A grange is different from a social hall...in Iowa we have granges....they were an association of farmers in a given township. The grange in the township west of me has been turned into a dinner theater/ winery. But I grew up in the northeast...urban New Jersey and lived back door to Italian hall...maybe had another name but that's what we called it. I took ballet lessons there...went to girl scout meetings and who knows what else....and we also had Koskuisko ( am sure I am spelling that wrong!) Hall and the Masonic Hall where we went to DeMoley dances and other events. The Red cross owned a building a block from my house, and there was a large room that could be used for workshops and meetings. Seems there were always women hanging around with Grey Lady uniforms...I don't even remember what Grey Ladies were!! Oh yes and The Womans' Club owned a building that could be rented for recitals and meetings....Kiwanis met there and we had a girl's club meetings and dances there. I don't know of any granges in my area that are still operating as granges....but we still have Odd Fellows, Moose and Optimists with meeting places in town, as well as VFW and American Legion and Elks. What is the difference between the Italian Hall which was out my back door and the VFW? Both have members and both "rent out" and are almost always open to the members.

THe first think I thought of was "Whats love got to do, go to do, with it"... but that is probably too long for a call name. Turner or Private Dancer...

Well if attending university qualifies, here's one humorous, perhaps lesser shining star, born in Arizona, who graduated from the Chicago Musical College, now part of Roosevelt University. Christine McIntyre received her Bachelors Degree in Music there in 1933 and was a classically trained soprano. She had a wonderful voice; no need for her movie singing scenes to be dubbed and she was quite a doll too. Miss McIntyre singing. And she could rough it up with the best of them. "Taking advantage of a poor, weak, helpless woman."

For those who haven't seen it, the HBO Tina Turner documentary is excellent. Just watched it and was saddened to discover she hated revisiting her abusive relationship as she had to do with interviewers for the rest of her life, following her initial interview about Ike's horrific treatment. As her second husband put it, it was very much like making a soldier relive their worst battlefield experiences. It also certainly made it clear Ike Turner was a worthless horrible human being-not only the appalling beatings, but always keeping control over her including creatively and of course financially. It's hard to watch now, but not uncommon I suppose back then that to gain her divorce/freedom she was willing to literally give up everything but her name and also become an indentured servant to him! I hadn't realized SHE ended up paying back all the lost income from dates that were cancelled when they split....even though he insisted on always being the 'lead' in the act I also never knew till reading it in the NYT that she renounced her US citizenship in 2013. But it makes sense; her career renaissance began and was nurtured in Europe. Her extraordinarily happy second marriage was with a European man. And truthfully, as a pigeonholed black woman artist America did not treat her all that well.