Today it was reported that Tina Turner, Queen of Rock’n’Roll, had passed away in Switzerland after a long illness, aged 83. This has prompted me to write this Post in memory and respect, and to feature her song “The Best” to mark the addition of a third stone to TumbleStoneTwo’s Hall of Fame.
“The Best” is perhaps Tina Turner’s most well-known song in New Zealand and Australia as it was famously used to promote the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition in 1990 – see this YouTube video. Initially, in 1989 Turner’s “What You See Is What You Get” was used by the NRL – see this YouTube video. Its amazing success led to “The Best” campaign the following year. In 1993, Turner performed live at the NRL Grand Final. She then re-recorded “The Best” in 1993 with Australian musician Jimmy Barnes (video below). “It’s a song that has stood the test of time and is now synonymous with rugby league in this country” (ABC News). It helped to change the image and popularity of the NRL and was part of maybe the most successful sporting advertising campaign in Australia (NRL.com).
Tina Turner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 1991 with her then-husband Ike Turner and again in 2021 as a solo performer. TumbleStoneTwo’s Hall of Fame contains simply the best of the stones I have found and polished. The first inductee was an agatised fossil coral from Gemstone Beach. The second was a mossy jasper from Kakanui’s Seadown Beach. The third stone added today to the Hall of Fame is a hematite jasper I found on the beach at Timaru South in March 2022. It was just a bit too big for me to tumble so I asked my friend Tracey Kidd who lives near Christchurch if she would give it a go – she has a tumbling barrel larger than my largest 12lb one. Tracey went ahead and tumbled it successfully. The shine on it is so good that it is difficult to photograph without reflections interfering, even in bright direct sunlight.
The polished stone is 7.5 cm long and heavy – it weighs 20 grams. It has a few small holes in it as it started out in a bit of a mangled condition. But it polished very well, thanks to Tracey’s work.
One thought on ““Simply the Best” – Third Stone Added to TumbleStoneTwo’s Hall of Fame”