Fans Celebrate Tom Jones

166735_1.33Shirley Fishwick in California reports... March 1st is St. David's day, the national holiday of Wales. This St. David's Day, March 1st 2005, was also the 40th anniversary of It's Not Unusual hitting number one on the charts. To mark the occasion, two of us at Tom's March 1 show in Las Vegas made an anniversary card and took it around so audience members could sign it. Even working with two pens so two people could sign at once there wasn't enough time for everyone to sign who wanted to. The front of the card, decorated with an orange dragon, said, "Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! March 1, 1965 — St. David's Day — It's Not Unusual hits #1 — Happy 40th Tom! Keep It Up!" Inside it said, "Tom, We're happy to be with you on this special night!" Among the audience were lots of people from the UK (Manchester alone had six representatives), one couple from the town next to Pontypridd. One lady had been a fan since 1969 and had never seen him in person. Even staff from the Hollywood Theater signed. After the third song, Tom walked back to the stool with his water and picked up, first, a leek, explaining that the leek is the Welsh symbol and that it was St. David's Day. He did the same with a potted daffodil. That, of course, was our cue. Two of the women at our table lifted up the card. Tom came right over and accepted it. "Oh, look, you've gone the whole nine yards," he said, indicating the Welsh words and dragon. "Tom," said one of the women, "please open it." He did and saw all of the signatures. "My, everyone signed it, didn't they?" he asked. We asked if we could take a photo of him with the card and he posed. As always, he was charming and gracious and, as always, the show was smashing. Shirley Fishwick San Mateo, CA, USA, formerly of Llantrisant, Wales