John - enough with the snarky attitude already - you are missing the entire point of the change we need. I don't see a post by Aretha Franklin asking "what's with John Berman's smirk and the puffy hair curl he has going on?" when she looks at your blog picture.

Please be a journalist and help set a better tone in our civil discourse.

Enuff about the hat. Aretha stirred memories of contralto Marian Anderson...

The hat was ok, but she murdered the song!!!

That hat and its bow will now be a national treasure. The song: let's forget about it. Even with lip-synch, she butchered it!

The poor soul should have been kind enough to all those listening to have not accepted the invitation. Whatever voice she may have had in the past has surely deserted her now.

That hat was fierce! And I don't think her voice failed her. Yes, the song was very stylized, but that's Aretha!

Ms. Aretha is your tyical woman,hats dresses and all on special occassions. She performed well, 'ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF SOUL'.

I couldn't agree with JB more. Perhaps Mr. Berman should take a cue from Ms. Franklin and show a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha is the "Queen",and the hat was appropriate for her generation and culture.That was the highest praise for the occasion,and her performance was in her famous stylization of a song.Don't make a big thing out of nothing.Ms.Franklin has worn some outrageous outfits at times in the past,so the matching ensemble was very classy and subdued.Get a life,and find something else to be sarcastic about!

Aretha IS the queen of soul...she can where what ever she will and still be who and what she's earned and retained after all these years...and for those outside of the Queen's court...that's where you should be...right there with your insipid opinion...yes...i said it...

It was important to look nice and dress up for the inauguration. Trying to adorn oneself with a nice hairdo in cold windy weather with a big bulky coat on a big woman for an outdoor special event would not be beautiful, appropriate, or feasible. It is completely aeshetically logical that the Aretha should wear a hat to sing for the President outdoors.I guess the people who don't understand that are only accustomed to wearing baseball caps but us hatlovers can recognize a beautiful hat design because we are always looking for good designs that flatter.The designer of this hat has talent and creativity I haven't seen in a long time.

I think the way Aretha and First Lady Michelle dressed up for the inauguration could even stimulate the economy and promote fashion. I definitely want to try that hat on and maybe buy it if it looks good on me but I haven't seen it on Mr. Song's website like everyone else is claiming. Please tell us who the designer is because it was not on Mr Song's millinery site when I checked. I hardly ever see any celebrity wear things I admire but today the First Lady and Aretha wore some really great outfits.

The hat looks better here: http://velocityliveradio.com/images/light.jpg

Oh, lighten up everybody. John was just making a point - sorry, a fact - that her hat looked like it had been plucked out of granny's costume box. She's not Las Vegas showgirl. And Obama's Inauguration wasn't a cabaret. She should have dressed more appropriately. It wasn't classy. It wasn't elegant. And, by the way, the voice? Past it.

Aretha's hat was beautiful and she carried it well, but I know Aretha Franklin can not sing in the cold. She butchered the song, she should not have accepted the ivitation to sing in the cold air.

Aretha sang great and her hat was sho stopping and also great. You people need to get a life because Aretha has been sick for sometime(I know) and why would she decline to sing at such a historical moment? Get serious..she sang with emotion,jubilee,soul and the new meaning Dr. King said the song would be sang!! I can't believe u people...

I think most ppl r upset bc she didn't sing it as the old dry and washed up version as most WHITE ppl do..she did awesome..she added something we would like to call SOUL..praise God..and Aretha has been battling with respiratory problems and she was in the cold.so stop hatin n just congratulate!

Apparently folks are not privy to the "hats" that most woman of color wear to church. Her hat was absolutely fantastic.Her version of the song was totally gospel. Folks need to leave the diva alone.

Most people are fashion sheep, follow trends, and don't know what style is. Granny's costume drawer? More like individuality and confidence. As someone who loves hats, and has worn vintage elements for many years, I say all hail a showing of actual STYLE. The quavering conformists are welcome to cover their bad hair and bald spots with b-ball caps, like they are fooling anyone, or wear the *fabulous* scrubs/ maternity tops so popular now- as if looking like a nation of pregnant dental hygienists is somehow superior to ARETHA'S BAD-ASS HAT!

Aretha's hat was a generational and cultural statement. THAT is what Black women whose roots are in the Black church DO. It is just what is done, simply, period. Just because people are unaware of that aspect of African American culture doesn't mean she should have dressed differently. Believe you me; Barak and Michelle Obama "got" the hat. Given who is in the White House you may see many more hats like Aretha's.

Seide has it absolutely, 100% right. Aretha was wearing a classic church woman's "crown" (see episode nine, season three of "The Wire" for some idea of just how sacrosanct a good church woman and her crown are in the African American community). As for the vocal: first of all, the poster who characterized her performance as "lip sync" evidently is entirely unclear on what that term means. To lip sync is to move your lips without actually singing, miming to a prerecorded vocal track. Aretha was singing live, in real time, to a prerecorded *instrumental* track. Not the same thing. Now, is her voice the same searing, crystal-clear instrument it was when she first conquered the music world in 1967? Of course not. Find me any 67-year old who sings exactly as she did when she was 25 and I'll cover the cost of the call to Ripley's Believe It Or Not. 'retha sings in a lower register, and with more huskiness to her voice than was there in her youth. Singing outdoors, in an acoustically less-than-ideal space and with the thermometer at 12 degrees fahrenheit, is a daunting challenge for any voice. And still, given all that, Aretha's interpretation was a magnificent, soaring thing that captured the aspirational, transcendent nature of the day perfectly. "My Country 'tis of Thee" is essentially a hymn. And Lady Soul went way down inside that hymn, and wrung every last li'l bit of *church* out of it. Amen, Aretha!

Aretha is the Queen of Soul. I loved her hat, and she is 67 now and still has a great voice. She was the first women to be accepted in the Rock and Roll hall of fames, and she has 21 Grammys, and countless number 1 hits. She will always be part of history. Will John? Ten years from now John Who? Haters!

They already have a website out for this stupid hat - www.ArethaHat.com - what is the world coming to?

All I ask is that white American's who are perplexed and uncomfortable with Aretha's hat to learn how to embrace and respect cultures other than their own. I think it shows ignorance when one makes comments about something and they don't know the history behind the action. In the African-American community (and some European communities by the way) fancy hats that are embellished with rhinestones, crystals, etc. are a part of our formal, stately and semi-formal celebrations. Be it, church, weddings, political events etc. White America, your ancestors have already taken so much from us in the past, please don't try to change our "hat history" as well by making condescending and be-littleling remarks. For years we have embraced and accepted things in your culture, please show the same respect. I advise; before you continue to mock and scorn this legendary icon for wearing a controvesial accessory, please do some research on black women and their hats and maybe then you will understand why most African-American women can appreciate and absolutely loved Aretha's hat.

This whole thing's out of control - it even has a website - http://www.arethahat.com - I don't like this trend one bit. Way too much hype if you ask me.