RIP Amy Winehouse

[Capt Pat]

There is one less junkie in the world today and that is not a tragedy. They turn themselves into a version of the living dead. It is sad that she turned into a junkie but that was her own free will. It is also sad that it takes attention away from what went on in Norway where our sympathies should be directed.

Winehouse turned herself into a bit of a laughing stock and has made it worse by dying and writing a song like Rehab for which she is so well known.

[ballinaman]

In retrospect,she probably should've said yes yes yes

[mylestheslasher]

Real classy tony, I suppose every death must be rated and its significance determined so that the appropriate level of condolences can assigned? Does this also apply to gaa players, your neighbours and your family members etc?

Erm how stupid are you exactly? Of course the level of condolence is rated - I personally would think the death of a neighbour or family member more significant than that of Amy Winehouse or any other celebrity. If you don't then I feel sorry for you.

Since you seem fit to rate the deaths of people you don't know I expect you must shake the hand of your neighbour in the funeral home and tell him while the death of his wife is tragic it is insignificant in comparison to 911, Norway and WWII. This is a straight forward thread to discuss the death of Amy Winehouse. Some will wish to put their condolences into it. It is quite pathetic to have someone like you on here somehow make her death out to be something less significant "in general" to that of people in Norway. Amy Winehouse had a mother and a father just like the people in Norway. Without knowing them of course I imagine they must be hurting terribly over their daughters death just like the poor people in Norway are. Your first instinct on this thread tells a lot about what you are made off.

[mylestheslasher]

There is one less junkie in the world today and that is not a tragedy. They turn themselves into a version of the living dead. It is sad that she turned into a junkie but that was her own free will. It is also sad that it takes attention away from what went on in Norway where our sympathies should be directed.

Winehouse turned herself into a bit of a laughing stock and has made it worse by dying and writing a song like Rehab for which she is so well known.

Indeed, how inconsiderate of her to OD this week. This is supposed to be a christian country yet my dog outside has more christian attributes than some of you boys.

[theskull1]

It could be very possible that her parents are (in a very tragic way) glad its over. I'm sure they've lived in hell for years over their daughters lifestyle and this was a day that was going to happen.

[Maguire01]

RIP. Back to Black is a great album.

[Maguire01]

There is one less junkie in the world today and that is not a tragedy. They turn themselves into a version of the living dead. It is sad that she turned into a junkie but that was her own free will. It is also sad that it takes attention away from what went on in Norway where our sympathies should be directed.

Winehouse turned herself into a bit of a laughing stock and has made it worse by dying and writing a song like Rehab for which she is so well known.

Ridiculous post. In so many ways.

[EC Unique]

Sympathy for her family and parents in particular but hard to have much for her. She made the choice to destroy herself, pity as she had a lot of talent gifted to her.

[gallsman]

Unlike some of the other music stars she wrote a lot of her own songs & TBH i wasn't a fan of her singing style or of the way she decided to live her life.

27 is too young to die may she RIP.

What does Blowitupref think?

have already given my condolences on the death notices thread unlike you.

Much like the Michaela Harte incident, whether or not someone leaves a message on an internet message board has no bearing on the level of pity and sympathy they feel. It's not a competition, you're not in any way a better human being for having posted condolences than those of us who haven't. Wise up.

[laoislad]

Real classy tony, I suppose every death must be rated and its significance determined so that the appropriate level of condolences can assigned? Does this also apply to gaa players, your neighbours and your family members etc?

Erm how stupid are you exactly? Of course the level of condolence is rated - I personally would think the death of a neighbour or family member more significant than that of Amy Winehouse or any other celebrity. If you don't then I feel sorry for you.

Since you seem fit to rate the deaths of people you don't know I expect you must shake the hand of your neighbour in the funeral home and tell him while the death of his wife is tragic it is insignificant in comparison to 911, Norway and WWII. This is a straight forward thread to discuss the death of Amy Winehouse. Some will wish to put their condolences into it. It is quite pathetic to have someone like you on here somehow make her death out to be something less significant "in general" to that of people in Norway. Amy Winehouse had a mother and a father just like the people in Norway. Without knowing them of course I imagine they must be hurting terribly over their daughters death just like the poor people in Norway are. Your first instinct on this thread tells a lot about what you are made off.

Your gonna have a long ignore list once this thread runs it's course aren't you myles

[Mike Sheehy]

Real classy tony, I suppose every death must be rated and its significance determined so that the appropriate level of condolences can assigned? Does this also apply to gaa players, your neighbours and your family members etc?

Erm how stupid are you exactly? Of course the level of condolence is rated - I personally would think the death of a neighbour or family member more significant than that of Amy Winehouse or any other celebrity. If you don't then I feel sorry for you.

Since you seem fit to rate the deaths of people you don't know I expect you must shake the hand of your neighbour in the funeral home and tell him while the death of his wife is tragic it is insignificant in comparison to 911, Norway and WWII. This is a straight forward thread to discuss the death of Amy Winehouse. Some will wish to put their condolences into it. It is quite pathetic to have someone like you on here somehow make her death out to be something less significant "in general" to that of people in Norway. Amy Winehouse had a mother and a father just like the people in Norway. Without knowing them of course I imagine they must be hurting terribly over their daughters death just like the poor people in Norway are. Your first instinct on this thread tells a lot about what you are made off.

Your gonna have a long ignore list once this thread runs it's course aren't you myles

You have to make him cry to get on that list

[mylestheslasher]

It takes a special breed of a Dick to make my list, tonys not even in the same planet as the other two.

[theskull1]

Tony lacks a bit if tact but I think society's ever increasing fascination with celebrity regardless of how much of a waste of space they are is the bugbear here. I'm not far away on that score especially when one considers this woman's lifestyle.

[Declan]

Wouldn't be a big fan of his but Russell Brnads piece on her is excellent:

My friend Amy and the call that always comes
By Russell Brand

Monday, July 25, 2011

WHEN you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call.
There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they've had enough, that they're ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course, though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it's too late, she's gone. Frustratingly it's not a call you can ever make: it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.

I've known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma. Carl Barrat told me that "Winehouse" was a jazz singer, which struck me as anomalous in that crowd. To me, with my limited musical knowledge, this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance. "Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric," I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.

I was myself barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women, so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction.

From time to time I'd bump into Amy, she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was "a character" but that world was riddled with half-cut, doped-up chancers. I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers, so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks, didn't especially register.

Then she became massively famous and I was pleased to see her acknowledged, but mostly baffled because I'd not experienced her work. I wasn't curious enough to do anything so extreme as listen to her music or go to one of her gigs, I was becoming famous myself at the time and that was an all-consuming experience. It was only by chance I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse and saw her live.

I arrived late and as I made my way through the audience I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. !That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I'd only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn't just some hapless wannabe, just another pissed-up nit who was never gonna make it. Nor was she even a 10-a-penny chanteuse enjoying her 15 minutes. She was a f**king genius.

Shallow fool that I am, I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. She came on my shows and I attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media, though, is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked slippers, the aborted shows. In the public perception, this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition. Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when I found recovery, and was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive.

Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is irrelevant. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy's incredible talent. Or Kurt's or Jimi's or Janis's, Some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that kills. We need to review how we treat addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care.

Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help. The help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call.

Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call.



Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/world/my-friend-amy-and-the-call-that-always-comes-162112.html#ixzz1T6WRCmPz

[LeoMc]

There is one less junkie in the world today and that is not a tragedy. They turn themselves into a version of the living dead. It is sad that she turned into a junkie but that was her own free will. It is also sad that it takes attention away from what went on in Norway where our sympathies should be directed.

Winehouse turned herself into a bit of a laughing stock and has made it worse by dying and writing a song like Rehab for which she is so well known.

You don't subscribe to the notion that an addiction is a disease then?