Kim Morgan on Ike Turner

"There's a mystery and rawness to Ike that hung on him like the dust of a criminal out on parole. People ponder all sorts of scenarios when watching Ike. They even hated him. Take the talented Salon columnist Cintra Wilson's review of an Ike Turner show from 1999 in which she goes one step further by erroneously calling Ike a 'purported musician.' 'Purported musician?' Calling Ike Turner a purported musician is like calling Henry Ford a purported car maker. Ike Turner was a pioneer, a legend and there's no questioning of his chops, right to the very end, no matter how many vicious beatings occurred in his lifetime."

There were a lot of things you could say about Ike Turner - not all of them positive, some of them downright repellent - but you couldn't deny that he was a great musician. For co-writing "Rocket '88" (the song that helped give birth to rock 'n' roll) alone he deserves to be honored. Sunset Gun's Kim Morgan has written an excellent and passionate tribute to someone who, however flawed, moved us greatly. I'm sure some will take issue with it, but there were many accomplishments of Ike Turner's that were well worth remembering, and as usual, Kim has done a tremendous job bringing them to light.