Do you know this for a fact? I’m not questioning your authority on the subject, but I thought the same thing, too. Then I thought maybe they had some heaters there that made it possible to have a live performance. Just guessin’…anyone know for sure? Pre-recorded kinda sucks, even though it was wonderful.
Paging Gorilla Man (or is it GorillaMan?) He would know.
Cold weather can kill tuning on a guitar - the wood of the neck/body shrinks from the cold at a different rate than the metal of the strings; a real pain - so I would assume that this is true for most instruments made from multiple materials…
It’s actually a news item in the paper today - yep, it was a recording.
Damn it. I feel so used!
The HAT has sparked a surge of WANT.
I’m thinking Halloween Costume.
I wants a hat.
Can someone explain to me, and I’m not being a klan member here, but why is it black ladies wear hats ALOT and the only time white-wimmen are seen wearing them is some horse race or Royal Family member?
Anyone? I think there is some kind of Socialogical or Anthropological PhD Dissertation waiting to be written in this, srsly.
I think hats are spiffing.
If I was to make a wild ass guess, it’d be something to do with the difficulties of do-it-yourself hair for older black women. I bet it’s easier and more fabulous to slap a gorgeous hat on your head than to get into the salon just before church. Plus, of course, black church communities seem to encourage dressing more formally from head to toe.
White hair being less time consuming to care for and style yourself, white women have found hats fall out of favor as styles have gone more casual. But the times may be a-changin’. I hope so, I love hats, too. But it’s been really hard to FIND cute hats for decades. There was that brief flicker of hope when Debbie Gibson was a pop star in the 80’s, but then it died out again.
But this fall and winter at Target, there were suddenly a whole bunch of really cute winter hats with shape and structure. They were essentially classic hat shapes - derbies, bowlers, that style that looks like an upside down tulip, etc. - made out of wool and yarn. Tres cute. I’ve been sporting an adorable little brown newsie cap all winter. The spring line has similar stuff, but in lighter fabrics. So if real hats have made it to Target, they might actually make it to the sidewalks!
Yes, it’s true. I just heard this today myself. A quick Google comes up with this, among others.
It’s been mentioned a few times on CNN. String instruments just don’t stay in tune at that temperature. They were actually playing, but only those up-close could hear them.
(from the interview)
Interviewer: One thing, with your magnificent voice, is it hard to sing outdoors?
Franklin: It depends on the temperature. Yesterday, Mother Nature was not very kind to me. I’m going to deal with her when I get home…
I was still blessed to be able to pretty much just sing the melody, but I wasn’t happy with it, of course.
I just love her attitude. 
To speak in broad generalities, in the African-American church-going community, a lady’s Sunday Go-To-Church hat is a VERY, VERY, VERY big deal. They are considered a huge statement on a number of levels, and women will spend very large $$ on them. There was a great piece - on CNN? can’t remember - about this famous hat-maker, I think in Harlem, and that piece went on about the importance of a Sunday Church Hat. This is like a Japanese lady’s kimono, or a British gentleman’s Bowler hat back in the day - they are part of the pomp of the culture, and the one you pick says a lot about you within that group.
Again - I can see how, without that context, folks would look at Aretha and simply think she was a fashion whackjob - and while she may be ;), it is part of a tradition that many fellow Americans no very little about…
ok, that is it.
Anyone want to sponsor me on my quest to uncover the history of African American Hat and It’s Importance in the Community ( I’m sure the dissertation title will be filled with much more hubris, but the working book title is " Under Your Hat."
http://redhatladyshop.com/chhalawohaat.html
http://www.harlemsheaven.com/church-hats
Here is a great article on the phenomenon: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_/ai_n6019802
Here is a coffee-table picture book of ladies in their church hats: http://www.amazon.com/Crowns-Portraits-Black-Women-Church/dp/0385500866
Those were a few of the links just on the first page of my Google search - “ladies hats at African American churches” - out of about 1.7 million hits the search returned…
Have fun! 
She sucked. Frank Sinatra was an institution unto himself too, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing when he grew so doddering he couldn’t remember his own lyrics even with a teleprompter.
If she were somebody’s grandma trying gamely to belt out a song to the congregation on Sunday, she’d probably have gotten some polite applause and inspired a few bitten tongues. As the Queen of Soul, however, she receives cognitive dissonance in return for her literal dissonance. Her weak falsetto sounded like someone attempting to imitate Aretha Franklin, but not so loudly that the tenants in the next apartment can hear. And I deny anyone to affirm, with a straight face and purity of heart, that that wasn’t one of the stupidest fucking hats worn by a public figure in our lifetime.
As has been said above, she admitted in an interview that she sang very badly. She says she was freezing, and her vocal cords don’t work well in the cold.
Ed
You totally and completely RAWK!
There goes my brilliant book/dissertation , but I’m getting these through the library . SCHWEEEEET!
I <3 hats! I want to go back to the day when you weren’t fully dressed without one. Cloches, picture hats, doll hats, etc. sigh Take a look at some of THESE beauties.
Bono didn’t sound so grand on Sunday, either.