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Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?

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miss_msry
02/01/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Has Seinfeld's puffy shirt been encased at the Smithsonian? If so, so should THE HAT.
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Weegee's bored
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Contrarian opinion here. In my opinion, Aretha Franklin is almost solely responsible for the dozens of howling, screaching "divas" currently cluttering the airwaves. Without her, singers might actually sing clear and touching notes and not compete in a contest to shatter beer mugs. She should go back to being a solitary heroin addict. I'm going now.
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@Weegee's bored: I know what you're saying, and I partly agree, but the thing is, she had the voice to do it. They don't. There's really been no voice to match hers. They keep trying, but they either don't have the timbre or they have shitty songs. She's in a class by herself.
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Zorica
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Is this a serious question? Exactly what object is worthy of representing that day in a museum, if not for the "hat heard round the world"? Every inauguration has a Bible and chairs and suits and ties and banners. I mean, it's crystal-encrusted for goodness sake. If you put that hat down on a table a museum practically grows up around it. Certainly it's hard to resist containing it in some kind of plexiglass . . . just for the safety of everyone in the vicinity.
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jasonelias
01/31/09

@Zorica: I totally agree about the hat, for a number of reasons but specifically because Aretha wore it and the very idea of it being in a museum is humorous and really cool.
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lobstr
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
It belongs on the table between Archie and Edith's glass-encased chairs. I think it'd accent the set quite nicely..

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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
01/31/09

@lobstr:

Looobstah... stiii-fle!
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lobstr
01/31/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Eeeedit! Wheaas my beeeah!
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Mount_Prion
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Anything that woman ever touched should be in a museum.
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OwenKlient
01/31/09

@Mount_Prion(allrightsreserved): You ain't never lied. Several years ago Aretha gave a free concert sponsored by the Smithsonian on the Mall. There are no words to describe how great it was. She was beautiful-- still a big lady, but a lot thinner than she is now. Every note from her mouth was effortless. Before that concert, I didn't know a lot about her since I was born a few years after her heyday, but I left that concert a fan.
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
01/31/09

@OwenKlient

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Zorica
01/31/09

@OwenKlient: I was at that concert. It's the fundamental experience that causes me to have delusions of best-friendship with Aretha. Whenever RESPECT comes on the radio I'm still pretty sure she's sending me a personal message to dump my boyfriend.
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@OwenKlient: She has the best voice ever. Try to find some of her really early stuff, before the Queen of Soul emerged and they were trying to turn her into a cute little pop star and she was singing songs like "You Made Me Love You." Look at this duet with a Lurch-like character -- love it ...

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pufflehuff
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Dear Josh,

You ask many questions!

1) Yes, it is museum-worthy

2) What makes it worthy? Obama, and internet-users

3) Because none of those other items of headgear can hold a match up to the BOW HAT

4) Virtual orgasms

5) It brings us closer to god, Obama and the deification of a perfect internet meme
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pufflehuff
01/31/09

@King Blago: Can't. Stop. Photoshopping. Today.

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LilyBartleby
01/31/09

@King Blago:

Gotta light?
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pufflehuff
02/01/09

@LilyBartleby: Severe Non-Sequitur Verbal Diaorrhea Syndrome is a precursor for early-onset Alzheimer's. Not joking here, Lils. Get yourself checked out, please. If only for your loved ones. x
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maevemealone
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
I have almost no opinion of her hat because all I could think upon seeing her on inauguration day was "Thank GOD it's a cold day." Her Smithsonian contribution isn't on top of her head...
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LilyBartleby
01/31/09

@maevemealone:

Ha!

Madonna?

Your rebuttal?
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maevemealone
01/31/09

@LilyBartleby: You're being random?
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
Michael Phelps' bong deserves its own niche at the Smithsonian:

[www.newsoftheworld.co.uk]
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
I loved that fucking hat and hell yes, it deserves to be in the Smithsonian.
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TRexstasy
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
I love the hat. All hail the hat. I love that someone showed Aretha that hat and said, "Well...you could wear this one with the Swarovski crystals...it's kind of..."

"Oh, hell, yeah!" said Aretha, "Can I try that on?"

And history was made.

It may be the single thing that every single person remembers from that day. Where Were You When Aretha Wore The Hat? If we don't put it in a museum now we'll wish we had it when she eventually goes to join the Choir Invisible.

Yes, I am aggressively Pro-Hat. Do you have a problem with that?
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LilyBartleby
01/31/09

@TRex has hips but he's not a hipster:

Pro-ASS Hat *

* Cheap shots?
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TRexstasy
01/31/09

@LilyBartleby: * Cheap shots?

A bit.
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tewkesbury
01/31/09

In reply to Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy?
The sheer volume of hat commentary makes me feel so very white and secular. Has no one ever seen a church hat before??
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
01/31/09

@tewkesbury: If that is a church hat, I sense a problem.

Let's say Aretha is sitting up in the first row at church. Let's say there's a whole bunch of privileged ladies sitting up in the first rows as church (there *is* a pecking order, isn't there?). How in the world can the people in the back see the pastor/priest? They probably can't right? Do these hats cause church-caste conflict or tensions?
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OwenKlient
01/31/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: No, it doesn't cause conflict. On the front row are the church deacons, deaconesses, elders (whatever the denomination requires). I've never heard on anyone complaining about hat size in church. I think the only views blocked are kids', but their views are always blocked in every aspect of their life save school-- they're used to it. Big, fancy hats are a part of African-American church-going culture and tradition. Think of it as a parallel to Jewish women covering their heads at temple, though there is no requirement to do so.
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
01/31/09

@OwenKlient:

Do you speak from experience?

Anyone out there ever get hat-blocked in church?
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@OwenKlient: Explain the furcoat thing. I have never seen so much fur as there was on African-American women during the inauguration festivities. These women clearly don't give two shits what PETA has to say. I admired their balls.
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OwenKlient
01/31/09

@Trixie from Toronto: Well, as you know, fur is the height of luxury and fanciness. It was a special occasion, and they were there to show off. And yes, they don't give a damn what PETA says. If PETA wants to have it's ass handed to it, it should throw some red paint on the fur coat of a 65-year old church lady going somewhere special. I bet they've never tried that shit.
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@OwenKlient: I'd pay money to see that. The PETA people showed up outside Ben's Chili Bowl the day before the inauguration. I wondered if they were racial-profiling. In any event, the two-block lineup was filled with black women in some seriously gorgeous furs waiting for their half-smokes. The PETA people just hadn't out pamphlets and didn't dare even look at them. It was awesome.
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@Trixie from Toronto: Errr ... HANDED out pamphlets.
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LilyBartleby
01/31/09

@Trixie from Toronto:

Sigh...

Let the slander begin.
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Trixie from Toronto
01/31/09

@LilyBartleby: Sybil, it seems you forgot to take your meds again today. Please piss off.
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SanjivaniChrysippus
02/01/09

@tewkesbury: for some reason Joshua' s whole question pisses me off. Of course that hat should be in the Smithsonian as a major part of the event. This was the event that brought Black culture to the center of the establishment and Aretha's hat was there to represent all the church ladies who had suffered and fought for that moment.
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Baroness
02/01/09

@SanjivaniChrysippus: There's a fabulous book called "Crowns", all about the long and special relationship between African-American women and their hats- it's wonderful.

When I lived in SF there was a handful of black churches nearby. On Sundays, seeing the ladies in their finery was always a delight.
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