ON a recent Sunday afternoon the Queen of Soul’s hotel room on Central Park South looked like an executive’s pit stop. Aretha Franklin had returned to New York City late after a concert in New Jersey, and the morning had been too busy for maid service. The afternoon was no less active: an interview to promote her new collection of duets, “Jewels in the Crown†(J Records), and then a fitting for her latest designer dress. There were clothes, cotton puffs and a real-estate brochure on the floor, along with a new copy of Alan Greenspan’s book “The Age of Turbulence,†which she said she was planning to read. The television played silently; a laptop computer was open on a coffee table.
