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Ike Turner died?


Phil O'Keefe

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I'm sorry, not to be cold hearted, but why is Ike Turner dying sad? This guy was a total POS from what I know...

 

 

 

A buddy and I were just discussing this, and he said that God would probably decide to "wait until Tina gets here" and then discuss things with Ike. My response was that when she does, God should turn Tina into a gigantic, 500 lb version of Mike Tyson and then let them go a few rounds... with the winner being allowed to stay, and the loser being banished to the "other" place.

 

I know it's not kind to speak ill of the dead, and I certainly recognise Ike's musical contributions, but his life was not without its faults, and in many ways not an example of someone who I thinks deserves admiration.

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Ike was a drug user then cleaned up. He apparently was a prick when using. He got up on stage and played upright piano at the local music dive in San Diego. Kim Wilson, Pinetope Perkins, then Ike sat in... holy Moses! I didn't know he could play piano like that. He really rocked. This was maybe 2 years ago and he looked the picture of health that night...

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Someone can have admirable and despicable traits all at the same time. While I won't exactly be crying in my soup this evening, I do appreciate some of the talent that he had.

 

 

As do I Ken, and I realize that none of us are without fault. It's just too bad that his legacy will probably forever be tainted by stories of his and Tina's personal life together.

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I just got one of his recent CDs from the library about a week ago. Nothing really blew my hair back, but it just caught my attention.

 

He may not have had the most stellar personal life, but it's not like he never contributed anything to the music scene.

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There are MANY people who you guys idolize who do really bad things in private. If you don't realize that, you should. Some people die a saint having done really {censored}ty things.

 

BTW, I don't condone any crap he laid on Tina but domestic violence is pretty common. I would never lay a hand on a woman but tons of men do.

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There are MANY people who you guys idolize who do really bad things in private. If you don't realize that, you should. Some people die a saint having done really {censored}ty things.

 

 

I'm thinking of a certain British guitarist, worshipped as a demigod... who let his baby crawl out a window while he was shooting smack comes to mind... No amount of tear-jerking songs, written after the fact, can really erase that...

 

One of the "lovable moptops" has also emerged as a bit of an egomanical jerk in his latter days...

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I recall reading an excerpt from an interview in Performing Songwriter, where Ike said that the portrayal of him in the movie as a horrible villian wasn't accurate. Yeah, I know--who wouldn't say that about themselves? But if all the a**hole musicians in the world ceased to exist, we'd have no music to listen to. (Except for product from the fine folks here in the Harmony Central forums. ;))

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Say what you will: Ike
made
Tina.

 

 

Initially Ike made Tina. But Tina re-made herself. She was living pretty rough when she got her second big break. It was people like Rod Stewart who helped her get there. Had she not had "What's Love Got to Do with it" on early Mtv, she'd probably be working at Wal-mart right now. I don't think Ike was doing her any favors after she left him.

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I'm thinking of a certain British guitarist, worshipped as a demigod... who let his baby crawl out a window while
he
was shooting smack comes to mind... No amount of tear-jerking songs, written after the fact, can really erase that...


One of the "lovable moptops" has also emerged as a bit of an egomanical jerk in his latter days...

 

Whoah there... :eek:

 

First of all, Clapton's heroin days were in the early 1970's; long before the birth (and tragic death) of his son Conor. Secondly, he was reportedly clean long before Conor was born. And as I understand it, even when he was on heroin, he never shot up, but took the drug orally or via snorting it. Finally, as I understand it, Clapton wasn't even in the building when his son died.

 

If you've read reports to the contrary, I'd be interested in seeing some links to them. I'm not condoning the use of hard drugs, nor am I saying Clapton was perfect, but what you are saying is contrary to all the reports I've read on the matter, and if what I have read is correct, I don't think it's really fair to accuse him of culpability in his son's death.

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Initially Ike made Tina. But Tina re-made herself. She was living pretty rough when she got her second big break.

 

 

I knew Tina precisely at this juncture in her life. I spent a week with her and her entourage in 1982. By that time, she wasn't exactly "living rough".... she was doing shows in Vegas. The old MGM, before it got razed. Her act consisted mainly of her old hits (with and without Ike, like "Nutbush", "River Deep", etc.) and some covers of Bowie, Springsteen, Rod Stewart, her "Acid Queen" song... I dunno if she'd met the Heaven 17 boys as yet...

 

Her house was not packed, but it was.... respectable, and she put on a dynamite show. I don't think she even knows how to give less than 101% in her shows...

 

She did not discuss with us that she was into "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" at that time.

 

Just as Cher did over the death of Sonny despite their acrimonious split, I suspect Tina has shed more than one tear over this news tonight at her home in Zurich. She is not a hard-hearted person. Nowadays, she's a sweet old lady.

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Whoah there...
:eek:

First of all, Clapton's heroin days were in the early 1970's; long before the birth (and tragic death) of his son Conor. Secondly, he was reportedly clean long before Conor was born. And as I understand it, even when he was on heroin, he never shot up, but took the drug orally or via snorting it. Finally, as I understand it, Clapton wasn't even in the building when his son died.

 

OK, Phil... you're right! Point conceded. My bad.

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A drummer my parents used to work with, and I used to hang out with, was a drummer for Ike & Tina, back in the day.

 

He told us "Don't you all go thinkin' Ike was the only one that got punches in! Tina kicked his ass, and hard, more times than Ike's ever gonna admit. She beat the livin' shee-it outta him. Not that he didn't deserve it, for the most part."

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I listened to "River Deep, Mountain High" today. For an early birthday gift, a few people at work got me a Phil Spector two-CD set (the one with the Christmas disc as the second disc).

 

Anyway, woman's got some pipes, y'know? Fun song anyway. Tina's belting away, and the Phil Spector Wall of Sound is this amorphous, reverby blur. So gorgeous. So right.

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