One of the best aspects of photographing Aretha Franklin — as Matthew Jordan Smith did frequently between 2005 and 2014 — was that she sang during their sessions.

“I had a playlist of my favorite Aretha Franklin songs, and she’d often start singing along — the only artist I’ve ever worked with who did that,” says Smith, 60, who’s just published “Aretha Cool: The Intimate Portraits,” a collection of his Franklin photos named after that playlist.

Photographer Matthew Jordan Smith recently published “Aretha Cool: The Intimate Portraits,” a photo book drawn from his many sessions with Aretha Franklin. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Jordan Smith)

“I remember the first time I used (the playlist), the one song comes on and she starts humming along to it, then she starts singing to the song — ‘You’re All I Need to Get By,’ one of my all-time favorite ones. I’m 4, 5 feet in front of her and I kinda forgot where I was and I started singing along with her.

“She stops me — ‘Jordan, baby, don’t sing.’ She said it firmly, actually, but the whole room burst out laughing. Then she starts laughing and the whole time I’m shooting everything. I love the pictures of her laughing that day, full-on, the whole room letting loose. Every time I hear that song, I think of that day.”

Those photos are among the dozens of images, and memories, that populate “Aretha Cool.” It’s a book Smith — who previously published “Sepia Dreams: A Celebration of Black Achievement Through Words and Images” — says he felt a call to create, the impetus coming from the death of Franklin’s longtime companion, Willie Wilkerson, from COVID-19 in April 2020.

“He’s the first person I know who passed from COVID, and I started thinking about how much things had changed, people we lost and the importance of legacy,” explains Smith, who remained close with Franklin until her death in 2018. “I thought: ‘OK. This book must be done. People have got to know about this side of her, from a photographer’s point of view and how it was for me working with her …’ cause there was nobody like her, and nobody’s really talked about or covered this last stage of her life.”

Smith — born in Brooklyn and raised in South Carolina, where his father exposed him to photography — was already a well-established high-end fashion and celebrity shooter when he met Franklin, whose work had appeared in international magazines and advertisements. When the Queen of Soul was looking for a new photographer in 2005, her publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn, recommended Smith, who had just published “Sepia Dreams.”

“I did my research,” he notes, and upon discovering that Franklin favored yellow roses, he sent her some with a note: “Looking forward to a great shoot. Looking forward to meeting you.”

“Then, before I got out there — we were shooting in Detroit — she called me on her phone, from her private number,” Smith recalls. “I’m like, ‘Who is this calling me,’ and then, ‘Oh, snap, it’s Aretha calling me!’ We talked about life, food. She said, ‘No photographer ever sent me yellow roses before.’

“Then we met and had a great shoot in Detroit, and we just kept going from there.”

Smith did make one minor faux pas during that first session, however. “The playlist — this was before I made the Aretha playlist — had Mariah Carey on it, and it looked like (Franklin) wasn’t into it,” Smith remembers. “I asked her who her favorite new artist was, and she said, ‘Me!’ And then I asked her again — new artist — and she said, ‘Me!’ Then it hit me. … Put some of her music on! Of course!”

This is one of Matthew Jordan Smith’s early portraits of Aretha Franklin. It’s included in his new book “Aretha Cool: The Intimate Portraits.” (Photo courtesy of Matthew Jordan Smith)

He went on to photograph Franklin on several occasions, in Detroit and New York — including a hat-oriented shoot following her performance of “My Country Tis of Thee” at Barack Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009. The images over the years were used for promotional and personal use and in a variety of publications and media outlets. They spoke on the phone frequently as well — even after Smith moved to Japan, where his wife is from, eight years ago, which initially made Franklin mad until he promised her “it’s only a flight.”

“A lot of stars are not comfortable being in the camera,” says Smith, who last photographed Franklin in 2014, though subsequent sessions were scheduled but canceled due to her deteriorating health. “There’s a facade that comes up. That’s normal, but she was not that way. She was very real from the jump and you could feel that, and you don’t get that every day with a lot of people, especially in Hollywood.

“She just had this very real feeling about her from the first moment I met her — no pretension, nothing, and I loved that. That made me feel more comfortable and made me feel like being myself. I think that’s what made us get along so well.”

Smith still has the iPod with the Aretha Cool playlist and has posted it on Spotify. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about Franklin, he says, and he’s hoping the book gives readers some sense of how special he found her to be.

“I want people to see the other side, the real side of her that I fell in love with,” Smith explains. “She was like an aunt that everybody knows. Everybody has an Aretha in their family. In Black America, we all have an Aretha in our family. I’ve shot so many people, but never felt the connection like I had with her. I’ll always miss her.”

Writing about movies means succumbing to occasional bouts of reductive-itis, inspired by that great bonehead critic Emperor Joseph II in “Amadeus,” who told Mozart nice job on his latest composition, with one caveat: “too many notes.”

Folks, this week has been one of those bouts. First, it was the new “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” (verdict: too much “heart” and digital mayhem, not enough funny). And now, streaming on Prime Video, we have another ’80s-derived throwback, the “Road House” remake with Jake Gyllenhaal.

The 1989 Patrick Swayze edition, costarring Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott, Kathleen Wilhoite and, singing along with “Sh-Boom,” Ben Gazzara, was nothing but ridiculous trash. And fun. Calling it “human-scaled” makes the old “Road House” sound as if it took place somewhere on planet Earth, among humans, which isn’t really true. And yet who says we can’t enjoy a sustained feat of complete fraudulence, if the spirit’s right and a movie takes some downtime for love scenes between beat-downs?

The new “Road House” has no time for sex. Compared with the old one, it’s 30 times bloodier and one-third as fun. Still, there are things to recommend it, namely the Irishman.

Conor McGregor, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal in “Road House.” (Laura Radford/Prime Video/TNS)

The action has been relocated from outside Kansas City to the fictional Glass Key, Florida. Screenwriters Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry establish bouncer Dalton as a suicidal, scandal-clouded Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight with more baggage than Swayze’s Dalton ever lugged. Traveling by Greyhound, Dalton has come to the Florida Keys to take a job at the beachfront bar owned by Frankie (Jessica Williams). She needs a legit set of abs to control her insanely unruly customers and keep the peace.

That Dalton does, violently. Director Doug Liman escalates the bone-crunch melees with propulsive crimson relish, albeit with tons of editing cheats and medium-good digital trickery. The narrative obstacles in “Road House” carry over from the ’89 movie; there’s a corrupt crime family running amok, with Billy Magnussen amusingly detestable as the primary scumbag. Once again, a discreetly smoldering local doctor (Daniela Melchior) patches up Dalton after his initial run-in with the local rabble, and sees this mysterious, courtly stranger as potential date-night material.

The old “Road House” dripped with casually rampant misogyny disguised as examples of the ungentlemanly bad behavior Dalton must vanquish. Most of that ambiance is gone here. So is any trace of actual sensual anything. The central “romance” this time barely registers. Reductively, you could put it this way: Liman’s “Road House” gets the job done, but it’s the wrong job, and the ratios are off. When movie fantasies like this reduce the sexual current between its leads to nil, the emphasis on crazier and crazier brutality starts feeling not just jaded, or bloodthirsty, but a drag.

On the other hand, you know who’s great in this? Conor McGregor, best known as an Irish UFC star, making his feature debut in “Road House” as Knox, the special guest assailant the bad guys hire to dispose of Dalton. McGregor’s a born entertainer, delightfully overripe and dementedly committed to every close-up and every strutting threat of grievous bodily harm. His bare bottom gets a wittily star-making entrance of its own, in a traveling shot that goes so long, it’s basically a “Road House” spinoff.

Gyllenhaal has his moments; he finds some wit in Dalton’s zingers, and in his scenes with the local bookstore owner’s teenage daughter (Hannah Love Lanier), the star gets a pleasant “Shane” vibe going. To be sure, “Road House” succumbs to its own bouts of reductivist critique, or self-critique. At one point the scrappy, baseball bat-wielding kid summarizes the stranger’s arrival in Western movie genre terms: “Local townsfolk send for hero to help clean up the rowdy saloon.” Then she adds: “You know. That crap.”

“Road House” — 2 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for nudity, violence, alcohol use and foul language)

Running time: 1:54

How to watch: Now streaming on Prime Video

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

Linda Gassenheimer | Tribune News Service (TNS)

Passing by the fish case in the market, I noticed some very fresh swordfish. I decided to buy some and complement the richness of the fish by adding the aromatic flavors of lemon, rosemary, and garlic.

Orzo is a rice shaped pasta. It gives a lighter feel than larger pasta. Fresh spinach gives a vibrant color and adds flavor. I added it after the orzo is cooked so that it just wilts in the heat of the pasta.

HELPFUL HINTS:

Other short-cut pasta such as penne or elbow can be used.

2 crushed garlic cloves can be used instead of minced garlic.

You can use 2 teaspoons sugar in place of honey.

COUNTDOWN:

Prepare all the ingredients.

Place water for orzo on to boil.

Mix sauce ingredients and make swordfish.

While swordfish cooks add orzo to boiling water.

Finish swordfish recipe.

Complete orzo recipe.

SHOPPING LIST:

To buy: 1 lemon, 1 container minced garlic, 1 bunch fresh rosemary or 1 bottle dried rosemary, 1 bottle honey, 2 6-ounce fresh swordfish steaks, 1 bottle capers, 1 box orzo, and 1 bag washed, ready-to-eat spinach

Staples: olive oil, salt and freshly ground black peppercorns

Rosemary lemon and garlic swordfish

Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer

zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided use

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, 2 teaspoons dried rosemary

2 teaspoons honey

2 6-ounce swordfish steaks

1 tablespoon drained capers

Mix lemon zest, lemon juice,1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, rosemary and honey together in a small bowl for the sauce. Place a medium-size nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sauce to the skillet and cook 2 minutes. Remove the sauce to the bowl and add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to the same skillet Add the swordfish steaks to the skillet. Saute 4 minutes. Turn steaks over and spoon the sauce over the swordfish. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook 4 minutes. A meat thermometer should read 130 degrees. Place the steaks on two dinner plates and spoon the sauce and capers on top.

Yield 2 servings.

Per serving: 335 calories (47 percent from fat), 17.6 g fat (3.6 g saturated,7.6 g monounsaturated), 66 mg cholesterol, 34.2 g protein, 10.1 g carbohydrates, 1.7 g fiber, 760 mg sodium.

Orzo and spinach

Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer

1/4 pound orzo

4 cups washed, ready-to-eat spinach

2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fill a large saucepan 3/4 full of water. Bring to a boil. Add the orzo and boil for 9 minutes. Drain and return orzo to the saucepan. Stir in the spinach until it begins to wilt. Mix in the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Divide in half and serve with the swordfish.

Yield 2 servings.

Per serving: 265 calories (19 percent from fat), 5.6 g fat (0.8 g saturated, 2.3 g monounsaturated), no cholesterol, 9.2 g protein, 44.7 g carbohydrates, 3.2 g fiber, 51 mg sodium.

(Linda Gassenheimer is the author of over 30 cookbooks, including her newest, “The 12-Week Diabetes Cookbook.” Listen to Linda on www.WDNA.org and all major podcast sites. Email her at Linda@DinnerInMinutes.com.)

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Consider using ingredients from your pantry and spice shelf if you’ll be dyeing eggs for Easter this year.

When used with white vinegar to set the colors, onion skins, shredded cabbage, carrot tops and pomegranate juice can result in pretty colored eggs whether you use white eggs or brown ones. Eggs are a versatile food with only about 70 calories and offering 6 grams of protein along with Vitamin K, riboflavin, selenium and iodine.

Food-safety issues and the higher price of eggs have made plastic eggs the choice for many egg hunts this year, but colored eggs are an Easter tradition that can brighten a table and be used in recipes for meals. Today’s recipe is great for any meal and can be put together quickly with hard-cooked eggs.

Hard-cooked, unpeeled eggs can be safely stored in a sealable hard-sided container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Don’t leave them out at room temperature for more than two hours.

To dye eggs with natural ingredients, start setting aside the papery skins from your onions to accumulate several cups of skins — red, brown and yellow. With them, you can make pretty marbled eggs and dye others to nice shades of yellow-brown or red. Also, save lemon and orange skins and carrot tops for yellow eggs, and use fresh or frozen spinach for green eggs. For pink eggs, use cranberry juice in place of water.

Save the egg cartons for drying your eggs and buy white vinegar if none is on hand in your pantry.

Vinegar helps to lower the pH so the dye binds to the eggshells. Even if you use a commercial egg dye, you’ll need to add vinegar or another acid such as lemon juice.

Set aside a couple of hours to cook and dye your eggs as the end of the month approaches. Plan whether you’ll color them while cooking, or start with hard-cooked eggs. You can also use food coloring to dye your eggs.

Hot water will result in more intense colors but may soak through to color the egg white, so consider how you’ll be using the finished eggs.

Natural colors

The amounts that follow will color six eggs in a quart of hot water to which 2 tablespoons of white vinegar have been added.

Orange: 4 tablespoons of paprika

Blue: 4 cups of shredded red cabbage or canned blueberries

Red: 4 cups of red onion skins OR heated pomegranate juice in place of water

Pink: 4 cups of shredded beets OR hot cranberry juice in place of water

Green: 4 cups of spinach, fresh or frozen

Ochre: 4 cups of dry outer onion skins

Pale yellow: 4 cups orange or lemon peels or carrot tops with ground cumin added

Mocha: 1 quart of strongly brewed hot coffee in place of water

Instructions:

Add dye ingredients to a pot with eggs and bring to a boil.

Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

The motion of the eggs in the liquid will assure an even color.

Cold dip method

Combine dye materials, vinegar and water and simmer for 20 minutes, then drain, reserving liquid and cool. Dip hard-cooked eggs in the dye until the desired color is achieved, soaking for 5 minutes to several hours in the refrigerator. Dry on paper towels.

Marbled eggs

Wrap uncooked eggs in onion skins of different colors or spinach leaves. Use string to secure the wrap on the eggs and place them in the toe of an old stocking. Place in simmering water for 20 minutes. Leave the eggs wrapped as they cool.

Perfect hard-cooked eggs

For perfect hard-cooked eggs that peel easily and have tender whites and smooth yellow yolks, prick the large end of each egg with a pin. This provides an escape for the air inside and prevents cracking.

Place eggs in a deep saucepan in a single layer and cover with hot water by 1 inch.

Set the pan over low heat and bring water to a low simmer. Place lid on the pan and remove from heat.

Let the eggs sit for 15 minutes.

Prepare a bowl of ice water with plenty of ice cubes.

Place eggs in the ice water for 4 minutes, then dry them off and place in the refrigerator.

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Recipe

Eggs Gratin with Bechamel Sauce, Ham and Mushrooms

(Serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients

5 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1 large oyster mushroom, stem removed and sliced

2 slices of ham, cut up

¼ cup cream

⅓ cup Gruyere cheese

Chopped chives

Nutmeg

Freshly ground pepper

Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400.

Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan.

Whisk in flour, whisking until cooked.

Slowly add milk and continue whisking until it thickens.

Stir in cream.

Stir in sliced mushroom.

Set aside.

Place sliced eggs in the bottom of a casserole.

Add shredded cheese and chopped ham over the sliced eggs.

Sprinkle mixture with freshly ground pepper and a little nutmeg.

Pour cream sauce over the top.

Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

Serve.

— Adapted from a Jacques Pepin recipe