Aretha's next album, "Aretha:  A Woman Falling Out of Love", will also be released sometime in May.  It'll only be available through Wal-Mart, at least initially.

(Aretha's last non-holiday studio album was "So Damn Happy", which was released in 2003.  In 2008, Borders put out her "This Christmas, Aretha" CD.   No other details on "Aretha:  A Woman Falling Out of Love" have been given.)

By the way, Aretha is a woman falling out of love with eating pig scraps.

She tells the Associated Press that she's cleaned up her diet…replacing chitterlings (pig intestines), pigs' feet and ham hocks with a Whole Foods diet.

She says, quote, "They're off my diet.  They just really don't fit with Whole Foods.  I had [that stuff] for enough years that I don't miss it.  You can't continue to eat things that are not good for you."

Aretha adds that she'll have to figure out something for when she starts performing again, because, quote, "When you come off [a high-energy concert], a carrot or some celery just isn't going to work."

And then there's the status of her magnificent winter hat.  I hope it's cold enough in Buffalo for her to wear this ugly thing in May:

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According to Weather.com, the average temperature for Buffalo in May is a high of 66 and a low of 48.

I assume she'll perform inside…but maybe she'll duck out at intermission to scarf down some healthy eats.  I pray it's cold enough at that time for her hat and that someone in Buffalo is able to sneak a new picture of her in it.

All in all:  Aretha says she's feeling "150%" healthy.  That's significantly more than merely being back to 100%, or even 110%, but it's far short of feeling 200%.”

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