No drug charges for Amy Winehouse

[Syd]

Singer Amy Winehouse will not face charges over a video that purported to show her smoking a crack cocaine pipe, police have confirmed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7400942.stm

[laughingwillow]

I saw that video. I'm guessing a conviction would be tough to procure, as the pipe, apparently, isn't testifying as to what it held.

lw

[JRL]

UNbeievable that they would even consider charges from a video. How do they know it was even her and not one of thousands of Amy Winehouse impersonaters out there. They are gonna hound my girl till shes dead, she prolly won't make it to the 27 club.

BTW I think Rehab is the best new pop song in years!!!!

[Stonehenge]

No one should be prosecuted over a video but it sounds like 'your gal' is a crackhead. She is one of the legions of celebrity trash like Brittney, Madonna and the others. Some people can handle fame and fortune and some just can not. They become negative role models like the so called rap "artists". When kids act like hoodlems or whores, it's in large part because of who they look up to.

[JRL]

Dude what is different about Amy is that she is talented and soulful. I think calling her trash is way of the mark. She is a great artist. I mean I really don't know a lot about music, but when I first heard Rehab I played it 10 times in a row with tears on my face.

To compare her to Brittney or Madonna show a lack of understanding and soulfulness. Amy is the real thing, dude, too good to get over in the pop culture world. The sad thing is every time she fucks up she makes another million dollars. So if you were her manager wouldn't you be handing her a crack pipe?

Fame IS a motherfucker, and I don't know of too many 23 year olds with the sensitivity to sing like Amy does that could handle it.

Again, Amys talent and honesty is apparent to me, but some of us like Kansas, Boston and Rush music that does absolutly nothing for me.
Bob Dylan said " a poem is a naked person" and Amy bares her soul Can't you feel the pain in the song??? I understand the frustration of addiction and I got nothing but empathy for her.

[JRL]

BTW Stony, have you listened to Amy???

Also I really think America's favorite poison alcohol is her problem, but crack and coke are so much more "newsworthy".

[Syd]

props to Amy, hope she LIvEs on past her 27th; did someone mention benzoylmethyl ecgonine =)

[Stonehenge]

I'll admit I have not listened to Amy. I'm going by what I see in the papers which may not tell the whole story. However, be that as it may, talent or no talent, what I've heard about her sounds like trash. When I heard about the crack pipe bit, that did it for me.

"The sad thing is every time she fucks up she makes another million dollars. So if you were her manager wouldn't you be handing her a crack pipe?"

No, I would not, sorry. There are things you just do not do for money if  you have any integrity at all.

She may be a great singer, I wouldn't know. Maybe I should listen more to pop music. I'm more of a jazz fan. I care not for heavy metal, light metal or in particular for any sort of rap. Call me an old fogey if you wish.

[laughingwillow]

I'm not sure what your musical tastes have to do with a lack of empathy for someone battling addiction, stoney.

lw

[JRL]

Also if you like jazz you just might like Amy. She is jazz singer as much as anything. I just love the humanity and vulnerabilty in her voice. Like Billie Holiday or Janis Joplin she does nothing to hide the pain in her woman heart.

I think its the culture of instant fame we have today that has put her where she is as much as anything. I mean I don't she said "well my career needs help, I'll get strung out on dope for the publicity".  Her life might have been way different if she had paid her dues as a jazz singer, been mentored by the jazz greats. Even Jimi Hendrix spent several years on the road backing R and B greats and not so greats, before he became an over night sensation.

[JRL]

"She may be a great singer, I wouldn't know. Maybe I should listen more to pop music. I'm more of a jazz fan. I care not for heavy metal, light metal or in particular for any sort of rap. Call me an old fogey if you wish."

Sounds like we got something in common, jazz is my biggest musical love. What kind of jazz do you favor? Lately I been digging soul jazz" like organ trios, Maceo Parkers solo records that sort of thing.

[Stonehenge]

I like most kinds of jazz, latin jazz being perhaps my favorite sub-genre. The latin jazz project is a good one. Caribean and afro pop are good too. I like piano jazz and lots of drum solos. Big band jazz might be my less favorite but some of that is good too. Blues also is one of my favorites but it depends on the tune.

I wasn't commenting on Amy's singing abilities. I was talking mostly about the crack pipe bit and the general trashy behavior I'd heard about. I'll be the first to admit the news media seldom tells the whole story or tells it honestly.

I would have more sympathy for someone "battling addiction" if they weren't trying to hook kids on crack. That's the only assumption I can make from hearing about that video. You have to consider the effects on others of your own actions when you are a pop star or equivalent. And how is getting drunk almost every night "battling" addiction? Sounds like she gave up battling and joined the other side.

If Amy has talent, that at least sets her apart from trash like madonna. It puts her more in the catagory of Janis and Jimi who both died from a drug overdose. I liked both of them but if you are going to set yourself up as a role model you have to present a positive model or you will at the least face a lot of criticism. History is full of talented people who willfully crashed in flames and took others with them.

[laughingwillow]

Hook kids on crack? Someone set up a hidden camera to catch her in the act. She wasn't smoking on camera on purpose.

I still see addiction as a mental health issue and not one for the criminal courts.

I guess ignorance and and opinions will never be mutually exclusive but am I the only one out of this collective getting exhausted by this particular bottomless pit?

lw

[JRL]

Right, she is definitely not trying to hook kids on crack. I know many kids, students of mine, and most of them see what's happening to Amy as a cautionary tale. Enough said, let's just enjoy her music.

[Stonehenge]

So the video was not made by her? No one mentioned that detail which does make a difference. Was it a hidden camera thing?

What the hell are you babbling about, lw?