This could possibly make you cry

Via The Daily What.

R.I.P. Joe Frazier

Amy Winehouse was intoxicated at time of death

Us has this update on the inquest into Amy Winehouse's death. She had 4.5 times the legal limit of alcohol in her system.

"The sudden July 23 passing of Amy Winehouse was ruled "death by misadventure" by British coroner Suzanne Greenaway on Wednesday. Just 27 at the time of her death, Winehouse died as a result of drinking too much alcohol, Greenaway said. "She had consumed sufficient alcohol... and the unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said. A pathologist reported that an autopsy performed on the "Rehab" singer revealed that her blood-alcohol level (416mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood) was 4.5 times over the legal drunk-driving limit. Winehouse's doctor, Dr. Christina Romete, said that the star "resumed drinking" in the days before her death after a long period of abstinence. She apparently relapsed just one day before her body was found. Her family - parents Mitch and Janis and borther Alex - were in attendance when the toxicology results were announced. "This is closure of sorts but I don't think they are relying on this verdict," a family spokesman told London's Evening Standard. "They are a very close family and they know how Amy was in the days before her death. "As always they have been overwhelmed by messages of love and support and are looking forward to concentrating on the foundation so that something good can come out of this."

Sad day for R.E.M. fans

Calm down. No one's dead. But the band broke up. And if you thought this break-up had already occurred years ago, that's okay. It's still kinda depressing in an end-of-an-era kinda way. Twitter reactions here. This is posted on their site:

"To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening." R.E.M.
In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.
MIKE
"During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, 'what next'? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.
"We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this--there's no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring-off. We've made this decision together, amicably and with each other's best interests at heart. The time just feels right."
MICHAEL
"A wise man once said--'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it.
"I hope our fans realize this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.
"We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It's been amazing."
PETER
"One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M. was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you.
"Mike, Michael, Bill, Bertis, and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it's only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club: watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world."

RIP Andy Whitfield

This is so bleeping sad.

The LA Times has this: "Andy Whitfield, who appeared in the Starz period drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," has died, the network confirmed. Whitfield died Sunday of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Sydney, Australia. He was 39. Whitfield appeared as the gladiator hero in the first season of the cable series but stepped down from the role before the second season because of his illness. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Andy Whitfield,” said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht in a statement.  “We were fortunate to have worked with Andy in 'Spartacus' and came to know that the man who played a champion on-screen was also a champion in his own life.  Andy was an inspiration to all of us as he faced this very personal battle with courage, strength and grace.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.  He will live on in the hearts of his family, friends and fans." The network announced back in January that Australian actor Liam McIntyre had been enlisted to take over the role. “It’s hard. You kind of wish you didn’t have the opportunity,” McIntyre said at this year's Comic-Con about taking on the role. “The best thing I can do is bust my [butt] … and honor the legacy.” "Spartacus: Vengeance" is slated to premiere in January.
The following is a statement from his wife, Vashti Whitfield: On a beautiful sunny sydney spring morning, surrounded by his family, in the arms of his loving wife, our beautiful young warrior Andy Whitfield lost his 18 month battle with lymphoma cancer. He passed peacefully surrounded by love. Thank you to all his fans whose love and support have help carry him to this point. He will be remembered as the inspiring, courageous and gentle man, father and husband he was."

And this from EW: "Whitfield’s Spartacus co-star Lucy Lawless also paid tribute to him in a statement to EW: “Obviously, Andy Whitfield left an indelible mark on all of us in the Spartacus family. He was a gentle man who never said a bad word about anyone, a gifted photographer, engineer (no really!) and a brilliant actor. Andy’s incandescent film presence made men want to be him and women want to marry him. Andy’s  two babies will always know that their Daddy cherished them and their mother, Vashti, above all things. How lucky we were to have him grace all our lives. Godspeed, Andy!”
“No words to express the depth of such a loss. You will be deeply missed, my brother,” said Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight on Twitter."

Amy Winehouse was not on drugs when she died

Apparently drugs played no role in the singer's untimely death. People has this:

"No illegal drugs were in the system of Amy Winehouse when the troubled singer died July 23, says her family. Spokesman Chris Goodman said in a statement Tuesday: "Toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy's system at the time of her death." The statement also said, "Results indicate that alcohol was present but it cannot be determined as yet if it played a role in her death" at age 27. It concluded, "The family would like to thank the police and coroner for their continuing thorough investigations and for keeping them informed throughout the process. They await the outcome of the inquest [into her death] in October."

Family believes booze withdrawal killed Amy Winehouse

People has this interesting theory: "Amy Winehouse's struggles to quit drugs were well documented. But her family fears that sudden abstinence from alcohol might have been what led to her death last Saturday at age 27, according to a report. Winehouse ignored doctors' advice to step back gradually from her heavy drinking and went cold turkey in the past month, an unnamed family friend tells Britain's Sun. Her family believes that was too much of a shock to her system, the source adds. "Abstinence gave her body such a fright, they thought it was eventually the cause of her death," says the source. The cause of Winehouse's death won't be known for weeks, pending the completion of toxicology tests. There have been reports that Winehouse went on a bender during her final days. But the family source tells the Sun that her father, Mitch Winehouse, said in his eulogy at his daughter's funeral that he believed it was just the opposite. "He said doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn't do that. It was all or nothing and she gave up completely," says the source. "Mitch said the shock of giving up, after everything she had been through over a bad few years, was just too much for her to take."

Sad photos from Amy Winehouse's funeral

Here are Mark Ronson and Kelly Osbourne at the Edgwarebury Cemetery in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
AP Photo/Dominic Lipinski-pa, AP Photo/Ian West/PA, REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Russell Brand's tribute to Amy Winehouse

If you haven't read it, you should. It's a lovely piece by someone who knows addiction. (We will let slide the silly comment about Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday). This is the version posted on the Us website. I suspect there's something missing, but I can't open Brand's blog.

"I've known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma," Brand writes. "Carl Barrat told me that 'Winehouse' (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it's kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me, with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; 'Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric,' I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.
I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they're not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50 pence for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his 'speedboat,' there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they're looking through you to somewhere else they'd rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anesthetize the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief."
From time to time I'd bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was 'a character' but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register.
I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie [Holiday] and Ella [Fitzgerald], from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened," he writes. "Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I'd only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn't just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a f**king genius."
Shallow fool that I am, I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that YouTube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition," he continues.
Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12, I found recovery. Through Focus I was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive."
Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticized at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease."
Not all addicts have Amy's incredible talent. Or Kurt [Cobain]'s or Jimi [Hendrix]'s or Janis [Joplin]'s. Some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalization doesn't even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call.

 AP Photo/Akira Suemori

Jonathan Rhys Meyers reportedly overdoses on pills

Here's a sad story for an otherwise reasonably pleasant day.

Showbizspy has this: "Jonathan Rhys Meyers was hospitalized after a suspected suicide attempt on Tuesday. The Tudors star — who has been in rehab five times for alcohol problems — refused treatment by paramedics for more than 30 minutes, meaning they were forced to call police and he was eventually taken away by ambulance to a facility near his home in Maida Vale, north London. “This is very sad. It was the opinion of those present that he tried to take his life,” a source said. Worried neighbors saw the 33-year-old actor — who was believed to have overdosed on unspecified pills — rushed to hospital. “I saw the ambulance arriving and was worried to death,” an onlooker said. “Jonathan is a lovely guy. You see him all the time in the street. He says hello and is very pleasant. I hope he is fine.” The Velvet Goldmine actor was discharged from hospital yesterday but would only answer “no comment” when questioned on whether he had tried to commit suicide. A police spokesperson confirmed they had been asked to attend the incident. “Officers were called by London Ambulance Service following reports of a man refusing treatment. The man was taken to hospital,” said one official."