Is Amy's career over?

[Stonehenge]

I know there was another thread generally on the subject. Lets start fresh. It looks like her career is in the toilet and even if she cleaned up her act today, it might be too late. Her last concert was a dissapointment to fans with her showing up an hour late and singing less than an hour. Her voice then was said to be thin and cracked.

Addiction is a terrible thing and not easy to kick. I'm not saying she is a terrible person, it's that she has tossed away things more valuable than gold just to get high. It should be a lesson for us all. Not only her voice and career but her life is slipping away. Despite numerous rehab sessions, she goes right back to the rocks. Is it a personal decision or has she lost the ability to decide?

http://www.wgal.com/entertainment/16683462/detail.html

LONDON -- Amy Winehouse's father says his daughter has lung damage from smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes.

Mitch Winehouse told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that Amy has early stage emphysema and has been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs.

Mitch Winehouse said the Grammy-winning "Rehab" singer also had an irregular heartbeat, in an interview published Sunday.

[JRL]

Sad it is, like addiction always is. Maybe the best thing for her is to take some years off. People have come back from farther down than she is, like David Crosby and my friend  Johnny Guitar, who was a full on junkie for 18 years.

I don't put a lot of stock in the "oxygen mask" statement. Sure, if she continues to abuse herself serious health problems will result, but statements like that are picked up by the tabloids and get repeated till they become gospel.

Some people destroy their careers when they find out  what the price is for fame and mega success. Some just hasten their demise, either through suicide or substance abuse. But apparently it must not all that its cracked up to be(pun unintended), or why all the casulties?

I hope she gets it together, she is a huge talent. She actually has created quite bit of music in a short time, so she must have been functioning for that. 2 great albums by your early 20s is a rare feat in this day and age.

All in all it just makes me sad. You should see the abuse she gets on news site bulletin boards. People just seem to hate her.

[JRL]

To answer the original question: I think if she makes it through the next couple of years, we will not have heard the last of her. She is too good to just go away.

[Stonehenge]

I think what people hate is the senselessness of it all. She goes to rehab under pressure, gets it cleaned out of her system, gets set down and talked to, explained the dangers and so on. What does she do soon as she is out and able? Runs back to the rock pipe, that's what. It's not like she struggles with it for a while and then gives in to the terrible pressure of being rich and famous and drowns her sorrows in some crack. No, she goes right back to it.

People would die to have 1/10 of what she has and she tosses it away like it was nothing. Her fans aren't going to get any more gems out of her now, it looks like. So they are unhappy. I think that is what some people hate.

She may see herself as a tragic figure and be determined to follow the script.

[JRL]

I can understand sadness disapointment and even anger from her fans. But most of the rock throwers have no connection to her music. She is just a convenient target.

Recovery takes a long time, a few days in rehab is not gonna get it. How far must she go to hit bottom? In her situation she can coast along still thinking its afforadble. Our capacity for denial is huge. That goes for rich, poor, famous and infamous.

She might be following a script, people do that. Some people are afraid of success, and when it comes their way they blow it up. I have spent many years working with people like that: talented people with issues, many with that very one. Hmmm, does that say something about me?

I am trying to change that about myself, time is slipping away. And I am finding people with talent on much better trajectories or at least more aware. It's been a concious decision, I decided to trade down in talent to trade up in direction. But actually I found I don't have to give anything up as far as the music I get to make.

So much time wasted. To paraphrase Robby Robertson I think "We get wise too slow and old too fast"

[Stonehenge]

"To paraphrase Robby Robertson I think "We get wise too slow and old too fast""

Good one. As for Amy, she is making her bed and must lie in it. Might be a death bed.

[Syd]

So much time wasted. To paraphrase Robby Robertson I think "We get wise too slow and old too fast"

Time is never wasted if you get to where you are going in the end.

[Stonehenge]

Wait till you get a little older, Syd. You might have a different point of view about time and how much is left and what it's worth. Although, I do agree that it's hard to say sometimes what is worthwhile and what isn't.

And where are we trying to go? If I was Amy, I'd be asking myself that. What are her goals, what does she want to do? Is her health of much importance?

[kemp]

If I was Amy, I'd be asking myself that. What are her goals, what does she want to do? Is her health of much importance?

Until she gets sober for a little while these are almost meaningless questions... at least that is how many junkies feel.
As I remember addiction, the only thing that really mattered was making it through the day without feeling like total hell. Long term goals at that time were nonexistent.

[JRL]

Indeed Kemp. It's a f*****g nightmare. You don't get that far gone over night and you don't come back from it over night.

[Stonehenge]

I looked in vain to see where I suggested it would happen overnight. kemp, I have to disagree with your assertion here.

"Until she gets sober for a little while these are almost meaningless questions... at least that is how many junkies feel."

Yes, getting sober is important, if that isn't done then nothing good will happen. Whatever the "rehab" did, it certainly dried her out at least for a little while. "sober" implies the immediate effects of the drug. Perhaps you are referring to something more long term but the drug's effects themselves wear off fairly quickly.

I say long term considerations and life goals are vitally important. Most junkies, drunks and so on care nothing about those things. I'll agree with you on that. And this is part of the problem. If you don't give a damn about what will happen to you 5 years down the road, then you don't care much about anything. If your only goal is to make it through the day, the rest of your life just happens.

I'm an advocate of living in the moment and enjoying the here and now. Does that contradict what I just said? No. The now is where everything happens, it's the only really important part of your life. Living in the past or spending all your time thinking of the future are self defeating strategies. However, one of the main things that set us apart from animals is the ability to do just that.

If you don't care where you will be in 5, 10 or 20 years, then sacrificing your future for a feeling of pleasure right now sounds like a good deal. Selling your birthright for a pottage, as the story said. Don't live in the past or future but learn from the past and use it to plan your future. Otherwise, you may not have one.

[JRL]

Actually it was me that said "overnight" and it was not in response to anything you said. I think when people in recovery say "sober" they mean more than detoxing, which is what you are talking about.My point is that she goes away for a week then comes right back into the same situation that she is obviously not dealing well with. That is not a recipe for success. One thing I know about addiction is that it doesn't respond to reason or common sense. And in this day and age we all know about the dangers of substance use. A person that is on the road to full on addiction has agendas other than doing the smart thing. Addiction is a disease of your body, soul and mind, it goes way deep into who you are.

I read today that Amy's dad backed off on his emphesyma pronouncements. Maybe it would be better if he stopped dealing with his daughter through the press, it doesn't seem very supportive to me.If she's gonna get well she will do so in private.

[Stonehenge]

You have some points, JRL. I'm just saying that you have to have some sort of long term outlook in order to care about what you are doing today.

[JRL]

I think in the early stages of recovery "one day at a time" is more useful. But maybe looking at the long term could motivate someone to start down the road to a better life. You really need a reason, your own reason. It's to hard to do it if it's for someone else or powered by a "should".

[Stonehenge]

One day at a time is an excellent strategy. You can do anything for one day. Thinking about staying sober forever can cause people to give up so just focus on today.

Everyone has a 'vision' or mental image of what the future will look like for them. This is true even for folks who never think about the future or not much. If the best thing someone can imagine happening in the future is getting high again, what do you suppose they will end up doing?

We focus on getting through this day but in the back of our mind, we really want to accomplish something long term. It may be to stay sober, hold down a job and become a reliable member of society and or parent. This is a positive image of the future. Those who have a negative future vision are 10 times as likely to go back to harmful ways than those with a positive outlook.

I saw in the paper today that after being treated at the hospital for emphysema and whatever else, Amy lit up a cig as she left the building. She sounds like one of the addicts whose image of the future holds either getting high or not being able to. Until that changes, she will always be an addict. Fans may have to settle for her records.