Happy birthday, Amy Winehouse
Posted By richards on September 13, 2013
AMY at home in 2003. PHOTO BY MARK OKOH/CAMERA PRESS
I first posted the poster as I was getting out of a tube station in London. It was pink, with a picture of Amy Winehouse and the words Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, announcing the ongoing exhibit at the Jewish Museum.
Hours later, while rifling through piles of records at an old shop in Camden, there it was againAmys face on pink paper, this time a flyer. I picked it up and the significance of the timing of my visit hit me: This September, Amy would have been celebrating her 30th birthday.
All throughout this month, events would be held all over Camden to celebrate the late singer-songwriters birthday gigs, fairs, pop-up shops, walking tours, a Back to Black tribute show, even a bowling night. I wasnt going to be in town for most of them, but I could make it to the exhibit.
THE FLYER that led me to Amy. PHOTO BY PAM PASTOR
I had to go.
Tragedy
Two years ago, while leaving the Cultural Center of the Philippines after a movie screening, I checked my phone and got the news that Amy had been found dead in her home in Camden. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. A lot of people claimed not to be surprised. To them, it was the expected end to the life of a drug-addled artist who had fallen apart right before their eyes. To me, it was a tragedy.
THE ALWAYS colorful Amy. PHOTO BY CHARLES MORIARTY
I cannot recall the moment I first fell in love with Amy Winehouse. It could have been her first appearance on David Letterman, when she wore that pretty polka-dotted dress and sang Rehab. It could have been the day I watched her BBC Radio acoustic session. It could have been the time I listened, really listened, to her lyrics. Her songs made it to my iPod and she became a constant presence in my playlists.
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Happy birthday, Amy Winehouse
