Aretha Franklin & Natalie Cole...WHO ASKED YOU?!

Aretha Franklin's Grammy Wrath Is Out Of Control
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Natalie & Macy

Aretha Franklin just received a MusicCares Award last week from the Grammys.

She deserved it. A sweetheart friend of mine pulled some strings for me to get a ticket, but I was ultimately unable to attend when a dear relative passed away days before the event.

But when I got the news that I was going to see Aretha perform, I was humbled. I've attended a MusicCares event for Natalie Cole (stay tuned for the irony) several years ago, and it was incredible. The MusicCares event is essentially a night devoted to a singular artist. So if you are a genuine fan, it is a privilege to be in attendance. I could not believe that I was going to get to see the undisputed QUEEN OF SOUL in this setting.

But now, I'm glad that I didn't go.

Today, Hip Hop Media Training launches its own awards show. It's called the WhoCares Awards, and Aretha is the first recipient.

Aretha is upset with the introduction Beyonce made for Tina Turner at the Grammys. Beyonce referred to Tina Turner as the Queen and Aretha felt disrespected, and had enough nerve to complain out loud about it via a statement issued by her publicist (news):

"I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyoncé. However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy," Aretha wrote.

Yo, Aretha, Beyonce didn't call Tina Turner the Queen Of Soul. She simply referred to her as the Queen. Ugh, didn't you see the movie "What's Love Got To Do With It?" How about the book? Did you see how great Tina Turner looked on stage at the Grammys, next to Beyonce, who is 42 years younger? Did you see her moves? I know you're a woman, but did you check out her body? Did you see the kind of shape she's in even though she eats off of the Senior Citizen menu at Dennys? Do you know that she will be 70 years old next year? Did you hear how great she sounded? Do you remember how she found the strength to turn everything around after years of abuse from Ike Turner? Didn't you know that she was penniless, but went on to become one of the most successful women in entertainment? Don't you know that Anna Mae Bullock is from Nutbush, Tennesse? Nut-bush! (Do you even know where that is?) You don't remember how she helped revolutionize rock 'n roll, not to mention soul?

What is wrong with you?

You don't think she deserves to be considered a queen?

Not even on the night she is being honored?

Come on now, Aretha. Don't be greedy. Show Tina some R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

If you want to be upset at someone for handing out titles that you think are inappropriate, where were you on the night of June 19, 2001 when your god daughter Whitney Houston referred to her ex-husband Bobby Brown as the King Of R&B at the 1st Annual BET Awards?

We needed you to issue a statement then. That would have been perfect. It would have been fitting for the Queen Of Soul to announce, "Here ye, here ye! Bobby Brown is not the King Of R&B."

But you left us hanging.

Thankfully, Jamie Foxx told us that Whitney apparently meant that Bobby was the King of "Reefer & Beer."

And just because I'm all pumped up, I think I should also toss a couple words in Natalie Cole's direction.

Man. Aretha and Natalie are two of my favorites. I'm telling you. I love some Natalie Cole. Baby Girl, you are underrated. You have some of my favorite songs?

But why are you hating on Amy Winehouse? (news)

Why?

What did she do to you?

Why do you think the Grammys were wrong for giving her those awards?

Because she's on drugs?

Is that it?

Natalie, we are not talking about Britney Spears here.

I don't care that Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings are getting shaft and not receiving the credit they deserve for being Amy's backing band. I love them too. But don't try to act like you don't like "Rehab."

Don't try to act like you weren't surprised when you found out that "Rehab" was some blue-eyed soul?

Let the moral courts judge Amy. But the Grammys is supposed to recognize the most outstanding recorded works in the related categories. If you are implying that Amy's work is not worth recognition, you are wrong. How about you go back to the height of your own drug issues and return all the awards you received during that time? How would you feel if your honors were erased from the history books?

We are all proud that you were able to overcome your own bought with drugs. You're looking good Natalie. Try to meet with Amy. Talk to her. Tell her your story. Maybe you can help her.

Just don't do her dirty like Dr. Phil did Britney.

Don't be a hater.

And that's the message for the day. It's for both you and Aretha.

Stop the hateration.

You are legends and you're setting a bad example source


Macy doesn't consider herself a junkie

***
I agree 100% with the author Billy Johnson, Jr.
These ladies have too much time on their hands to worry about someone else, who's not THINKING ABOUT THEM.
Who does Aretha think she is? You have platinum sales, plaques, awards, etc and you're trippin' cuz T.T. was called Queen?
Is this a joke?
And what makes this ghetto soap opera a trip is that you, Ms. Franklin, behaved in a manner UNBECOMING A QUEEN!
You aired your pettiness out in the open...and your argument is invalid.
That wasn't YOUR NIGHT.
That was about Tina Turner...GET OVER YOURSELF.
What's that song you made with Fantasia...'Put u up on Game"
Let me Put You Up on (some ) Game...
DON'T NOBODY OWE YOU ANYTHING!
Tina Turner is older than you...shouldn't you respect your elders, MS, R-E-S-P-E-C-T??
Or is respect simply one way when you're involved.
You wanna trip out cuz Tina was called Queen...smh...
WHO ASKED YOU?!

And to Natalie Cole:
How can a skillet call the pot, black?!
Did you forget where you came from?
You had the same fight with addiction as Amy Winehouse.
Didn't you receive accolades, applause etc when YOU were strong out in the NOT SO DISTANT PAST??
You say bad behavior shouldn't be rewarded, but I don't see you spouting that in reference to Lil' Wayne, R. Kelly, Foxy Brown, Naomi Campbell...they're infamous with drugs, PEDOPHILIA, violence...but I haven't heard speak on that.
Now this girl is in recovery. A recovering addict such as yourself, should know what kind of detriment words such as yours could do to a person in a delicate state.
Remember when YOU AND YOUR MAMA was in the news when YOU were strung out.
Let's not act brand new.
I'm curious as to the timing...you didn't speak about Amy before the Grammys, but you're vocal now.
After she won 5 Grammys.
Seems like you're hatin' to me.
She was as shocked as everyone else to win.
But did Amy give herself those Grammys? Or was it the same panel who GAVE U YOURS?
That child is sick...and I'm so glad I'm not reading about her doing crazy crap in the news anymore. I wish her well in her recovery.
You and Aretha's behavior post-Grammys are embarrassing.
And it's shocking cuz lawd KNOWS you two are old enough to know better.
Your genre's supposed to be the one that has class.
I can't tell.

What I don't get is...you performed with Macy Gray and her drug use was no secret...shoot she alluded to it in her interviews, and how many awards did she win under the influence?? Macy's talented too-I think her 1st cd was the best. But she didn't see anything wrong with partaking. You not only performed on a song...but u popped at her shows- what's up with that?!

Either you're prejudiced (which I doubt) or you're hatin' on her sweepin those Grammys. You should've offered her words of encouragement in her recovery. You know what it's like to have detractors-and now you're one. smh
And just so you know I am a fan of yours, I saw you this summer in Detroit w/Jeffrey Osborne ok, and you looked stunning.

You want to offer commentary on that girl winning Grammys...but keepin' it real...
WHO ASKED YOU?!


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Filed Under: You Are An Inspiration!

Sometimes, in the middle of life we have to STOP...and smell the roses! Have a sit down and read about an awesome young lady who did not choose adversity as her lot in life...she chose victory!

YOU GO GIRL!

Upon one foot, teen dancer leaps for her dream
15-year-old amputee shines on stage for her dancing, not her disability




Nathalie Calderon of Apopka, Fla., was born with a birth defect that resulted in the amputation of her lower right leg, but that hasn't kept her from dancing.

Nathalie Calderon, who wears a prosthetic on her lower right leg, dances with Joseph McGuire at Georgio's American Dance Centre where she's a member of the senior company. It was just a tiny misstep during a dance class routine. But it was enough to cause Nathalie Calderon’s right foot to spin backward 180 degrees.
“My teacher nearly fainted,” said Nathalie.

But the determined Central Florida girl just asked for a screwdriver — and with a few twists, her foot was again righted.
Nathalie, who was born without the lower part of a tibia in her right leg, wears a prosthetic, something she hadn’t bothered to mention to her dance instructor.

“It was so embarrassing,” she said, remembering that day several years ago.
Now 15, Nathalie has moved on to another instructor, Georgio Fagan of Georgio’s American Dance Centre in Lake Mary, Fla., where she’s part of the senior company. She’s won three scholarships this year for her dancing, has earned the respect of her peers and the adoration of audiences when she performs hip hop, tap and ballet.

The attention is for her dancing, not for her disability, Fagan wants to make clear.
“She’s amazing when she performs. She totally draws you in,” he said. “(On stage) that soul of hers just blossoms. It’s almost like she was given a leg.”
Nathalie was born with a rare birth defect called tibial hemimelia. She had 10 fingers and 10 toes, but her right tibia stopped growing at the shin. Doctors amputated her lower leg when she was a year old.


As a little girl, she prayed at the dinner table for a leg so she could be like everyone else, remembers her mother, Julie Calderon.
For years, Julie, a nurse, cried all the way to and from Nathalie’s doctor’s appointments.
“But when she was 5, I said to myself, ‘You need to get over it. I want her to be able to do whatever she wants.’”

In preschool, when kids asked about her prosthetic, Nathalie told them her story. “My mom always said, ‘That’s how Jesus made you.’"
But as she got older, she grew more more self-conscious. She worked at learning to walk without a limp and took to wearing pants to hide her prosthetic. Unless she told people, no one knew.
‘I want to dance’She did harbor a dream though. She had always admired the way the music moved her older cousin, Vanity, a dancer in New York. One day, Nathalie had something to tell her mother: “I want to dance.”
“I said, (sigh) OK,” said Julie, who wondered if her daughter had picked an insurmountable challenge.

At 13, Nathalie started taking dance classes at Georgio's American Dancer Centre. As she embarked on her new passion, she focused on learning the moves, not mentioning her prosthetic foot to her instructor.


When Fagan posted a sign that his dance studio was going to be forming an apprentice company, Nathalie and her mom met with him to see what areas she’d need to improve in to qualify. When he suggested more tap and ballet, her mother intervened.
“I said, ‘She can’t do tap or ballet.’ He said ‘Why?’ and she showed him her leg.”
“I had no idea. I was blown away,” remembers Fagan. “And mind you, I’d been teaching her for eight months.”
‘As good as people with two legs’Within a month, Nathalie got a letter saying she’d been accepted into the company.
“Georgio said, ‘You can be as good as these people with two legs.’ … I was smiling for two months.”


Soon, Fagan had Nathalie leaping and turning on her artificial leg. Today, as a featured dancer in GADC’s senior company, she performs in front of thousands as she leaps, pirouettes and glides as the music carries her. All three of the dance center’s annual shows have multiple performances that often sell out.

On stage, even at only 5 feet 2 inches tall with her long, ebony-colored hair swept up, Nathalie stands out as one of the dancers with the most rhythm and grace. She often looks as if she can’t help but smile.

“She even does tap,” Julie said. “Sometimes that leg doesn’t sound the same, but she does it.”
Her current prosthetic was specifically designed with more flexibility for dancing. When she tried it on, she burst into a vigorous dance routine, even landing one-legged leaps on her new prosthetic.

“We got a little scared there,” joked Bryan Sinnott, who has designed and fitted Nathalie’s prosthetics for the past five years at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Tampa, Fla. “We always try to go to the next level with her. … In her mind, there is no goal she cannot achieve.”
Nathalie says her latest prosthetic works great — but she has one complaint: “Oh, I can’t wear flip flops now!” she exclaimed when she saw her new foot for the first time and realized it has fused toes.

Nathalie dreams of someday being able to go into the ballet point position on her prosthetic foot, but its inflexible shape won’t allow it. Her mom’s search for someone to build a foot that can has turned up empty — likely due to lack of demand.
“I’ve always wanted to go on point even though it hurts,” Nathalie said. “It’s the most beautiful thing.”

Dancing doesn’t come without a cost. Nathalie’s birth defect causes her right knee to pop out of place frequently during class and sometimes she gets blisters from where her prosthetic rubs. Her mom knows it must hurt, but Nathalie downplays it.
Julie Calderon


Nathalie Calderon wears a specially designed prosthetic on her lower right leg that is strong enough for her to land on.

“It’s just a regular thing for me,” she said.
As much as she loves to dance, she’s had another goal since she was a little girl spending hours in doctor’s offices: to be a pediatrician. To prepare for medical school, she takes advanced placement math and science classes at Apopka (Fla.) High School and maintains a 4.2 grade point average.

She’s also learning how to drive and choreograph her own dances to Beyonce, Nelly Furtado and her other favorite singers — occasionally at the same time.

“Sometimes something will come on the radio and I’ll start dancing and my mom’s like ‘Keep your hands on wheel!,’” she said.
But she can't help it. When she's dancing, “there are no words to describe how I feel," Nathalie said.
"It’s so fun on stage you have so much adrenaline and the lights … it’s just so fun.”

source: msnbc.com, positivenews.com, image: julie calderon

You betta recognize and remember Nathalie's name!! She's only just begun!

Ivent