Day Tripping: November 26

The Acid Queen

Anna Mae Bullock was born in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1939. During a tumultuous childhood, Bullock stayed close with her sister and the pair later spent evenings in St. Louis nightclubs.

One night, Anna Mae heard Ike Turner perform at the Manhattan Club and she went into a trance. She asked Ike if she could sing with him on stage but he never confirmed.

On another night, Bullock grabbed the mic during an intermission and started singing BB King’s You Know I Love You. The rest of that night, she sang with the band.

After she wrote and sang lead on the recording of A Fool In love, Ike took the $25,000 advance and renamed his singer Tina Turner so if she left, he could replace her and protect the name.

“Sometimes you have to let everything go — purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything — whatever is bringing you down — get rid of it. Because you will find that when you are free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

For the next sixteen years, the Ike & Tina Turner review rivalled James Brown for top billing while playing with some of the biggest acts in music. But Ike had become addicted to cocaine and was making deals without consulting the band.

Ike and Tina got into an argument in Dallas on July 1, 1976. Tina left Ike at the hotel that night filing for divorce three weeks later, and never looked back.

Today is:

National Cake Day — well, yeah.

Musical Ride

The day after Thanksgiving in 1965, Aleo Guthrie and a friend were cleaning up the church they used and threw trash down a hill out back when they can’t find a dump. The pair were arrested and fined $25 each and told to clean up the mess, but the event spawned Guthrie’s hit song, Alice’s Restaurant.

Interesting Notes

King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened by the English archaeologist, Howard Carter in 1922. In arguably the greatest archaeological discovery ever, the tomb was almost completely intact, unlike many others that had been plundered in the past.

Last Night

Three years after closing for a $4 million renovation, Toronto’s Massey Hall reopened featuring the star who played there last. Gordon Lightfoot performed his 171st show at the venue that was built in 1894.

Notable Births

1922 — Charles M. Schulz: “Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.”

1938 — Rich Little: “If I have a rough day, and I’m angry, I’ll just go into Kirk Douglas and throw over a table. And when I need to lift my spirits, Kermit can always do the trick.”

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

All previous Day Tripping entries are available at the following links:

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

A comprehensive directory for Day Tripping