Aretha Franklin, live in concert - need I say more? I mean really.

Yes. I witnessed Aretha Franklin live at the House of Blues.

Yes. It was as amazing as you are thinking right now. Probably more.

Let me just take a moment to imagine what it might feel like to be Aretha Franklin backstage at a concert that she's headlining. I would go through my ultimate DIVA checklist:

1) Double check that the 20 piece orchestra I've ordered is in place.

2) Make sure legendary band leader H.B. Barnum has just the right amount of sequins in his suit so that the audience knows he is the bomb but of course does not overshadow me.

3) Turn up the heat in the venue until everyone is sweating bullets - that's of course when I'm ready.

4) Make sure other A-list celebrities are in the audience so I may give my "look who comes to see me - the ultimate DIVA" obligatory shout-outs.

And last but not least...

5) ...get ready to turn this mutha out.

All joking aside, this was my very first time seeing Aretha Franklin live and it was amazing to see her in a venue like the House of Blues. I was probably about 15 feet away from the stage although of course a packed crowd of people separated me from the sweat of the legendary DIVA herself. I know I keep using words like "legendary" and "DIVA" but I can't help it. What other words could you use? I've capitalized DIVA to at least give it some more weight; to recognize that the one word alone cannot contain her majesty.

Here was the thing about Ms. Franklin. She makes it look so easy. I remember singing the song "Think" for a concert in college once and in my head I thought, no problem, I can do this, I've heard this song for years (thanks be to Mom and Dad). But when you actually have to sing an Aretha song you realize that those high notes don't come so naturally to everyone after all. "Maestro, let's take the song down a key or two please...I'm just a diva in training (small caps :)." So having that prior experience prepared me to watch her live because I could appreciate just how deep her talent runs.

I heard that she can tell when the orchestra does not have enough horns, when one of the lines is missing. That is amazingly cool to me and very telling of her genius. The day that I can be in front of an orchestra and yell "where the hell is trumpet player #5, I don't hear his part!" is the day that I have arrived. Until then, I keep studying.

For a full description of the night, check out the L.A. Times review here.

Oh, and I would be remiss not to let you know about her new Christmas album, "This Christmas," on sale exclusively at Borders.

P.S. I went backstage after the show and met Mr. H.B. Barnum and the rest of the orchestra. Awesome and amazingly humble peeps. Not a bad life huh?