Tom Robinson!!!

[Sunbeam]

I just received an email from the Tom Robinson Management list which made my day.
(Link to the full email content is at the bottom of this article) Here's the gist of it:

The War Baby: Hope and Glory album has just been re-released on all major digital platforms, including iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, Deezer, Tidal, and Bandcamp.

This release includes the 12" single versions of both War Baby, and Atmospherics (Listen to the Radio) as bonus tracks. Both of which I've been looking for, for years.

I have a Bandcamp account, so I went over there. The asking price is £5.99 GBP or more, so I offered £10.00 (about CAD$18) and immediately downloaded the album in FLAC (lossless) format. Life is Good.

There's also a listing of live shows for 2018, all in the UK, unfortunately for us in Canada.

To view the entire email newsletter content: http://mailchi.mp/7168f331991c/tom-robi ... 0e6795b90d

David, is there any influence we could exert which might convince Tom to do a few shows in Canada? Probably his largest fan-base outside the UK, thanks to you.

[Marsbar]

IN response to Sunbeam's question about Tom Robinson appearing in Canada

His last appearance was during World Pride (2014 I think). I don't recall what venue. It was poorly attended. Don Berns was there - as he and Tom had become friends - and told me there were only about six people at the event.

Tom Robinson was very much a LGBT rights activist and in some quarters is best known for the song "Glad to Be Gay", which was very popular in the 80's as young men and women were busting down the barriers and coming out of the closet.

It should have been much bigger, but as I say - it was poorly promoted. Even though Tom had come out as Gay years earlier - World Pride in Toronto was so big, with so many events - there were a few that got lost in the dust.

Tom is in his late 60s now and it may be too much for him to tour outside of the UK.

If Berns were still with us he could probably have made a call to Tom asking if he would do one stop in Toronto. Alas......

[Sunbeam]

I'm really sorry I missed that show (World Pride 2014), and that it was under-promoted. Had I known more at the time, I would surely have attended.

Promotion of a show with a primarily cult-following requires lots of time==money, just to get the word out to the faithful.

At least Tom seems to be having fun gigging with his band-mates in the UK, and has included a couple of old gems as bonuses along with his re-release of a classic. For the rest of us. Cheers!