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"Anthony Heilbut's The Fan Who Knew Too Much (Knopf) isn't officially out until June 20, but advance copies have generated headlines and some controversy for its exploration of tensions in African-American churches between the long tradition of closeted, but quietly accepted gays (from the local choir to some gospel stars, a sort of don't-ask, don't-tell policy) and the more recent trend of grand-standing homophobia from some pulpits.&amp;nbsp;\nBut the cultural historian's enthusiasms span a wide range &amp;mdash; from a history of soap operas to male sopranos to tensions between Einstein and Zionism to a glorious retelling of the Aretha Franklin's story and its enormous arc. Author of a classic history of gospel, Heilbut roots Franklin not in a generic church, but in specific forebears, her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, Clara Ward, Marion Williams, etc. &amp;mdash; not to mention her great secular influence, Judy Garland. The cultural historian revels in parsing Franklin's style, from her &amp;quot;finishing school enunciation&amp;quot; to the sly, subversive wit of her ad-libs to her work with successive generations of younger producers and artists (the equivalent of &amp;quot;Louis Armstrong jamming with Cecil Taylor&amp;quot;)."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/royal-music/Content?oid=2148428>