TINA TURNER

The first time I saw Ike and Tina was the weekend before JFK was assassinated. They opened for the Righteous Brothers at the Cinnamon Cinder, a former bowling alley turned into a dance club in San Diego. The Righteous Brothers were in trouble, having to compete with Tina. Like every man up to and including Mick Jagger.

When she played Winterland in San Francisco, she left every guy in the audience in a cold sweat after she was through “Loving You A Bit Too Long.” As a female friend said, “What she does to that microphone should be declared illegal.”

When the Stones did their U.S. tour in 1969 that ended at Altamont, she blew them off the stage at the Oakland Colisseum. The bill was (in order of performance): James Taylor, B.B. King, Ike and Tina, The Stones. When Tina got through burning down the stage and they cleared the ruins, the Stones wouldn’t come out for over an hour. There were bullshit announcements that the plane to SFO was late, the limo was stuck in traffic on the 101, etc. Ralph Gleason had the goods the next day in his column in the Chronicle: they were there backstage the whole time, and Jagger was too intimidated to come out till he got talked into it.

The second show that night, they changed the performance order: James Taylor, Ike and Tina, B.B. King, the Stones. B.B. King being the only male musician on the planet who could come out on stage 15 minutes after Hurricane Tina blew through the joint.

Her recreation of herself in the 80s was a thing of wonder to anyone with an ear for music.

Every one of her shows I ever saw was the best rock entertainment ever. Tina Turner was a force of nature, and I never loved a performer like I loved Tina.

Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It?" (Live)

And just in case you wonder if she ever lost it - she didn’t. From the “later years”:

Tina Turner "Proud Mary" (Live)

My friend Jim Lenahan, the lighting and staging director who brought theatrical stage lighting to rock performances, once told me the tour he did with Tina was the most demanding, most challenging, and most fun he ever had during 50 years in the business. “It was all her.”

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