Tom Jones International

Here’s the second (and final) part of Diane Sawyer’s October 2003 interview with Tom Jones.

You’ll notice the interview was edited and what is apparently a question asked of Tom about that train station sign below in Wales by Charles Gibson (lately one of our favorite news anchors) is cut. The interview, too, is briefly sidetracked when Gibson reminds Diane Sawyer and the audience that weatherman Tony Perkins’ new son will be introduced that day.

Sorry, we took an extra day posting this because we really wanted to pay tribute to Paul Newman. (post below)



Back to our look at Tom Jones hard at work promoting Reloaded October 27 through 30, 2003.

He was celebrated during “Tom Jones Week” on Good Morning America during which there were two interviews and a concert. On September 26 we posted the intro and first interview by Lara Spencer.

Now, toward the end of the week — building up to the concert — the big guns are called out and Diane Sawyer interviews Tom Jones, Part I.

Pictured here are (from left) Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and that guy they’re interviewing.

Tomorrow, Part II.





And Pat reminds us that the new DVD available on amazon.uk is from the Canadian series, not from the This Is Tom Jones series like the TimeLife ones are despite what the title claims.

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Also, we want to wish those who celebrate it, L’Shana Tova — a happy Rosh Hashanah 5769. May the year ahead be healthy, prosperous, peaceful and filled with warmth, love, friendship and good music for everyone. Doesn’t time go by so quickly?

There is little we could even imagine saying that would do justice to the legend who was Paul Newman. Both of us numbered him among our favorites and — for his contributions to film and, perhaps more important, his contributions to making this world a better place — he will be deeply missed.

Paul Newman shown with Tom in these 1981 photos at (obviously) Caesars Palace. There was a Grand Prix race in held in Caesars parking lot. Newman raced; Jones was grand marshal of the parade. Looking at the development that is Caesars Palace (and the Las Vegas Strip) today, it’s very hard to imagine that much space, isn’t it.

This photo (left), from the same time in Las Vegas, was clearly taken after one of Tom’s shows. Love the way they’re comparing their chest hair. Great senses of humor.

We can only be grateful we were watching films and attending plays when Paul Newman was acting in them. If you don’t know his work, try to rent it and watch.

All we can say is Paul Newman never really had a failure to communicate. Finally — and, please, forgive the corn — “Goodnight, Sweet Prince. May flights of angels sing you to your rest.”

Forgot to include the photo above right in our original post. It shows Tom as “The New Man In Newman’s Bed,” taken as a PR stunt when Tom rented Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s home in LA on one of his first extended stays in the USA.

Thanks, UKFan, for the pictures with Tom and Paul Newman.

A brief interruption in our trip down Memory Lane when Tom was flogging Reloaded:

If you look at our post from September 19, in which we asked What do you think?, you’ll see that it, along with everything else posted on the song elicited almost an avalanche of comment.

If you haven’t had your say or want to say more, you can look again at the lyrics and video and comment below this post. (We closed the comments on the two posts we linked to here because people were missing them.)

Clearly, at least in Tom’s huge fan community, the song and the CD are already a hit because if they weren’t there wouldn’t be this much discussion. And, like it or not, one of the goals of any new project is to get the conversation, the talk, the buzz, going strong. On that basis alone, this new CD is a hit.

We also want to answer another question that popped up: No, the “cover” of the CD pictured elsewhere is not that cover — or so we’ve heard.

Tomorrow, back to the video from 2003 on Good Morning America.

Fans in the UK are much more used to Tom promoting a recording than are fans in the US. He did a great deal of work to get Stoned in Love some action there while — even though Chicane and Tom are both known here — the recording wasn’t even released outside the UK. But, when Tom Jones promotes a project, he does a good job of it.

In October 2003 when Reloaded was released in the USA, there was a Tom Jones TV blitz. He did lots of appearances on lots of shows. On Good Morning America he was featured for four days in a row.

The show was heavily promoted with a constant repetition of this ad.

On the show itself, there was a build-up to a concert on the Thursday morning.

That build-up included lots of talk with Tom. Here, Lara Spencer, Charles Gibson and Robin Roberts introduced the interview.

Finally, they showed the actual interview.

We will be posting more from the GMA week and we have to thank our friend The Flash for the video. Check out what he has to offer. It’s pretty amazing.

If you have trouble viewing these videos, you can go to our tji.com video library.

Since we’re sure Sir Tom will be busy promoting 24 Hours in the coming weeks and months, tomorrow we’ll begin to take a look back at his last promotional blitz in the US, when he released Reloaded in 2003. Be sure to tune in!

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Because we base our calendar print order on the number of calendar orders we receive, we have only limited time to take these orders. Last year, many people were unable to get a calendar because we just couldn’t get more printed despite lots of requests.

To give those of you who didn’t see last year’s edition an idea of the contents of our soon-to-be-published 2009 TJI.com Tom Jones Fan Calendar, we thought we’d post two pages from the 2008 edition.

On the left is October. The photos in color capture Tom in his early-80s “glam” phase, with eyeliner and pancake make-up, but still looking great. The black-and-white photo is a wonderful, emotional moment captured for posterity.

On the right is the extraordinary photo from his concert in Viña del Mar, Chile in February 2007. It gives us — the viewers — some sense of what it’s like to play to 20,000 people. It’s a really awesome shot and we were lucky to get it. (In case you’re wondering, before the concert, via this website, we were able to connect with some other entertainers and their crews who were performing at the Festival. That’s how we got this.)
Of course our TJI.com mascot — this dragon — is not in the middle of the photos on the calendar.

The calendars last year and this have lots photos of Tom through the years, lots of candid pictures and shots you’ve probably never seen before. There are also lots of significant dates in the TJ Chronology noted.

For this year’s edition, we’ve notified the people whose photos we are using because they do not have to pay. If you submitted a picture and haven’t heard, we’re saving your photo for possible inclusion in the 2010 edition. Thus, if you submitted a photo and haven’t heard, you’ll have to order a calendar. Our problem — and we’re thrilled to have it — is that we got so many terrific photos and we couldn’t use them all.

You can order the 2009 calendar for a limited time by clicking the appropriate button — inside the USA or outside — at right. Please be aware that your support of the calendar helps to support this website. We will also be making a charity donation out of the proceeds.

Please note: PayPal is set up for one (1) order at a time. We did this because people seemed to have difficulty last year with figuring out how much to pay. If you want to order more than one calendar, you’ll have to go to PayPal more than once. We’re sorry for any inconvenience but, after talking with the people at PayPal, we decided this was the best way to go. Thanks for understanding.

If you have a problem, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

There’s been lots of comment on the title song from Tom’s new CD, 24 Hours.

We think we kind of jumped the gun asking what you think about it (although your comments are welcome). We should have asked what we’re asking now:

What does it mean? What’s it all about?

We’re put the video here in case you want to refresh your memory and the lyrics are at right.

Have a look. Have a read. Maybe do it again. Then, tell us what you think.


You can pre-order 24 Hours by clicking the link at right.

2:30 PDT: According to google, between news stories and blogs, there are 4,000+ posts about Tom and his new CD. Pretty good, right?

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TopTJFan has weighed in with an interesting take on Give A Little Love. We usually really dislike videos that feature Tom’s voice and nothing-to-do-with-Tom video, but TopTJFan is getting pretty good and this, at least, is lots of fun. (But we wonder how Apple Corps will feel about it.)

Then the Tom’s home press chimes in, too, with the obvious — baring his soul, not his chest. (But, we say, don’t underestimate Sir Tom!)

Tom gets back to basics and bares his soul
Sep 22 2008 by Nathan Bevan, South Wales Echo

THE Sex Bomb is back , but this time It IS Unusual.
(more…)

KCRW, the NPR station out of Santa Monica State College, today features a song from 24 Hours. They’ve also posted the publicity photo from the CD in color.

By clicking this link you can hear Give A Little Love. And, for some reason, it’s available for free downloading.

Take this with a grain of salt. There’s going to be lots of “fors” and lots of “againsts.” But until we all — including critics and other assorted “experts” — hear the entire thing, it’s probably not worth the time to take sides or to get even remotely exercised about this. It’s like the “review” from a women’s website that someone posted on the tj.com forum — unsigned and a rehash of what’s already been written. It’s valueless except that research has undoubtedly shown that the women who visit that site like to read about Tom Jones. And, please, beware of any so-called review that is not signed.

In truth, we’re most anxious to hear what they’re going to say in the USA. This is the place where the magic must happen. Tom always sells well in the UK but, while that’s very important, the numbers are greater here and (forgive us UK fans) so is the prestige and the payoff in every way. Why it’s being released there first and why all the publicity effort is being made there is, as professionals, kind of beyond us. (And we are looking at this as people with a great deal of experience in entertainment journalism and marketing, not as US partisans. Please understand that before you get upset.)

If not now, when?

Click here to read to article.