Amy Winehouse is Dead- Page 2

[capnkidd]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:30pm

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing. Addiction destroys the lives of millions. It's a huge issue. Whatever you might think of her, she's another human life lost. Just because I have compassion for her doesn't mean I don't have compassion for those in Oslo - but what is there to say about the act of a madman? Honestly, perhaps the less we speak of him, the better. Why give him the press he probably wanted?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:32pm

Couldn't the same thing be said for the addiction?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:33pm

She was a remarkable talent that died at the age of 27 because her life got away from her. She succumbed to a disease and lost control of it. It is SAD. I'm not belittling the rest of the sad things that have happened lately, especially not Oslo. But this is sad.

Amy Winehouse's music became a big part of my life when my own father checked himself into rehab after years of severe drug abuse. He survived it. She didn't it.

It makes me sad because of the personal connections I have associated to her and her music.

And yes. I'm generalizing addicts because ADDICTION = DISEASE = ADDICTION. I don't care if it's the homeless man down the block who screams curses at children because he's too high to know the difference between good and bad or the mother who got addicted to painkillers after putting out her back while working a 9-5 at the grocery store every day.

Addiction is a horrible, terrible disease. It is something that not only eats away at your brain and body but at your soul. The majority of addicts know that what they are doing is wrong, unless they are too far gone to know the difference. But knowing that it's wrong and being able to stop are two very different beasts.

I have to bow out of these conversations because I'm getting emotional and heated. It's all too familiar a dialogue for me. One that I have consistently with my family who has cut my father out of their lives. My father, subsequently, sought out help and SUCCEEDED. But all they can see is the bad -- like you -- instead of the pain he was in and now his remarkable success from treatment.

It's a terrible affliction that I hope you never suffer or watch your loved ones suffer. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Off to listen to 'Back to Black' and read. Goodnight, all.

Rest in peace, sweet Amy. Sing for the angels, wherever they and you may be.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:37pm

I think you can mourn something on different levels and reasons for things like the events in Oslo and Amy Winehouse. They are not in competition with each other for your attention, even if it feels that way with news presentations. Some people could feel distant to Oslo because it seems pretty nationalist-based (what exactly was the world reaction to a US event like Oklahoma City?). People can feel distant about the Amy Winehouse news because they were not into her music or read that much about very public problems.
Updated On: 7/23/11 at 09:37 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:40pm

And given that at this moment there are 46 posts about the tragedies in Oslo and 26 about Winehouse, it's obviously not accurate to say that BWWers are more concerned with the latter.

There was a lot of bad news this weekend. And it's not a competition.

But I say this sincerely: No one is required to feel anything they don't feel.

[capnkidd]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:45pm

"But I say this sincerely: No one is required to feel anything they don't feel."

Well said, Mr Tresilian, but if I may add a corollary? No one should be told what they SHOULDN'T feel.

Updated On: 7/23/11 at 09:45 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:50pm

You're both completely right. I just have problems with (and I'm not saying TheatreDiva is the one saying it) people saying that she deserved it, that they weren't surprised, that we shouldn't care because "she had it coming".

She was a remarkably talented human being in great suffering. I don't think anyone deserves this kind of pain.

Rest in peace, sweet Amy.

Goodnight, all.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:20pm

Just for comparison's sake, the Norway post has been here 24 hours longer. This thread has 31 posts. The Norway post has 47, most of which are from a very small handful of us. On my personal FB page, news of Amy's death is all over the place. Many of my friends in the US hadn't even heard about Oslo, despite the fact that I had been talking about it. (Just read another person say, "OMG! I hadn't even heard about this!) I am sorry she is dead, but it's not unexpected. Her disease was more than she could handle. She seemed to be doing so much better last year.

There are also 2 million people starving to death in Somalia with Al-Qaeda blocking any efforts to get them food. This is the world we live in.

In the grand scheme of the f*cked up world and media, Amy's death will get more press.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:29pm

"Her disease was more than she could handle. She seemed to be doing so much better last year."

Her Belgrade concert incident seemed to be the foreshadowing of the end, sadly. Tour dates were canceled and she disappeared from the public eye. I avoided those videos of the performance when it was a brief news item and I cannot imagine looking at them now.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:30pm

As usual though, the media pursued her like an animal, persecuted and vivisected her, rags gossiped about her, fans booed her, talked s#@t about her, and wrote her off as over and now everyone will kiss her ass and sanctify her. No one was truly interested in helping her. They preferred her damaged and interesting. Now her albums are #1 on amazon and itunes.

Society is grotesque sometimes. Lemming rubberneckers who love a good crash site.

Rest in peace, dear Amy.

[Q]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:33pm

BettyB - SOMEBODY was enabling her (and I imagine cashing a check or two at the same time.)

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:53pm

Im sure she had many enablers, but I can almost guarantee the cash flow was significantly dried up. (She had one hit album many years ago.)

It just boggles my mind how the world now treats celebrities and expects them to be able to live through a troubled time. Janis Joplin and the others she is being compared to did not live under the scrutiny she did. Not even close.

There were many times I thought that Britney or Lindsay could be found dead and I worried about them and prayed for them. I guarantee should Lindsay die tragically, people would come out of the woodwork to make her a diety. Right now, no one would give her the time of day and make fun of her left and right. Georgia Rule would be #2 in Amazon DVD sales.

Whether they admit it or not, the general public likes when celebrities die tragically. It gives them something to latch onto, elevate and connect to regardless of how they felt about the celeb prior to the passing.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:38am

@TheatreDiva - The way I see it is: Amy Winehouse dying =/= tragedy in Norway. You cannot compare the two. Both are equally upsetting for different reasons.

I haven't known anyone to face an addiction, and I can't critique Amy's lifestyle, but what happened to her is unfortunate. She was a talented human being, and she was troubled. There are a lot of people like her, who have a gift but lose focus, one way or another. I feel it's a shame we lost her at the age that we lost other talented artists such as Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:40am

I wasn't a huge fan of her music, but I do think she had a great voice. I think it's sad that she wasn't able to overcome her demons.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:58am

BB, I don't see all the things you listed as being equal. I think there's a difference between Rupert Murdoch's rags labeling her "Wino" and going undercover to get whatever compromising photos of her they could to put on their front page, and paying audience members booing her when she was in no shape for the stage, as happened in Belgrade.

I think cheering her and telling her she's fabulous as she falls off the stage is much closer to enabling than anything her label people did. I think if you fail to deliver to your paying customers that's entirely different than being exposed smoking crack with Pete Doherty on the front page of a paper. The people who bought those papers and laughed at her failures are much more complicit in the tragedy of her life than those who recognized her raw talent and enormous potential and hoped to enjoy her work as it evolved.


I think there were people in her life who were just as interested in seeing her able to perform at the best of her commercial ability and to make herself and them a lot of money as there were those who wanted her to take her time, get better, and when she was ready to -- to shine. I think people with addictions tend to collect other addictive personalities and wildly unhealthy symbiotic relationships develop. Of course there is some overlap between categories, but I haven't seen much evidence of anybody pushing and pushing and pushing Amy. The minute Belgrade was over, her people cancelled all the subsequent festival dates and announced she wouldn't be back until she was truly well.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 1:27am

Again, all I'm saying is there are more important things (to me) to worry about.

I'm not, in any way comparing this to Oslo. Oslo just happened to be ONE of my points, but every one seems to be focused on that.

It's obvious that some people have a stronger connection to Amy and her music than I did. But just because she means something to you, doesn't mean she does to me.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 1:43am

There always has been and always will be something more important to worry about. The fact is, people will always feel more emotionally invested in celebrity. It's been that way for a very long time, and it's only increased now. People feel as if they know them, and feel emotionally touched by them. I think this is particularly true of musicians, given the intimate nature of listening to music and the emotional response it brings.

However, there is no cause to demean their death because you were not their fan.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:41pm

God, what is it about troubled musicians and the age 27? Heavy, sad sigh here rather than the speechless horror that is Oslo. A blazing comeback that never will be.

[Q]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:41pm

A lovely tribute from Tony Bennett . . .

"Amy Winehouse was an artist of immense proportions and I am deeply saddened to learn of her tragic passing. She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent and has come to such an early end. She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honored to have the opportunity to sing with her. It had been my sincere hope that she would be able to overcome the issues she was battling and I send my deepest sympathy to her father Mitchell, her entire family and all of those who loved her."

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 5:23pm

Tony Bennett is one class act.

[Q]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 7:40pm

A rather searingly honest essay from Russell Brand entitled "For Amy."

"Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease."
Link to site.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 8:17pm

If anybody has watched Brand's stand-up or listen to his in-depth interviews, he is actually pretty intelligent and clever. I am not surprised, especially considering how open he has been about his own addiction.

[Q]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 8:21pm

The sum total of my exposure to Mr. Brand was watching the trailer for the ARTHUR remake - I know nothing about him.

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 9:31pm

His interview for CBS Sunday Morning a few months ago was wonderful, and really helped me see him in a new light.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 3:21pm

is the rumor about the oslo shooter true? that her songs were all he had on his ipod? that the whole time he was listening to her? that's chilling.