RIP - Tina Turner!

Today I am reminded.

We had a family friend, who passed on a couple of years ago, who had a turn as Ike & Tina Turner's' drummer, back in the day.

Harold and I were sitting around drinking and talking one evening, in the manner us drummers are wont to do in the company of our own kind. He relayed to me some general retellings of his experiences then...how you could hear the screaming and fighting coming from their hotel room, the physical impacts, stuff thrown at each other... you know, those old chestnuts.

At one point, he took a good drag from his cigarette, paused a few seconds, then looked at me with a dead serious gaze and said:

"David, I know that a lot has been made about how much Ike beat her and abused her - and it's ALL TRUE - but let me tell you... that woman could hold her own and there were times that she gave Ike what he gave her...and THEN some. A DAMNED good asswhuppin'. A good number of times she beat the **** outta him, fighting back, and he gave in. And you could SEE it, the next day, in her presence...she was strong, and not to be **** with. Things would settle down for a few days, when that went down.

Now, I'm not trying to, y'know, 'minimize' what she went through, but I'm just sayin' that she didn't get quite the credit that she should have. And it was because of that - those ass-kickin's she gave Ike, and the strength it took - that she was able to get to where she is today."