{"id":4219,"date":"2018-09-03T00:56:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T07:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=4219"},"modified":"2018-09-03T00:56:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T07:56:55","slug":"farewell-to-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2018\/09\/03\/farewell-to-the-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to The Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

“When I saw Ariana Grande <\/strong>on the program, I thought that was something at Taco Bell!<\/em><\/span>“<\/em><\/span>  
\n\u2013 <\/em>Bishop Charles H. Ellis<\/strong>, who presided over Aretha Franklin<\/strong>\u2019s funeral, shares his thoughts on Miss Grande after her
\nperformance.  What does it say about me that I had the same thought?  Meet you at the Taco Bell<\/em>, Bishop.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ATTENTION ALL MEDIA OUTLETS:  Can you please get your shit together?  I hate to start off like this, but it\u2019s really getting out of control.  First, Fox News <\/em>used a photo of Patti LaBelle <\/strong>in their tribute to Aretha Franklin<\/strong>.  And then, the BBC <\/em>used a photo of Jenifer Lewis<\/strong>!!!  Y\u2019all, Jenifer\u2019s like a generation younger than Aretha.  Come on \u2013 all black people do not look alike.  Next you\u2019ll say all gay people look alike \u2013 and I swear to you THAT\u2019S not true.<\/p>\n

The confusion stemmed from Jenifer\u2019s performance at the Aretha Tribute Concert <\/em>that took place on the eve of the funeral.  Accompanied by the prodigious Marc Shaiman<\/strong>, Lewis sang a self-penned composition, \u201cThank You, Aretha\u201d.  Standing under the illuminated \u201cAretha\u201d sign, the Brits simply got confused\u2026as they are wont to do.  But there was no confusing Jen\u2019s sentiment, as you\u2019ll see on BillyMasters.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Prior to Jenifer, people watching the concert at home saw Patti LaBelle sing a teary rendition of \u201cYou Are My Friend\u201d.  Except, she didn\u2019t.  Sure, she sang it\u2026at a concert at the Dell<\/em> Music<\/em> Center<\/em> in Philadelphia a week earlier.  They simply filmed it and rolled it into the tribute concert, and most of the home viewers were none the wiser.  That\u2019s what I\u2019m here for.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there was the funeral.  Thank God I was watching from home.  I was able to put it on pause, go out to eat, watch a little more, take a nap, etc.  Poor Bill Clinton <\/strong>looked like he was gonna pass out.  Many people commented on Jesse Jackson<\/strong>\u2019s distressed appearance.  In case you don\u2019t know, late last year he announced that he\u2019s been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s.  So, I attribute it to that.  Some of the people who didn\u2019t come, sent flowers.  Folks like Barbra Streisand<\/strong>, Tony Bennett<\/strong>, Sir Elton John<\/strong>, Mariah Carey<\/strong>, and Diane Ross <\/strong>all sent enormous tributes. <\/p>\n

Me-oh-my-oh \u2013 that was SOME hat on Miss Cicely Tyson<\/strong>!  For much of the service, I wasn\u2019t even sure there was someone under it!  But, God love her, the 91-year-old legend launched into a freewheeling adaptation of Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/strong>\u2019s When Malindy Sings<\/em><\/strong>, rechristened, When Aretha Sings<\/em><\/strong>.  Then there was Chaka Khan<\/strong>, who I thought was wearing a choir robe\u2026or two.  In case you were wondering, her fan had dual purpose \u2013 it not only kept her cool, but also had the lyrics to \u201cGoing Up Yonder\u201d printed on the back!  A very tasteful and appropriate Jennifer Hudson <\/strong>paid tribute to Aretha with \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d, further cementing her position as Franklin\u2019s appointed portrayer for the proposed biopic.  Fantasia <\/strong>kicked off her shoes and stalked the stage with \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d.  Stevie Wonder <\/strong>was the penultimate act, with \u201cAs\u201d, backed by Shirley Murdock<\/strong>, Dottie Peoples<\/strong>, Angie Stone<\/strong>, and, wait, once again, Miss Jenifer Lewis wailing \u201cAlways\u201d.  After that, Jennifer Holliday <\/strong>ended the ceremony with \u201cClimbing Higher Mountains\u201d as the casket was taken out of the church.<\/p>\n

I believe the whole \u201cshow\u201d (for lack of a better term) was stolen by Gladys Knight<\/strong>, who sang rings around everyone with \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Walk Alone\u201d and \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d (you can never hear that enough times).  But she inadvertently caused quite a bit of gossip.  On her way into the funeral, she revealed that she met with Aretha about a year earlier.  Gladys said, \u201cAt that time, we shared the fact that we had the same disease.\u201d  So, it wasn\u2019t a stretch that most people thought Knight revealed she too has pancreatic cancer (she does look quite thin).  In a statement she released later that day, she said, \u201cI\u2019d like to clarify that Aretha and I discussed both of us having cancer, mine was stage 1 breast cancer and hers was pancreatic.  Due to early detection, I am cancer-free and grateful for that.\u201d  She also chastised the media for spending time gossiping about her \u2013 especially on a day where we should be \u201ccelebrating Aretha\u2019s life and massive contributions to our world.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a much more unexpected tribute to Aretha that took place across the pond.  Perhaps to make up for the BBC<\/em>\u2019s little faux pas, Queen Elizabeth <\/strong>personally instructed the Royal Guards <\/em>to play \u201cRespect\u201d during the traditional changing of the guards.  As luck would have it, the changing of the guard took place at the same time the funeral was going on.  Of course, it was pretty easy to coincide with a funeral that was 10 HOURS LONG!  Now if only QEII came out dancing to it \u2013 or at the very least sent Meghan Markle <\/strong>to do the honors!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was something at Taco Bell!“   \u2013 Bishop Charles H. Ellis, who presided over Aretha Franklin\u2019s funeral, shares his thoughts on Miss Grande after her performance.  What does it say about me that I had the same thought?  Meet you at the Taco Bell, Bishop. ATTENTION ALL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4228,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4219\/revisions\/4228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}