Friday, September 24, 2004
Copyright @ Las Vegas Review-Journal

It's Good to Be Queen
Aretha Franklin still enjoys performing as she prepares for her first Las Vegas concert in more than 23 years
By DOUG ELFMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

"It's always better to be the original," Aretha Franklin says.

Aretha Franklin is a few minutes late when she calls.

"I got caught up in the paperwork" of business contracts, she says. "They take a lot of time to read sometimes."

Other people usually take care of those contracts for her.

"Today, it's my turn," she says. "It's nice to be aware of what your business is about. People are not always doing for you."

She has been rehearsing to prepare for her first performances in Los Angeles and Las Vegas in more than 23 years.

"I've always seen it as a very, very long drive," she says of Vegas, speaking in a politely royal tone.

"But I had the occasion to go into Albuquerque, and I asked the driver how far Vegas was from there, and I think he said seven hours. ... So all this time, here I am, not going into Vegas, feeling it's such a long, long, long, long ride. But actually, it's not that long."

Does she remember the last time she played Vegas.

"The very last time? Yikes. Yes, at the MGM, I think," she says. "I love Vegas. I'm sure it's not the Vegas I knew, though. It is and it isn't, because some of those hotels are still there -- the MGM, and the Hilton, and all those hotels. But now I've been reading about and seeing pictures of the bigger theme hotels, like the Luxor, New York-New York and (Paris Las Vegas) -- many I'm looking forward to visiting, just to walk through."
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The bright, glossy world of Doris Day and Rock Hudson sex comedies gets a self-aware brush-up in Down with Love. Pillow-lipped Renée Zellweger (Chicago) plays Barbara Novak, the author of a bestselling book called Down with Love that advises women to focus on their careers and have sex à la carte--just like a man would. Determined to prove that Novak is just as vulnerable to love as any woman, dashingly chauvinist magazine writer Catcher Block (ever-charming Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge) pretends to be a courtly astronaut who wouldn't dream of putting his hand on a woman's knee. This piffle of a story seems like nothing more than an excuse for ironic double-entendres and dazzling production design, until a sneaky plot twist suddenly raises the stakes for the movie's end. As he always does, the brilliant David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) scores the most comic points as Block's fussy editor. --Bret Fetzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

(2) The parallel practice of both the positive thinking and love in action through the skills with good personal traits such as enthusiam, belief, intellegence, creativity, judgment, liveliness, vision, courage, desire to excel, and persistence, will help people pursue rich, happier, and successful life.

--- Dr. Tony T. Lei