Saturday, July 23, 2011. This is the first Saturday I’ve been home in a month. Wilson the painter is doing a major interior painting, and there’s no point in cleaning house, so I spent the morning reading and commenting on my fellow TMR writers’ posts, and updating the events calendar of one of my other ventures, JP Concerts, while Glee, Winehouse, Gaga, my current most favorite iTunes playlist, played in the background.
Just before lunch, I was walking up the back stairs from taking Tiny Dancer out to do his business when my iPhone Associated Press app "Breaking News Headline" pinged.
"Police: Amy Winehouse found dead in her London home.”
As I walked through the back door, I exclaimed, “Dear God in heaven,” and told Jim what had happened.
Are any of us surprised? I wasn’t, but I was stricken with grief. I’d heard about Amy, but she didn't hit my music radar screen until recently when I caught an episode of Glee where they covered the single, "Back to Black." I downloaded Glee: The Music, Vol. 1, Amy’s album, Back to Black, and Lady Gaga’s Fame Monster and created this morning’s playlist, Glee, Winehouse, Gaga, the music playing the morning we learned Amy had died.
They tried to make me go to rehab but I said “no, no, no”
Yes I've been black, but when I come back you'll know, know, know
I ain't got the time, and if my daddy thinks I'm fine
He's tried to make me go to rehab but I won't go, go, go
Calorie Ken espouses balance, but balance is elusive. Most of us keep it between the lines, but some don't or can’t. Marilyn. Montgomery. Judy. Jim. Michael. Amy. The list of brilliant artists who died way too young is long. They created beauty and then left too soon.
"They tried to make me go to rehab but I said 'no, no, no.'" She did go to rehab, but it wasn't enough. The demons that drove the beauty right out of her soul and into our world were just too powerful. We will miss you, Amy, and we will love you and your music for a long time to come.
Swanky reader, Calorie Ken wants to hear from you!
