Showing posts with label Amy Winehouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amy Winehouse. Show all posts
9/3/12
AMY MY DAUGHTER : MITCH WINEHOUSE : CHRISTINE TRZYNA BOOK REVIEW
AMY MY DAUGHTER
Mitch Winehouse C 2012 (Amy's father)
itbooks - an imprint of HarperCollins is the publisher
There are words Mitch Winehouse does not use about his daughter, the singer Amy Winehouse who died a couple years back at the age of 27.
Let me use some of them. Amy Winehouse was a mess - long before she was famous - and she was mentally ill - she cut herself. She was into this seriously mentally ill behavior before she became addicted to... of all substances, her man - husband and ex-husband - Blake.Amy, who's artistry I admire, is on the cover of the book in a photograph that reveals a huge tattoo going down her arm that reads "Daddy's Girl." Maybe that's why, though Mitch was married to Amy's mother, and then her stepmother, the involvement of these women in Amy's life is not part of the big story - his story of being the protective but anxious father of a superstar.
I did want to know how her upbringing effected what seems to be Amy's long standing lack of self-discipline, but as it reads Mitch in his capacity as father, and as a man somehow involved in her management of finances and career, was the one she kept making the promises to - to quit - and the one who was there for her, offering love and advice as best he could even when she couldn't or wouldn't.
To hear Mitch tell it, Amy was brought down by Blake and could have been saved by marrying and having children with her next serious boyfriend.
The ups and downs of her medical history and her on and off again attempts to beat drugs and then alcohol might be typical of any addict. What wasn't typical was Amy's talent. Mitch never says that talent was a burden to her, or that she kept medicating herself with these substances because being famous and keeping a career going like that are damn difficult.
Amy was in very poor health and she had pretty much done herself in with substances. I came to feel that bad boy Blake was another symptom.
Those of you who know me know that I think, have long thought, the whole Psychiatry/Psychology profession is way too powerful. I believe this self propagating profession is hand in hand with pharmaceutical companies and that it is now true that everyone is diagnosable and therefore medicateble. I'll never be a Scientologist but on this they have it right.
I couldn't help but wonder though if Amy Winehouse would still be with us here and now if, earlier in her life, someone had recognized her cutting of herself as serious mental illness. Would psychotropics have killed the creativity and spirit in her? Or would be the best substitute for all those street drugs, all that booze? Mitch doesn't say it. I do.
Towards the end, Mitch mentions that there's a possibility that he got spiritual signs that he thinks were about Amy - butterflies - and a bird and a butterfly flying together. He has used these symbols for AMY'S FOUNDATION, which will address the problems of addiction, ill health, and homelessness among youth.
Mitch Winehouse C 2012 (Amy's father)
itbooks - an imprint of HarperCollins is the publisher
There are words Mitch Winehouse does not use about his daughter, the singer Amy Winehouse who died a couple years back at the age of 27.
Let me use some of them. Amy Winehouse was a mess - long before she was famous - and she was mentally ill - she cut herself. She was into this seriously mentally ill behavior before she became addicted to... of all substances, her man - husband and ex-husband - Blake.Amy, who's artistry I admire, is on the cover of the book in a photograph that reveals a huge tattoo going down her arm that reads "Daddy's Girl." Maybe that's why, though Mitch was married to Amy's mother, and then her stepmother, the involvement of these women in Amy's life is not part of the big story - his story of being the protective but anxious father of a superstar.
I did want to know how her upbringing effected what seems to be Amy's long standing lack of self-discipline, but as it reads Mitch in his capacity as father, and as a man somehow involved in her management of finances and career, was the one she kept making the promises to - to quit - and the one who was there for her, offering love and advice as best he could even when she couldn't or wouldn't.
To hear Mitch tell it, Amy was brought down by Blake and could have been saved by marrying and having children with her next serious boyfriend.
The ups and downs of her medical history and her on and off again attempts to beat drugs and then alcohol might be typical of any addict. What wasn't typical was Amy's talent. Mitch never says that talent was a burden to her, or that she kept medicating herself with these substances because being famous and keeping a career going like that are damn difficult.
Amy was in very poor health and she had pretty much done herself in with substances. I came to feel that bad boy Blake was another symptom.
Those of you who know me know that I think, have long thought, the whole Psychiatry/Psychology profession is way too powerful. I believe this self propagating profession is hand in hand with pharmaceutical companies and that it is now true that everyone is diagnosable and therefore medicateble. I'll never be a Scientologist but on this they have it right.
I couldn't help but wonder though if Amy Winehouse would still be with us here and now if, earlier in her life, someone had recognized her cutting of herself as serious mental illness. Would psychotropics have killed the creativity and spirit in her? Or would be the best substitute for all those street drugs, all that booze? Mitch doesn't say it. I do.
Towards the end, Mitch mentions that there's a possibility that he got spiritual signs that he thinks were about Amy - butterflies - and a bird and a butterfly flying together. He has used these symbols for AMY'S FOUNDATION, which will address the problems of addiction, ill health, and homelessness among youth.
8/16/12
NEW BOOKS BY and ABOUT MUSICAL ARTISTS: ELTON JOHN'S and MITCH WINEHOUSE - AMY'S DAD HIT THE KEYS : COMPUTER KEYS THAT IS
Elton John wrote LOVE IS THE CURE - On Loss and the End of AIDS, and Amy Winehouse's dad. Mitch Winehouse, wrote AMY, MY DAUGHTER. I have both in hand, and am hoping to read them soon. Both fall into one of my favorite genre, pop music.
Now where is that wine and cheese?
Now where is that wine and cheese?
7/25/11
AMY WINEHOUSE DEAD FROM LIFE and WHY USING ILLEGAL DRUGS is STUPID STUPID STUPID
The surprising but not shocking death of AMY WINEHOUSE, the Jewish-British singer, whose music I've posted on this blog because I like it, who took a hell of a lot of International Razzing over her drug and alcohol addictions, and who appeared to be too fragile to deal with fame and the pressure of having to outdo herself on her next try, has me thinking about drug use and abuse : addiction.
Reading one story about Amy's life, I was reminded that she wasn't always sick.
I was thinking about a Psychology 101 class I took years ago in which the professor, explained to us why we should never bother to take that first opportunity to use cocaine. She said a small percentage of us have cocaine receptors in our brain and will become addicted that first try. The chance of ruining your life was a chance not worth taking.
It's a chance I never took not only because the professor said so, but being out of control of one's life never sounded like fun to me. Also I wanted to feel what I was feeling. I consider emotions to be important, a form of intelligence.
Since when did "recreational" use mean - not a little buzz - but out of control? For some people the first drink is the slippery slide down to the street, or in this case, Amy's, coffin.
I also thought about how I was often shunned by "druggies" and "boozers" in my own life, shunned for not being cool enough, or whatever.
To this day my reputation proceeds me. No one has ever offered to sell me any illegal drug.
Cool seems to have been the most important thing for a lot of talented people, most of them probably posers, since the most naturally cool people are actually sociopaths, they with their unblinking reaction to things that make most of us quite emotional.
When someone says "You cool with that?" What are they really asking us to not mind?
Reading one story about Amy's life, I was reminded that she wasn't always sick.
I was thinking about a Psychology 101 class I took years ago in which the professor, explained to us why we should never bother to take that first opportunity to use cocaine. She said a small percentage of us have cocaine receptors in our brain and will become addicted that first try. The chance of ruining your life was a chance not worth taking.
It's a chance I never took not only because the professor said so, but being out of control of one's life never sounded like fun to me. Also I wanted to feel what I was feeling. I consider emotions to be important, a form of intelligence.
Since when did "recreational" use mean - not a little buzz - but out of control? For some people the first drink is the slippery slide down to the street, or in this case, Amy's, coffin.
I also thought about how I was often shunned by "druggies" and "boozers" in my own life, shunned for not being cool enough, or whatever.
To this day my reputation proceeds me. No one has ever offered to sell me any illegal drug.
Cool seems to have been the most important thing for a lot of talented people, most of them probably posers, since the most naturally cool people are actually sociopaths, they with their unblinking reaction to things that make most of us quite emotional.
When someone says "You cool with that?" What are they really asking us to not mind?
Should I suppose that "CREATIVE" people are more prone to use illegal drugs? (And by illegal I also mean the misuse of prescriptions since you are not using it as prescribed.) Are creative people all actually psycho, in need of psych meds, and self treating?
Back to Psychology 101, I believe that basic needs pyramid - food, shelter, clothing - and creature comforts, along with a lot of equipment such as a lap top computer, are essential for allowing us to create. The struggle with drugs, with survival, does not support creativity.
The list of the talented musically, dead at 27, goes like this: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse. Is this the perfect age to move out of this life and leave behind a collection of music that is classic enough to create estates; wealth not enjoyed while living? Maybe its all about a hard "Saturn Return" astrologically, in other words fate, or simply the fast burn of a not so eternal flame.
C 2011 Christine Trzyna All Rights Reserved including Internet Rights and International Rights : Contact author to reuse.
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