Amy Winehouse remembered

'Tribute band' used to mean a bunch of garage mechanics trying to rescue the pub on the A12 roundabout from death by carbon monoxide and breathalyser laws.

That is certainly what it meant to me in Essex in the 1970s.

If a boy whose girlfriend's mother said he looked like Buddy Holly could get paid for pretending to be a dead rockstar (and save the Army and Navy roadhouse in the process) he was surely worth applause.

In 1975 on the traffic-snarled road between London and Colchester, just outside Chelmsford, I probably did applaud.

I say 'probably'.

If you can remember the 'Crickets' tribute act at the army bar of the Army and Navy (now deceased) , you probably weren't there.

But something has happened to the 'tribute act'.

Last week one of my favourite pubs had a 'tribute night' with a woman paying homage to  . . . . .Amy Winehouse.

Now 'Amy' is, as far as I know, still alive.

Visible in the streets of Camden where I live.

Not just alive but very young.

At least as young as the woman making a living by paying her 'tribute' by the Thames on Friday.

Ok, Amy is troubled. If she dies on the A12 it will not be through excess of car exhaust.

And, if she has a free night, you probably will not see her among the swans of the peaceful Riverside at Caversham bridge in  Berkshire.

All the same, it  does not seem quite right.

I am not quite sure exactly who was paying (and earning) Amy's tribute that night.

One Amy tribute act guarantees on her website that, unlike the object of her devotion, she will definitely turn up to your event - and not be drunk or otherwise anti-social.

Perhaps it was that one - the reliable Tania..

She will be certainly very unlike Amy Winehouse.

But she will probably live longer.

In a few years time she could  be paying tribute to the dead,  just like my A12 Crickets of the seventies.

She will be so much more practised than they were - unless by then she has moved on to diverting worship from some other death-wish diva.

Comments

[Robin]

Similarly, one of Amy's biggest hits to date has been a cover of the Zutons' 'Valerie', the original of which as far as I could see was released only a year earlier...

[Susan Balée]

She looks like a train wreck and is Britain's answer to Britney Spears (okay, she's more talented, plus she's not endangering children). It's unpleasant to watch a public figure self-destruct in front of her audience, and a few decades ago it would not have been possible -- the papparazzi were not so aggressive and the media outlets not so keen to publish all the dirt. Rock Hudson was gay and before him M. Monroe was falling apart, but we didn't know it at the time.

A mon avis, those days were preferable.

[Gorilla Bananas]

Having never heard the woman sing, these tribute acts might give me some idea of what the basis of her appeal was.

http://japingape.blogspot.com/

[Clayton Burns]

Those who do not like the TLS article on Austria should consider the statements of Eric R. Kandel on the country in his "In Search of Memory." They also might examine the career of Thomas Bernhard, in autobiography and in fiction.

I was delighted to see Dr. Angelique Richardson's article in "Critical Quarterly" Spring/ Summer 2008 on Hardy, Sir Peter, and his blog. When Sir Peter's thoughts begin to make inroads into academic journals, you know that he is on the right track.

A factitious performance--a beautifully factitious performance--by "Amy." Let's see--employing an unnaturally aged lab mouse to communicate--perhaps--a death threat to her husband--or ex--who cares? If you wilt in fear, it is an authentically factitious routine.

[Timothy A. Bear]

After watching this talented young woman die for such a long period of time, we've decided it's time to mourn and move on, regardless of whatever Amy decides to do with her life.

However, Amy's homemade vids tells us that she's involved with her audience online and cares what they think. Hopefully she'll see posts like yours and mine and it will cause her to embrace the positive, even though the process may be painful.

All the best

http://faithmouse.blogspot.com/2008/05/amy-winehouse-pre-memorial-portrait.html