Tom Jones International

Friday, August 1 at 9 p.m. and Saturday, August 2 at 8 p.m. are days and times that have Tom Jones fans in the northeast panting in anticipation. With a New Jersey schedule that has lately featured two performances, rather than three (in winter) or four (in warm weather) as was standard, these people want some Tom!

When tickets went on sale May 17 at noon, it was immediately apparent that good seats were hard to find. Priced reasonably at $60.50, $40.50 and $25.50, it seemed the shows were within the reach of most fans, especially when compared with ticket prices elsewhere.

Factored into any seat availability in a casino are the tickets put aside for high rollers. That always makes the best seats in the house more difficult to obtain.

This time in AC, Tom will be playing in the 5,292-seat Mark G. Etess Arena, rather than the Taj’s 1,400-seat Xanadu showroom. The arena’s used for all sorts of events — from boxing to comedy to Tom Jones.

So, now, the good news is that you can still get front row center tickets to see Tom. The bad news is that they’re being sold for $975 each (and you must buy two) for Friday night and, for Saturday night, they have four (4) tickets front and center for $1,040 each. You only have to buy two of the four.

This can be considered good news for Sir Tom — his tickets are certainly in demand, otherwise the scalpers (oooh! did we say “scalpers” out loud?) wouldn’t be hoarding them to sell.

Of course, the bad news is that the fans suffer.

These tickets can be found at a range of prices and for very good and very bad seats at several ticket sites. We won’t list them or link to them. If you’re interested you’ll have to do that yourself. If you do, bear in mind that there are a lot of counterfeit tickets floating around in cyberspace.

In addition, seats for Tom’s shows at the MGM Grand August 7 through 20 and October 30 through November 12 are being sold for exorbitant prices — $370, for example, for seats in Section 2, Row C. They’re OK seats, but they’re pretty far back. If you buy tickets from the MGM box office, they are $92.40 each. And you’ll probably get better seats.

For both venues we have to note that tickets are still available at the box office and, at least in the case of MGM, you can do better at the box office.

As we — and lots of people down through the centuries — have said before, caveat emptor (”let the buyer beware”).

NOTE: For information on ticket “reselling” laws, check out this website posted by the the government of Connecticut. USA Today says “…State laws governing the resale of tickets are often murky. In New Jersey, it is illegal for a licensed broker or season ticket holder to sell a ticket to any event held in the state for more than 50% above the price the broker or season ticket holder paid.” We believe $1,000+ is more than 50 percent over the face value of a ticket that sells for $80.50. Nevada — no surprise —has no scalping law.The New England Patriots sued StubHub for violating the teams scalping laws and the online broker had to turn over the names of 13,000 people who were reselling the football team’s tickets.

It’s being reported by Canadian Idol that Tom Jones will appear on the show this season.

Since there are only eight contestants remaining, we’d guess that if this is true, he’ll be on in late August or September.

What we find odd is that Tom has expressed his strong views on this type of show — Pop Idol in the UK and American Idol here. And those views are not positive. But, on the bright side, maybe he’s doing it to promote his new CD. And look what it did for sales of Neil Diamond’s CD. (After his appearance on American Idol Diamond’s new CD debuted at #1 — a first for him.)

Remember, it’s not true unless confirmed on tomjones.com. But if it is true, we hope our Canadian friends can go the show.

Stories like this were quite common before the late 1980s. Magazines and newspapers were always telling readers about the secret home life of a star, a favorite recipe or anything to make a reader believe they could live like a star because, after all, movie stars, singing idols, TV actors are just like us, aren’t they? It’s not, of course, that entertainers didn’t do things mere mortals did, but no way did they live the same kind of lives. Here’s an example of that:

Johna Blinn had a newspaper column called Cooking With The Stars. Obviously, she’d feature recipes that were allegedly the favorites of celebrities of the day. (We can find records of recipes of Woody Allen, Natalie Wood and — remember him? — Caesar Romero, among others.) Here’s one “from” Tom Jones in 1981 — curried chicken.

The interview, we must say, has a ring of truth to it, but who actually gave her the interview is open to question. And we know Brits are among those who, in general, tend to love curries. But, can we imagine Tom Jones serving up a “heaping plate” of curried chicken delight “Welsh-style?”

Anyway, if you try this, let us know how it is.

You can make the clip larger by clicking on it. Thanks again, AF.

Back in April, 2006, MSN UK interviewed Tom and Nick Bracegirdle (aka Chicane) on the release of their single, Stoned In Love. Really new fans might not have heard the song, but we can say that there’s hardly any song that has divided fans like this one. Seems you either love it or hate it. We’re posting this interview again because (first), we’ve learned many fans didn’t see it and plowing through our archives — although the search function on this site does work well — can be difficult and (second) we like what is said….about Tom, by Tom about music, about Las Vegas (he gets it where so many don’t.) If you haven’t heard the song you can do so at the end of the post.

Interview: Tom Jones

He has hung out with the best, and recorded with the greatest in the business since starting out in entertainment five decades ago! We caught up with him to talk about his latest single, ‘Stoned In Love’, and how he’s always managed to stay ahead of the game…

Few artists have remained successful over the course of five decades, fewer still credible. How many have managed both? Engelbert Humperdinck? Go on then, name his last hit single. Cliff Richard? Exactly.

Sir Tom Jones is the exception that proves the rule. We caught up with him to talk about his latest single, ‘Stoned In Love’, and how he’s always managed to stay ahead of the game…

Sir Tom Jones has a story he is fond of telling. Having become a figure of fun by the ’80s, a medallion-wearing, hairy-chested lothario of the old-school, he pulled off the greatest comeback ever thanks to some canny management decisions, an ability to laugh at himself, and, of course, that voice.

Despite this, when he was asked to play Glastonbury in 1993, he wasn’t sure what kind of reception he was going to get. Were they, you know, taking the you-know-what? What would a crowd of people young enough to be his grandchildren make of him? Then he walked on stage and saw a banner bearing the legend ‘Tom F****** Jones!’ and he knew it was going to be ok.

13 years later, as I sit anxiously in a hotel room in London, I know how both he and the guy holding the banner felt. Nick from Chicane walks in first. Lest we forget, Nick is the reason Sir Tom has a new single out, the soon-to-be dance anthem, ‘Stoned In Love’. Then, two minutes later, the man they call ‘The Voice’ enters. Tom F****** Jones.

How did the collaboration with Chicane come about?
Nick – I had the song written but my singing is atrocious. I spent a lot of time thinking about who and what would be good. While we were doing the song, it became obvious that it was a big song, big chorus, and I was trying to figure out who would be the right person for it. Everything has to slot into place. I mean, you can have the best song in the world and the best singer in the world but it just doesn’t gel, you know? Tom sprung to mind, as did two other Welshmen…

Can I ask who they were? Nick – James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers and Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics. It wasn’t a Welsh thing particularly, it’s just they’ve all got absolutely stunning voices, but Tom was the one I fancied most of all, simply because I think he’s got the biggest voice and the biggest charisma. So I sent it off and…

Tom (interrupting) – And I heard it. And I loved it. I thought the song was a great song, a proper song. The structure of it is right. It could be done in different ways really but it happens to be done in a dance vein, which works really well. I loved the way the track sounded. So that was it. Nick came over to Malibu, he already had the track, and he told me what he wanted, which was to sing the verse lighter at the beginning, not to give it away too soon.
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Well, we’re happy to report our Rhondda Valley girl Shirley called one of your moderators in Las Vegas (while said moderator was having dinner with Keith Cooper — remember him? — and his wife Joedy) after the show at the Silver Legacy in Reno Saturday night to report: “This show was better than the one at Mountain View Winery. He brought the house down!

“He was sweating like he did in the photo posted the other day (and the one here that Nancy took in San Diego),” Shirley adds. “Someone shouted at him, ‘Take it off!’

“Tom answered, ‘We’ve got plenty of time. I’ll have it all off by the end of the night.’

“Alas,” she concluded, “he didn’t, but he did blow the roof off! He is a great, great entertainer!”

Looks like Shirl had a blast and, below, Nancy has added her reviews of the San Diego and Costa Mesa shows from July 13 and 15, respectively.

We hope all of you who were at the shows this week add your review in the comment section below. This site is for fans to share the joy and this is a perfect opportunity to do so.

Nancy’s “Overdue” Reviews of Two Incredible Events — July 13 and 15

Please excuse the tardiness of these reviews. After doing extreme audience participation at two of Tom’s concerts in a three-day period, I was pretty much unable to think straight or write a meaningful sentence. I had to wait until my Tom Jones Fever broke.

On Sunday, July 13, my friend Patty J (another big Tom fan) and I had great 8th row center seats at Humphreys in San Diego. This is the venue that’s outside, and right on the water. For those of you who haven’t been to any shows at Humphreys (they have a huge schedule of all kinds of acts each summer), they sell Rows 1-7 only to those who buy their (overpriced) dinner and hotel packages. For example, the dinner package is $68.00 plus the ticket price. So, the first available row for regular ticket buyers is row 8. I really don’t like this system at all since I like sitting up closer to Tom, but obviously Humphreys does.
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Jay Allen Sanford has a blog on the San Diego Weekly Reader, a newspaper he says is the weekly with the third-highest circulation in the country. He’s an interesting guy. You can check him out on his myspace page.

Last year he wrote about My Worst Celebrity Interviews Ever. It’s a great read, so we even forgive him for using the dreaded c-word (um, that’s “crooner”) about Tom (left, looking fabu in 1994). It’s very funny, so we’re posting this excerpt (you can read the entire piece by clicking on the link above). It clearly demonstrates that Sir Tom has a quick wit and a solid sense of humor. Of course, Courtney Love’s photo from 1992 is on the right.

“Worst interruption or distraction: Courtney Love’s cootchie [Civic Theater 12-12-94] - Backstage at [San Diego radio station] 91X’s Christmas concert, I was trying to have an earnest conversation with legendary crooner Tom Jones, but seated on a bench just opposite where we stood was Hole singer Courtney Love. Love kept lifting her short raggedy dress to her chin every time Jones looked in her direction, knees akimbo far more than was necessary for us to ascertain that she wasn’t wearing panties and that her hygiene routine apparently didn’t include razors or wax. Love winked at Jones with every flash but the Welsh sex symbol, to his credit, didn’t even acknowledge the dark and frightening pelvic forest she was trying to lure him toward. That is, until just as I was turning off my tape recorder to leave, whereupon he leaned over and whispered in my ear “On the bright side, I don’t have to worry about her throwing her undergarments at me!’”

Please, don’t get agitated. We warned you in the post headline. As a moderator on another forum said to TJ fans who objected to the content of a post, “don’t read it.”

Our dear friend Shirley — a Valley Girl from the Rhondda — called after tonight’s concert to file a report. We appreciate it so much and want to thank her and say “hi” to the other fans we know who were there. We missed being with them, but reading this it feels like we were there.

The Mountain View Winery is a beautiful venue, set high on a hill with a breathtaking view of the valley below. There are several levels of seating from that for season ticket holders to the GA seats on benches at the top of the hill. The stage was small — about half the size of the MGM — so the band and singers were kind of crowded.

There was a comedian on before Tom. His name was Mark Butler. He was very funny. He did an audience participation act and the audience responded really well.

Tom was absolutely great. It was the same set list as it’s been since 2006 and he didn’t talk to anyone from the stage but there were loads of panties thrown and lots of people calling out to him. That’s fine, but when he is singing a ballad, the audience should really be still and show some respect.

Other than remarking that there was a full moon, all of Tom’s patter between songs was as usual. But there was more hip-swinging than I’ve seen in a long time. He was really, as we Taffys say, “hepped up,” and his Welsh accent was very pronounced this evening.

He was wearing a navy blue suit — same shirt — instead of a red or white jacket. Those were probably too hot, as we read here he was sweating like crazy the last shows Sunday and Tuesday in San Diego and Orange County, respectively. (Editor’s Note: The photo above of Tom in San Diego was sent by Nancy. It clearly illustrates the point made in the review of that show.)

I was seated on an aisle but it was difficult to see when people came up front to dance. There was room by the seats to dance and security nicely made people go back. The audience, I must say, was of all ages. Lots of people in their 20s, especially up front.

I’ve seen this exact show probably more than two dozen times but what keeps me coming back is Tom Jones — his singing, his very presence. I’ve been seeing him since 1962 in Wales and, when I see him now, I am reminded of Tom as he was then. To me, he’ll always be that Tom Jones. And, tonight, when I listened to him, I was homesick. But I was also very happy.

On the way out of the car park, everyone was tooting their horns at me. I thought it was because they thought I was holding up traffic. But, when I rolled the window down to see what was causing the fuss, we realized the people were shouting and pointing because they were noticing my license plate (right, obviously).

—Shirley

As we posted below, Sir George Martin’s prodigious musical accomplishments were honored by the Grammy Foundation in LA Saturday, July 12. Conflicting schedules kept Macca and Ringo away but, despite their absence, it sounds like it was a terrific event. We would have loved to hear Tom tell his story and sing, accompanied by Jeff Beck and, then, Joe Walsh. We think these are great photos, especially the on on the top left. We would have posted this when it came out, but Tom’s show reviews and the Reno preview came first.

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L.A. Times Music Blog/July 14, 2008 5:00pm
Highlights from the Grammy tribute to Beatles producer George Martin

The most touching moments at Saturday’s Grammy Foundation salute to longtime Beatles producer George Martin came from those who shared stories of their associations with Martin and/or the Beatles.

Before delivering his own whisper-sung version of the hit theme song from Alfie, veteran composer Burt Bacharach recalled meeting Martin for the first time in the mid-1960s when Cilla Black was recording the song in England (before Dionne Warwick’s U.S. hit version). “I must have driven everyone crazy,” Bacharach said. “I think we did 34 takes.”

Tom Jones told of sharing a drink with Paul McCartney in an English pub circa 1968 and asking, “When are you going to write me a song?” McCartney came back with a tune he offered Jones, but said it ought to be his next single. Because his record company already had another single in the pipeline for release, Jones wistfully noted, “I had to let this song slip. You win some and you lose some,” then jumped into the opening line: “The long and winding road …”

Ironically, the arrangement would have been more fitting for a tribute to Phil Spector, filled as it was with the strings and horns echoing the 1970 version Spector produced for the Let It Be album. That version long irritated McCartney and was one impetus for the 2003 release of Let It Be … Naked, which stripped Spector’s production off those sessions.

Near the end of Jones’ event-closing performance, emcee and conductor David Foster coaxed Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh out of the crowd and onstage to join Jones in Eddie Floyd’s R&B hit Knock on Wood. Foster then asked for an encore, and Walsh launched into an impromptu version of what came off like a bar band’s third-set stab at Life’s Been Good.

Walsh earlier had ponied up $10,000 for one of four charity items auctioned off by Foster to increase the night’s take for the Grammy Foundation, established in 1989 to promote the role recorded music has played in American culture.

The big item was a reproduction of Martin’s score for the string arrangement he wrote for Yesterday, signed by Martin and McCartney. It fetched $14,000. Other items were artwork donated by Ringo Starr and Herb Alpert and a virtual appearance in a forthcoming edition of John Madden’s NFL videogame (be on the lookout for Walsh’s mug racing toward the goal posts).

Technical difficulties aren’t uncommon at galas like this one, held outdoors at USC’s McCarthy Quad. Even so, you had to feel an extra measure of empathy for Alison Sudol, lead singer of A Fine Frenzy. She stepped onstage with her band to sing the Beatles’ Across the Universe, but a faulty microphone prevented the words from flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, or anything else. As the band vamped the intro, Foster quickly handed over a functional mic and the song unfurled after just a short delay.

Speaking of sympathy, how about the thankless task handed to singer-songwriter Naomi Sommers? The singer-songwriter humbly toted her acoustic guitar onstage immediately after British guitar god Jeff Beck’s knockout performance of the Beatles’ A Day in the Life. For her part, Sommers, introduced as Martin’s latest talent discovery, went a very different direction, playing an original folk-bluegrass tune with accompaniment from her mandolinist father, Phil Rosenthal.

When Martin himself took the stage following an effusive introduction from Recording Academy President Neil Portnow that elicited a standing ovation, he said, a slight shake in his 82-year-old voice, “I’m not used to this, you know. It’s fantastic.”

But far from capping Martin’s career, Saturday’s salute constituted just another step along a still-unfolding path, as Martin is currently working on an eight-part history of recorded music that he’ll be hosting. On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives is scheduled to premiere in the U.S. on PBS in the fall of 2010.

— Randy Lewis

(That’s Tom with his Grammy Foundation gift bag, because everyone likes to be appreciated, right?)

This is the kind of review Tom Jones deserves. Not so much because it’s a rave — but it is — but because it’s thoughtful and this guy has done his homework. Why, he even points out that Green Green Grass of Home is not about Wales — a first in any review we’ve seen and long overdue. A few misspellings aside (so, OK, he’s not a country music fan, but we’ve done the same and one of us even edited a country music magazine), he understands Tom Jones’ place in the music firmament. Of course, he doesn’t understand Tom’s fans aren’t all cougars, don’t all throw panties and that many of the fans regardless of age deeply appreciate the guy’s way with a song. We know we do and we appreciate reviews like this. They’re too few and far between. And so are photos like this one — love the buttoned jacket. If you were there, please add your 2¢.

There are more great photos on the THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER website. Just click on “more photos” under the picture that’s next to the review. Our favorite is the one of the “slingshot” and the ones of Sir Tom ain’t bad, either.

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Tom Jones proves he’s still got it at Pacific

Review: Today’s pop hunks are no match for the pipes and versatility of the enduring sex symbol, the last of an endangered species of entertainer.

By BEN WENER/THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/July 16, 2008

“Before we go any further,” Tom Jones told Tuesday night’s expectedly excitable crowd at Pacific Amphitheatre, “I have to explain something. I didn’t write that song.”

He was referring to 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy, a Howlin’ Wolf classic he had slimmed down by a 100 to suit the hirsute Welshman’s barrel-chested physique. But it wouldn’t have mattered which song from his enjoyable 90-minute set he said it about. He didn’t write any of ‘em.

It’s not as if he has zero copyrights to his credit, but his biggest hits (and most of the smaller obscurities too) aren’t any of them. She’s a Lady? That’s Paul Anka’s ditty. What’s New Pussycat? – Bacharach & David, of course. Kiss – hopefully you know the funky little royal who penned that one. And Green Green Grass of Home, which so many fans tend to think is a paean to lush life just outside of Cardiff? That was actually put down by one Curly Putnam about the good ol’ U.S. of A., recorded by the late Porter Wagoner and then by Bobby Bare before young Tom got anywhere near it.
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This is a preview of Saturday night’s (July 19) show at the Silver Legacy in Reno, NV. Even though the interview is a couple of years old, it reads like it’s new. Ignore the list of recordings at the end, as it’s not quite complete and we think some of the singles listed were only released in the UK. But no matter. It’s a fun read. The photo is from Tom’s publicity kit.

Please remember to send a review of the show in Contra Costa Tuesday night.

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Tom Jones knew he was destined to be a star

July 16, 2008/Go To Reno Tahoe Who:

Tom Jones • When: 8 p.m. July 19 • Where: Reno Ballroom, Fourth and Center streets• Cost: $45, $70, $80 and $95 • Details: 888-288-1833 • Web: downtownreno.com

Best Bets

Picture this, pussycat. It’s the late ’50s in Wales, and it’s a Friday night at the local YMCA.

Onstage is a popular area band, Tommy Scott and the Senators, singing the hits of the day of artists such as Elvis, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry.

You might have been impressed by the strong vocals and good looks of Tommy Scott, a Welsh lad whose real name was Tom Woodward. But it’s unlikely you would have turned to your friend and said, “Wow, in a couple of years, that kid up there in the black leather is going to have a huge hit, win a Grammy and become one of the top sex symbols of an era.”

But that’s just what happened to Woodward, renamed Tom Jones in the mid-’60s by London manager Gordon Mills to link his new client to the good-looking, lowborn character of a popular movie of the day, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. (It was Mills who turned plain-sounding Arnold George Dorsey into Engelbert Humperdinck.)

Jones said he wasn’t surprised by his success. He had been expecting it since he was a youngster.

“When I was a child singing at parties, people always told me that I had something different,” he said in a 2006 interview.

“So, I believed as a child that I was going to become a star. … I thought if I can make a living at singing and not have to do a job of work that I didn’t like, that would be it.”
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