Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Tweed Trends. You know, I had something completely different planned for today. And then while I was on my computer, it happened.
A notification, scroll across my screen, saying that the Queen of Soul, Marie the Franklin, had passed at the age of 76. And honestly, I've been consumed with this ever since. For the past couple of hours, I've been on my computer and on TV, watching all of the breaking news and listening to different people's reports about her. And so, you know, I think I want to focus on this today.
So without further ado, let's get started. Let me start by saying this. Initially, that notification that came across my screen didn't say that Aretha Franklin had passed. It actually said, Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, did at age 76.
And I struggled with that word, dead, because I really don't... I don't think it's a polite word. I think of roadkill as dead in the street. Things like that.
But when I think of people and the whole thought of the circle of life, I guess you can call it where you're born and you grow up and you die. At least that's how you would hope it would be. Everybody doesn't get to grow up and die. They end up passing at an earlier age.
But just the word die itself. Stop living, cease to exist. And I don't think that anybody that we actually love can ever die, because I don't think they can ever cease to exist. It's almost in my mind, mathematically, because I'm the math teacher.
Mathematically, I think of it as exponential decay, where you get low, because as time goes on, there are going to be children born tomorrow that will never know who Aretha Franklin was. So they won't have any memories of her. However, their parents may, their parents' parents may, but as time goes on, that memory gets smaller and smaller and smaller, which is one reason why, in my personal opinion, I feel like you should have some type of video footage of everyone that you love. I know that may sound crazy, but I think that if you have that video footage, then not only that person cannot die in your eyes, or you can't die in your children's lives, or in your children's children's lives, because as long as that video is available, they can see pop-pop, or whoever it is that they had passed on.
And passing is the word I prefer. People pass on, because we really don't know what's after this life. So to say that you're just dead, to me, means that that's the end. There's nothing after that, and we don't necessarily know that.
So, I don't know, that's just me, and my sensitivity about the word dead and die, and whatnot. So very rarely will you ever hear me say that something is dead, or unless it's my phone battery. But if I'm talking about people, I prefer to say that they passed on, because they're just not here with us, but I don't know where they've gone. And as long as their memories are still here, in my opinion, they still live as well.
Now, that's behind me. I'm beyond the semantics of death, dead, dying, all those D-words that give me the chills that I don't really like. But on to when I saw the notice, when I saw the little message on my screen that said that Aretha Franklin had passed, I froze. I was stuck in my tracks.
I couldn't talk. I wanted to cry, and I couldn't figure out why. Even talking about it right now makes me want to cry, because I'm just like, oh my gosh, but I don't understand. My life, the age that I am now, is shorter than just her six decades of singing career.
So why is it that I am so hurt? But then I realized that Aretha Franklin not only meant something to me, she meant something to my family, and my friends, she's like a family member. And that's why I think it hit me so hard. And then it dawned on me too, that my dad's sister, she passed from pancreatic cancer.
So then it's just like, oh my gosh, another thing that draws it in to say, I feel like I know this, and I've never met Aretha Franklin in my entire life, and I wish that I had, because I feel like I'd want to just hug her and adopt her as an aunt or something. But I don't know. I feel like with the outpouring from all the people on Twitter and on YouTube and stuff like that, that people are feeling the same thing. And so it's not just me.
It's many, many people out there that her music touched our lives, our souls. It spoke of the things that we were going through or the ways that we were feeling. And it's just, I don't know. I feel like I'm just speechless right now.
As I wrap things up here, I think about the legacy that Aretha Franklin is leaving behind her. She received so many different awards. I know I can't name them all, but to name a few, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 79. She was the first woman inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 87.
She received the Grammy Legend Award, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was a Kennedy Center honoree. She received the National Medal of Arts, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame.
She was the Music Carers' Person of the Year. Received several Grammys, I think somewhere between 18 and 20. She also was ranked among the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, as well as a Rolling Stone list of Greatest Singers of All Time. She was inducted to the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
She even has an asteroid named in her honor. Asteroid 24-95-16, Aretha, was named in her honor back in 2014. Out of all of those accolades, the thing that she said that she wants to be remembered for the most was being a good mother and a good friend. I think that's absolutely awesome.
Another thing that's awesome is that there were already some things set in place to honor Aretha Franklin and all the things that she's done for the people that she's reached and touched. One of those things is on November 14th, there's going to be an Aretha Franklin tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. You may also already know about the biopic that should be coming out next year where Jennifer Hudson is going to play Aretha Franklin. If you're like me, take them all the way to pull out some old records.
Hopefully you'll have a record player or your CDs or if you don't have any of those things, just go on YouTube and Google or Google. If you go on YouTube, just look up Aretha Franklin and you'll find so many different songs and things. Just to think back and remember the times as Michael Jackson would say. Alright guys, thanks for joining me on another episode of Tweet Trends.
To be a favorite and head on over to Twitter and follow me at heveveveveveve.com. Or just look for the hashtag Tweet Trends. Before I go, just to let you know today is National Rum Day as well as National Tail Adjoke Day. And as you probably know, I am not in a jokey mood right now so I don't have any jokes for you.
But as far as National Rum Day goes, I got two things to tell you. You can check out at UK Rum Fest that's at UK-R-U-M-F-E-S-T or at Miami Rum Fest. A little bit closer to home, right? Although that one has already happened, the Rum Fest in the UK is set for October 20th and 21st.
So hey, if you got some time off, you might want to head over there and get you some rum. But if you're like me, just go grab a glass and enjoy. Have a great one guys. I'll see you tomorrow.