Aretha Franklin News

Cookie Monster is planning to bake 233 cookies for America's birthday celebration on Saturday -- one for each year.

David Jerome is obsessed. He has beast on the mind. Idyllbeast, to be precise. He is hoping that the reported 98th-annual Idyllbeast Festival, to be held at Caf Aroma from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 4, may lure the curious, but famously shy, hairy, apelike bipedal hominoid to the bistro environs.

Follows raconteur Garrison Keillor - and his crew of actors, musicians and technical staff - as he criss-crosses the country, broadcasting, recording and revealing himself.

When the Queen of Soul takes you to church, you stand up and listen. For nearly two and a half hours on Friday at the Hollywood Bowl, the venerated diva of divas, Aretha Franklin, took the audience to church with her soul and gospel roots, commanding the stage like a preacher leading her congregation.

What Black American culture - musical and otherwise - lacks for now isn't talent or ambition, but the unmistakable presence of some kind of spiritual genius: the sense that something other than or even more than human is speaking through whatever fragile mortal vessel is burdened with repping for the divine, the magical, the supernatural, the ...

"We're going back, we're just not going back there," Franklin said early in the second half of her two hours onstage.

I used to spend a lot of time and money purchasing slick vinyl re-issues of "forgotten" or "lost" eras in American music: albums with titles like New Orleans Funk, Vol.

Only a handful of pop artists forever changed the way others approach the craft.

Natasha Bedingfield performs at Universal Orlando on Saturday, June 27, 2009. Natasha Bedingfield knows she has made it in the music industry.

A For some strange reason, I have a history of meeting young performers when they reach age 12.

Aretha Franklin's hat, which she wore to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, has become a design inspiration for many objects.

Aretha Franklin performs at the 85th annual New York Stock Exchange Christmas tree lighting festivities on Wall Street December 4, 2008 in New York City.

Aretha Franklin Looks Corny Reader Comments 2 ) 1 1. Lovely? Posted at 1:51PM on Jun 25th 2009 by Mickey 2. I wonder ... why doesn't she consider a breast reduction and a proper diet regimen? She is not in the greatest health as it is from what I understand and being her size IS NOT healthy at all.

Quadrophenia is everything that Tommy wanted to be, a rock opera that told a story, but one where every song could still stand alone.

For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings bring their classic soul sound to Power Center Thursday as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

The Life Pursuit is a sort of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. You get Belle & Sebastian's peanut butter dipped in a 'Have A Nice Day!' and glam 70s chocol Haunted Poe Aretha Sings the Blues Aretha Franklin While she didn't always have the best taste in song selection, Aretha Franklin is a must-study for anyone with interest in the human voice.

Two of the soulful stars of this year's 'Capitol Fourth' concert might seem like opposites.

There's nothing like listening to old school music. I'm not so much a fan of classic rock, but I'm more of a Motown girl, as well as tunes from my generation.

The Desert Winds Freedom Band will hold a free performance Saturday at the Rancho Mirage Public Library.