alphastreet said:

Manic depression? In that case, I really wish she did treat herself I myself am bipolar and I was refusing meds until I had to admit when I was on edge that I needed help. It was hard hearing I may need my meds for life but I've accepted it. I'm not completely managing but it is keeping me calmer than before and that's better than nothing. It's too bad she didn't take it, though I understand why too in a way cause when I was really feeling those things I was writing so much and didn't want to stop it or have those things go away cause it was making me feel better about myself for a few minutes, but it's really not worth your health.

^^^ You made a very wise choice for your health because bipolar disorder is a chemical imbalance in the brain which can, in most cases, be treated with the RIGHT kind of medication. Unfortunately, I have known people with this chemical imbalance who did not make the right choices for their health. I'm glad you are taking care of your health and going in the right direction, although it can be a very tough road to travel.

Serena said:

free2bfreeda said:

i want to remember thoughts from Amy's heart and mind before she died. i found this:

http://www.brainyquote.co...house.html

Amy Winehouse Quotes

Thanks for those quotes. I'd read that she dreamed of being a wife and mother, I'm so sad for her not being able to realize all her dreams.

your so welcome. i too wish Amy Winehouse could have made it through the gauntlet of life without succumbing to the evil spirits that drug and alcohol abuse produce.

i will miss her

Really sad she didn't make it I think she could have given us some more good music ...

The autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

I found out yesterday, I'm still in shock

Sander said:

Really sad news. I admire her style and staying true. She did accomplish a lot eventhough she only released two records. Love her and thank her for sharing her talent through those amazing songs.

serpan99 said:

"Love Is A Losing Game" by Andy Allo and Prince:

http://www.facebook.com/andyallo

Nice, short and sweet.

Those first 10 chords sound really familiar. It sounds like "Had U" or "Leaving for New York". I think it's something from those 76-78 years. Does anyone with better ears know what it's from or sounds like?

Thank you Prince and Andy.... a tribute to a great singer and talented artist ....RIP Amy ...so sad you have Gone To Soon....

Such a great interview from the Frank era! She was so full of life here...

http://www.rollingstone.c...e-20110724

U2 - stuck in a moment for Amy

silverchild said:

Such a great interview from the Frank era! She was so full of life here...

Thanks for posting that, it is a good interview! She's so humble and real and her eyes light up when talking about some things, even her canary! It's cute the way she says 'geirls'.

A tribute to amy winehouse from someone who really did know her as an artist!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news...s-14265899

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news...s-14264964

Amy a bright talent - starting out

Amy Winehouse: 'We've lost 20 years of good records'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news...s-14264960

deadmansbones said:

Honestly, I just think addiction is just like anything else. Once you start, it's just so easy to fall off the wagon.

This is a bad comparison, but I'm just getting back on the wagon after gaining back some weight I lost.

I lost 12 lbs... I needed to lose more, but it was a BITCH to lose those 12 pounds. I was being all healthy--exercising every day... or nearly every day... let's say MOST days. i was going to the gym.

Then...I missed a day. Then I missed two. Then I started back into my old eating habits. Well...sure enough, the weight came back. And.. yes it impacts my health...like with my blood pressure and stress.

So now I'm back "clean and sober" so to speak, again. It's just so hard for me even though I KNOW I need to do it for my health NOW and/or later.

I can't even even imagine <b> how difficult it must be to kick a drug addiction.</b> Shit, I'm having problems with this weight issue... and.. working-out for cardiovascular reasons. I can't even do that. And you feel like such a failure when.... you just can't seem to manage, you know what I'm sayin?

So...I just think... it must have been holy hell for Amy Winehouse.

Some people feel beating food addictions is harder. It is like telling a crack addict to only take "a little crack" or to consume crack in "controlled portions". That is most difficult.

Drug addicts are told to abstain. Food addicts are told to control.... nearly impossible.

prodigalfan said:

deadmansbones said:

Honestly, I just think addiction is just like anything else. Once you start, it's just so easy to fall off the wagon.

This is a bad comparison, but I'm just getting back on the wagon after gaining back some weight I lost.

I lost 12 lbs... I needed to lose more, but it was a BITCH to lose those 12 pounds. I was being all healthy--exercising every day... or nearly every day... let's say MOST days. i was going to the gym.

Then...I missed a day. Then I missed two. Then I started back into my old eating habits. Well...sure enough, the weight came back. And.. yes it impacts my health...like with my blood pressure and stress.

So now I'm back "clean and sober" so to speak, again. It's just so hard for me even though I KNOW I need to do it for my health NOW and/or later.

I can't even even imagine <b> how difficult it must be to kick a drug addiction.</b> Shit, I'm having problems with this weight issue... and.. working-out for cardiovascular reasons. I can't even do that. And you feel like such a failure when.... you just can't seem to manage, you know what I'm sayin?

So...I just think... it must have been holy hell for Amy Winehouse.

Some people feel beating food addictions is harder. It is like telling a crack addict to only take "a little crack" or to consume crack in "controlled portions". That is most difficult.

Drug addicts are told to abstain. Food addicts are told to control.... nearly impossible.

Is it impossible 2 NEVER start using?

theblueangel said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I'm not doing too badly, nearly 6 years now.

Congrats, TheDigitalGardener! I just celebrated 3 years clean a few days ago. Many of my friends have 20 or 30 years clean.

Timmy, although addiction is a tough bitch to beat, it can be done - in my case with the help of a 12-step program and a loving, healthy support system. Part of what kept me using for so many years was believing the lie that addiction can't be beat.

I will always be an addict, but that doesn't mean I have to use.

Oh, that is very good. I will have to use this one when talking with my heart patient whose addictions are ruining their hearts.

free2bfreeda said:

i want to remember thoughts from Amy's heart and mind before she died. i found this:

http://www.brainyquote.co...house.html

Amy Winehouse Quotes

Girls talk to each other like men talk to each other. But girls have an eye for detail.
Amy Winehouse

Having listened to great songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, I felt there was nothing new that was coming out that really represented me and the way I felt. So I started writing my own stuff.
Amy Winehouse

I don't think your ability to fight has anything to do with how big you are. It's to do with how much anger is in you.
Amy Winehouse

I just dress like... I'm an old black man. Sorry! Like I'm an old Jewish black man. I just dress like it's still the '50s.
Amy Winehouse

I know I'm talented, but I wasn't put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mom and look after my family. I love what I do, but it's not where it begins and ends.
Amy Winehouse

I like pin-up girls. I'm more of a boy than a girl. I'm not a lesbian, though - not before a sambuca anyway.
Amy Winehouse

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.
Amy Winehouse

I really thought I was on the way out. My husband Blake saved my life. Often I don't know what I do, then the next day the memory returns. And then I am engulfed in shame.
Amy Winehouse

I saw a picture of myself when I came out of the hospital. I didn't recognize myself.
Amy Winehouse

I'm of the school of thought where, if you can't sort something out for yourself, no one can help you. Rehab is great for some people but not others.
Amy Winehouse

If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.
Amy Winehouse

My justification is that most people my age spend a lot of time thinking about what they're going to do for the next five or ten years. The time they spend thinking about their life, I just spend drinking.
Amy Winehouse

Since I was 16, I've felt a black cloud hangs over me. Since then, I have taken pills for depression.
Amy Winehouse

please, this thread is about Amy winehouse. for those who are saddened by the Norway disaster. please go to the thread and post there.

Bless her heart...sometimes in depression you truly can't decide if you even want to live or not.

Best to ignore the thread-jackers.

Russell Brand, who famously battled addiction for years, wrote a long and touching blog about his friend Amy Winehouse -- whom he called both a genius and a junkie. Russell says he finally conquered his addiction at the age of 27, the same age Amy was when she passed away. He says he'd known Amy for a long time before he had ever heard her sing ... calling her voice "entirely human yet laced with the divine."

Here's his blog, in its entirety:

For Amy

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" (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it's kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely 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, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.

I was myself at that time 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. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they're not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his "speedboat" there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they're looking through you to somewhere else they'd rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief.

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 and this not being the 1950's I wondered how a "jazz singer" had achieved such cultural prominence. 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 that I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse that I ever saw her live.

I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space 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, from the font of all greatness. 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. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! 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, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen 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. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now 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 ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. 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 through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery, through Focus I 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 now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. 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 will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn't even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and 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.

Graycap23 said:

prodigalfan said:

Some people feel beating food addictions is harder. It is like telling a crack addict to only take "a little crack" or to consume crack in "controlled portions". That is most difficult.

Drug addicts are told to abstain. Food addicts are told to control.... nearly impossible.

Is it impossible 2 NEVER start using?

^

Sorry this was difficult for you to follow. It is nearly impossible to control FOOD ADDICITION. Did you see the "...." that means that those last 2 words are related to the words prior to the "....".

Not the PREVIOUS SENTENCE. Thanks for reading.

728huey said:

Serena said:

Fuck.

LIFE is not good for you.

We all do things EVERY day that aren't good for us.

Sports aren't good for you, do you criticize every athlete that dies from injuries?

Caffeine is also a drug that isn't good for you.

Reading these types of judgemental posts isn't good for anyone either.

Shame on YOU.

Yes, Ms. Winehouse may have done some very self-destructive things to herself up until her untimely death, but before any of us judge her life choices too harshly, remember, addiction is a disease. She had many friends and family members trying to help her, and it appears she even went in for treatment several times, but if it is revealed that her death was drug related, maybe she just succumbed to a disease she could not overcome.

Would you tell the family of a cancer victim who just died that he/she should have gotten chemotherapy? Would you tell the family of a heart disease patient who recently died that their loved one should have quit eating so much fatty food or put down those cigarettes? Very few people would be as heartless to say that to families of cancer or heart disease victims, yet we seem to be okay to judge drug and alcohol addicts differently. For all we know, she may have been getting treatment and it just wasn't enough to save her. And we don't have any idea what else was going on with her life either, so we shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions.

Exactly. Everybody got a jones and something's gonna take every one of us away from here sooner or later.

Hey, she tried...just like we all try, every day.

SCNDLS said:

I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space 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, from the font of all greatness. 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. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! 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, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a f**king genius.

I especially like this paragraph, thanks SCNDLS! Her voice is divine, that's for sure!

still really upset about this. she was such a great talent.

her voice, her words definitely touched me.

RIP Amy.

prodigalfan said:

deadmansbones said:

Honestly, I just think addiction is just like anything else. Once you start, it's just so easy to fall off the wagon.

This is a bad comparison, but I'm just getting back on the wagon after gaining back some weight I lost.

I lost 12 lbs... I needed to lose more, but it was a BITCH to lose those 12 pounds. I was being all healthy--exercising every day... or nearly every day... let's say MOST days. i was going to the gym.

Then...I missed a day. Then I missed two. Then I started back into my old eating habits. Well...sure enough, the weight came back. And.. yes it impacts my health...like with my blood pressure and stress.

So now I'm back "clean and sober" so to speak, again. It's just so hard for me even though I KNOW I need to do it for my health NOW and/or later.

I can't even even imagine <b> how difficult it must be to kick a drug addiction.</b> Shit, I'm having problems with this weight issue... and.. working-out for cardiovascular reasons. I can't even do that. And you feel like such a failure when.... you just can't seem to manage, you know what I'm sayin?

So...I just think... it must have been holy hell for Amy Winehouse.

Some people feel beating food addictions is harder. It is like telling a crack addict to only take "a little crack" or to consume crack in "controlled portions". That is most difficult.

Drug addicts are told to abstain. Food addicts are told to control.... nearly impossible.

Food addiction is harder than any other IMO. I have a friend who has struggled with this for years and recently became diabetic. At first, she was militant about her food choices...but with so few options for diabetic people she has fallen off the wagon and gained back all the weight she lost. And it is vital that she change her food habits... But it is so hard when you have to eat to live, unlike drugs or alcohol. You can't abstain from food--in the way you can with drugs or alcohol. You need it to LIVE. I feel for anyone dealing with this addiction--I have seen my friend struggle with it so all these years, going up and down...

Wow, that Brand letter is kind of amazing. Seeing him in a whole new light now. Thanks for sharing.

Wow @ Russell's letter.

Brand's letter was great, Mark Ronson tweeted this yesterday:

"she was my musical soulmate & like a sister to me. this is one of the saddest days of my life"

I'm still now over this

Our Russell a beautiful gifted literal soul states the truth once more.

.

[Edited 7/24/11 15:53pm]

Can Ecstasy kill ya? I just read that she may have gotten some bad Ecstasy? Of course, she had that respiratory problem. She wasn't in the best of health, so it may have not taken all that much.

And her mom released her last conversation with her describing Amy as "out of it"?

Well... you know... it's just sad situation. I just hoped Amy would make it--beat the odds.

As far as food addiction, well I wouldn't say I was addicted to food. I just really like pizza, hamburgers... beer..wine.. you know things like that. I like going to Happy Hours with chips, queso, margaritas... good friends.. good times. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure-out a person shouldn't eat onion rings every day, for example. How hard can it be, really? No onion rings--or at least not every week. But dang... onion rings are sure mmmmmmmmmmmmmm good.

For the record, I'm not morbidly obese. I'm just slightly overweight. A lot of people would look at me not being overweight at all. But my body mass index isn't quite right. I'm an average American, you know what I'm sayin? I wouldn't say Americans were on the the skinny side in general, and I don't think a lot of us would consider ourselves food addicts.

It's just my blood pressure has been rising. You know stuff like that. I had to wear a Holter monitor because I was having this irregular heartbeat which I was not aware of at all until I had an ekg. Nonetheless, apparently, no worries. Everything was Ok...benign.

It just makes a person "pause" for moment.

And I repeat... onion rings with beer are sure good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I do love unwinding after a hard day's work.

But it ain't good for ya. It's not illegal.. It's just frowned upon in excess! And as I said, one's body doesn't appreciate the eating of onion rings and pizza in excess.

I just got done watching the news and there was a report that Amy's mother was very concerned about her daughter's well-being for years and that her father already wrote an eulogy years before her passing, as he knew she didn't have long to live. Sad as ever, but after all what can one do? Everyone does the best that they can in this life. Just keep on living and be proud of it.

[Edited 7/24/11 16:56pm]

silverchild said:

I just got done watching the news and there was a report that Amy's mother was very concerned about her daughter's well-being for years and that her father already wrote an eulogy years before her passing, as he knew she didn't have long to live. Sad as ever, but after all what can one do? Everyone does the best that they can in this life. Just keep on living and be proud of it.

[Edited 7/24/11 16:56pm]

I agree; we all do the best we can.

That's all we can do..

silverchild said:

I just got done watching the news and there was a report that Amy's mother was very concerned about her daughter's well-being for years and that her father already wrote an eulogy years before her passing, as he knew she didn't have long to live. Sad as ever, but after all what can one do? Everyone does the best that they can in this life. Just keep on living and be proud of it.

[Edited 7/24/11 16:56pm]

Not only is it so hard to "make it" even if you have enough talent... but for those who do the impossible and "make it" there are so much hardship... Amy, Lindsay, Britney, El Debarge, the list goes on and on.

I'm betting that no matter how talented Amy was, and how grateful we are to have been able to enjoy her talent, vibe etc... I bet today her family wishes she had settled on being a dental hygenist, got married and is bringing her brood to mum and dad for Sunday dinner.