said. “I picked the moment carefully and used the empty men’s.”

To prepare for the event Gail first called on Jacques Bellini, who designs outfits for Margaux Hemingway and Liza Minnelli. He fitted her with a brown and white pinstripe suit. Then she visited make-up artist Mark Traynor. He provided her with the faint five o-clock shadow, the mustache and dark man’s wig.

Gail left at the end of the roast without anyone recognizing her. Friar’s spokesman Walter Goldstein, who stood next to her at the cocktail party said later, “You’re the first woman to get away with it.”

We’ve again come across a few radio interviews Tom has done in the last several years that many of you may have missed, so we’ll be linking to them when we have the time. And, even if you’ve already heard them, it’s always great to hear that voice we love to hear singing, even when it is speaking, as that’s pretty spectacular, too.

In 2003, Terry Gross, host of the National Public Radio show Fresh Air did an in-depth interview with Tom. It was intelligent and far-ranging. As the NPR program note says:

“The musical icon first gained fame with the 1960s hits It’s Not Unusual, Delilah, and What’s New Pussycat. In the last 40 years of his career, he has released more than 30 hit singles and several gold and multi-platinum records. In his heyday he was famous for his live performances and for the frenzy he caused amongst his female fans — many of whom threw their underwear onstage and rushed the stage. Jones’ name today has come to connote hipness and romance.”

If you haven’t heard it before, or would like to revisit it, here’s Tom Jones On Fresh Air

If you cannot play Real Media on your computer, you can go here to download it in Windows Media format.

On May 28 it was reported in an online blog that ?uestlove (that’s “Questlove”) has said he’ll produce Tom Jones. He says, too, that he has a meeting with Tom in July.

According to wikipedia, “Ahmir Khalib Thompson (left) (born on January 20, 1971), known professionally as ?uestlove or Questlove, a.k.a. BROther ?uestion or Brother Question, is an American drummer, DJ, music journalist and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for hip hop band The Roots and has produced for artists such as Common, D’Angelo, and more recently, Al Green. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, the Grand Negaz, and The Grand Wizzards.” If you read his full bio, you’ll see that his music credentials are really solid.

We first heard of him when someone told us what a terrific drummer he is. He’s certainly played with some great people. We don’t doubt, at the least, that there’s a meeting set for next month. Still, we’d sure like the CD still being worked on now to be completed before a new project is begun. (Unless this is merely but one cut on that CD.)

We have to give ?uestlove props for his comments about critic Robert Christgau in the same article. The former Village Voice music critic used to write for Newsday, the daily on Long Island and, a few months ago, we posted his review of Tom and Enge from the Westbury Music Fair in 1972. These reviews are well-worth reading again. (Photo of Tom at right was taken in 1972.)

So, it might be jumping the gun to say for sure what’s going to happen, but it is great that artists from every music sector admire Sir Tom.

We often get emails asking for recommendations for TJ biographies. There have been books written about Tom. There have been bios on TV and there have been all sorts of newspaper and magazine articles over the years. But, for just plain, unvarnished truth as complete as possible — just the facts — if you’re looking for solid information on the life of Sir Tom Jones from kid to knight, you just need to go to the BBC Wales Tom Jones biography on the BBC website. The entire TJ mini-site there contains a wealth of information and resources for anyone thirsting for Tom and, perhaps best of all, this gossip-free bio. It’s long, fact-packed and accurate. It’s worth reading if you haven’t already.

This photo of Tom wearing all leather performing back in the day with The Squires, is from the BBC Wales biography.

A Canadian fan gave this to us the other day. The video may be rough and incomplete, but you get the idea and you get to see that white jacket and that terrific move when he turns his back on the audience. In this clip, the song ends kind of abruptly but, then again, so did Delilah, right?

We thank this fan for sending it along and want to say again how we appreciate anything — like this and the article we posted yesterday — you send for others to enjoy.

For the record, the video is in QuickTime format.

John Sandilands was a British journalist who wrote beautifully and, at times, behaved badly. When he died at 72 in 2004 he left behind an interesting and very readable body of work that his partner carefully catalogued on a website, John Sandilands: 50 Years of Popular Journalism. We really like this piece from the February 1969 edition of The Daily Sketch. It provides insight into the relationship of Tom and Gordon (and Enge) and is really interesting. AF sent it to us a couple of weeks ago when the memorial plaque was unveiled at Gordon’s home in Wales. We thank AF and hope you enjoy it as much as we did. (Talk about “back in the day:” a Rolls Royce for £11,000!)

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The Star Maker

Daily Sketch: Feb 69/The star maker (Tom Jones, etc)

TOM JONES is up there on stage in his tempestuous trousers, hips moving thunderously, head thrown back, eyes closed, totally abandoned to that big Welsh voice that is now known around the world. There is tension about as Tom records his transatlantic TV series This is … Tom Jones but it is all in the wings and can be traced to another Welshman called Gordon Mills.

Mills is the shadowy Svengali who manages Jones and that almost equally eruptive phenomenon: Engelbert Humperdinck. In less than four years he has guided them to international renown and a joint annual income estimated, even by the cautious, at more than a million pounds.

In addition he has an interest in an agency that handles a growing stable of stars like Kathy Kirby Mary Hopkin. Solomon King and Leapy Lee. And from tomorrow he will be concerned in the recording career of Frankie Vaughan, one of the artists managed by the Grade Organisation. It is a feat that makes him a natural successor to Brian Epstein of Beatles fame. In the process. Mills, a former Tonypandy bus conductor, has collected a considerable fortune of his own. Tonight, at the ATV studios in Elstree, he is showing how it was earned.

Every bit as taut as the seat of Tom’s trousers, Mills moves distractedly among the snaking cables and the scenery flats watching Tom like an anxious parent at a school concert. Still in his hand, an expensive worry bead, is the ignition key of his £ 11,000 Rolls.
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