This is the female. A solitary creature

Thank you for the great Aretha article [MOJO 300]. Several years ago I had the pleasure of working with Ms Franklin on an outdoor Christmas launch for a high-end retailer in Toronto. At the appointed hour, I cued the band to start playing and they begin vamping. Time goes by and no Aretha. Still more time and she still hasn’t come out from the store to the stage. Finally we get in touch with her wrangler who informs us that, “Ms Franklin is shopping for shoes.” At this point the slightly panicked store rep tells her that she can have any shoes she wants if ➢

she would please get on stage ASAP. Of course she did, and blew everyone away, and then, of course, she got a new pair of shoes or two.