John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse was found dead today. She was 27 - the age of enough rock stars that a perversely named 27 Club has long been named for those (Jim Morrison to Brian Jones to Jimi Hendrix) who belong. Sadly, there was little shocking about the death of Amy Winehouse, who came to fame with a basket of troubles with substance abuse already in tow.

The song of the day is Back to Black, a reminder that she left enough to be remembered, and respected. 

One of the songs our kid learned from Lego Rock Band

I started playing a tune this morning to get me in a coffee-making mood, and to my surprise, Nick said, "Hey, that's Valerie!"

I didn't know he knew about Amy Winehouse or Mark Ronson (it's from the latter's album, with the notoriously troubled but amazingly gifted former singing lead), and it turns out he doesn't. Or, as of now, didn't.

He knows the original version, by the Zutons, which was a non-hit until Ronson dressed it up and turned the gender table to boot, from Lego Rock Band, not to mention a wide variety of other tunes. (To wit: in the car last night, with Rich Terfry and Drive playing, he chimed in, "Hey, that's David Bowie!" At his age, I was already an obsessive radio listener, although that's really not part of the equation for him. He's picking up habits and tastes from places I couldn't have imagined 35 years ago.)

Here's a video of Ronson and "Winehouse" (or reasonable facsimiles) in action.

 

Here's the original from the Zutons. A great tune, either way.

Self-destructive

"I only write about stuff that’s happened to me, stuff I can’t get past personally. Luckily, I'm quite self-destructive."
- Amy Winehouse

[The illustration of Amy Winehouse is by Derren Brown.]

Amy Winehouse and Linda Ronstadt mash it up

A mash-up that works ... for me, anyway. Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good is stitched to Linda Ronstadt's You're No Good (with a video drawn from the Midnight Special!), with a common big-beat hooking them together.

Amy Winehouse & Jerry Dammers, Free Nelson Mandela

Jerry Dammers - the gap-toothed brains behind the Specials/ Special AKA - was joined by Amy Winehouse, of all people, to sing lead on Free Nelson Mandela for Friday's concert in Hyde Park to celebrate Nelson Mandela's forthcoming 90th birthday. Half of London appears to have joined them on stage, including some other well-known faces. (Dammers is, admittedly, not that well known; that's him on organ.)

Lest we forget how potent the original single was in 1984, when Nelson Mandela's name was far from a household word and the video itself was banned from some TV stations, here's the original version - featuring a sparkling horn arrangement and some of Elvis Costello's best production work.

Winehouse and Weller whoop it up

Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller ripped through I Heard It Through the Grapevine on Jools Holland's latest new year's fiesta.