Credit: J. Deseo/SSP
Montgomery College blew open the doors to its new performing arts center in South Silver Spring Friday night with that new-building smell and a soulful performance by Aretha Franklin.
Dressed in a full-length red gown (left), the corpulent Queen of Soul stood in stark contrast to the 500-seat theater’s cinderblock walls and chain mail curtains. That juxtaposition set the pace for a performance marked by stirring vocals and uncomfortable pauses.
Franklin started her performance with a monotone delivery of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”. With her vocal chords warmed over, she soon belted out joints with most of the range that marked her 40-year-long musical career.
But the audience, which gave Franklin a standing O at first sight, was reserved most of the evening. The near-sellout crowd applauded politely, clapped along when The Queen demanded “Respect”, and nodded their heads to the beat. Otherwise, their responses to Franklin were subdued, which led to a few awkward moments.
Franklin’s obligatory greeting — “So glad to be here in Silver Spring!” (or whatever) — drew only a smattering of claps. As she wrapped the show’s first half, she found herself in a “Sexual Chocolate” moment, mid-bow with the audience already done with their applause. The Queen quietly trapsed off stage.
In the second half, Franklin took everyone to church and unleashed a soulful remake of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Her wails of “Thank you, Jesus!” and “Hallelujah!” snapped a couple of audience members to attention.
But after she wished all a good night and exited to ovations, the audience immediately went quiet and began to gather their belongings. That’s when Franklin reappeared for a encore — a performance of the ballad “Believe in Yourself” from the 1975 musical “The Wiz”.
Her majesty’s appearance was the performing arts center’s inaugural event.
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I have read that her voice is very sensitive. On at least one occasion, she asked that the air conditioning be turned off. She seems to be somewhat of a perfectionist as well. An interview ran on WAMU (not sure which program) shortly after the inauguration. Franklin said she did not realize other performers pre-recorded their work. She sang live, and wanted to re-work the piece — before it became part of the official record, I presume. Being a star is much more work than most of us mere mortals realize.
“…the corpulent Queen of Soul”
How is that description even necessary? C’mon!
Editor’s note: What’s your objection? — JD (Sep 15, 2009)
What does her weight have to do with this event at all? Why is it necessary to point it out? How would you like to be described in terms of your size?
Well, the word does describe Franklin. If she had started out in life with a good fat-to-muscle ratio and tried to maintain it, she could have a different body now. But that is easier for some people than others, and I certainly would not want to judge another person about their size. In any case, traveling and performing are hard work. Carrying and otherwise coping with excess fat takes resources that she could use for performing. However, considering the food establishments we have now and are about to get in DTSS, more of us will probably wind up the same way soon.
Truthfully, her size did have something to do with her performance that evening. Despite her energetic vocals, she stood nearly motionless on stage the entire night. She had very little interaction with the audience, and I attribute that to her heft.
And that contributed to the show’s overall problem: Franklin and the audience didn’t connect.
That bit of editorial aside, I still don’t see a problem describing someone’s physical attributes. I call it like I see it: Aretha Franklin is a big woman. So am I (short, too).
So you wouldn’t be bothered if you were profiled on another blog as “fat-ass blogger Jennifer Deseo” when the profile itself had little to nothing to do with your weight? Did you ask other audience members if they thought her size was correlated to her performance? Might other factors have contributed to the crowd’s supposedly less-than-enthusiastic reception? I just think the description of her as “corpulent” is unnecessary – she’s fucking Aretha Franklin, there’s a lot more to the woman than her weight.
Editor’s note: If one were to describe me as “fat assed”, then I’d have no objection. It would be accurate. But if someone described me as “busty” or possessing a “nice rack”, that would be incorrect. My modest B-cups don’t qualify. — JD (Sep 15, 2009)
The tone of the whole review is just plain snarky. It’s pretty obvious that Jennifer was underwhelmed and not a fan of the music or Aretha.
Editor’s note: I love Aretha, but yes, I was completely underwhelmed. — JD (Sep 16, 2009)