Whitney Houston dies

Pilgrim · February 13, 2012, 08:59:38 AM

Quote from: Dave W on February 12, 2012, 04:34:14 PM
if you watch, you'll have to endure Hudson's godawful all-head-voice melismatic quavering.

Fortunately, she sang it pretty straight ahead. I thought it was tasteful.

chromium · February 13, 2012, 11:24:00 AM

That's too bad.. 48 is too young for anyone to check out.

Moral of the story: Friends don't let friends marry Bobby Brown.

jumbodbassman · February 13, 2012, 12:54:23 PM

not a fan but a shame none the less

uwe · February 20, 2012, 01:47:46 PM

Whitney could sing. And if you took away all the histrionics, she had a lovely timbre for a woman her young age. The stuff they gave her to sing was questionable and it didn't age well. As did she.

Trained for music and a career from childhood on, it always struck me how earthshatteringly naive she was - as if she had missed out on crucial phases that turn you into an adult. I remember an interview with her when she was well into her career (around the time she sung the national anthem at the NFL) and I found it disconcerting how in that 10 minute interview every 3rd and 4th word was "you know"? She was unable to do a sentence without it, you know? I mean really, you know. All the time, you know, get what I mean, you know? Seems like if you are deprived of a real childhood, you never get to catch it up. Michael Jackson was like that too, albeit more disturbingly so.

If you want to hear a barely teenage Whitney in an unusual setting

, then listen to this. That's her (at age 12) and her mom Cissy singing backing vocals for a bunch of white limeys with a penchant for twin guitar solos in thirds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYh0Wv4xOw4&feature=related

Dave W · February 20, 2012, 09:49:48 PM

You're right, it's not the belt-it-out style I hate. Still not music I like.

Her death is tragic, but the media coverage here has been over-the-top to the point of being grotesque. Saturday multiple channels were carrying her funeral, Sunday you couldn't watch a news show without stories about her burial, this morning I muted the Today Show three times in a little more than an hour and finally turned it off, they had aired three different stories about her. Geez, the coverage of Michael Jackson was bad enough, but at least he was in the process of making a comeback, Whitney Houston's career was in the dumper.

I understand that she meant a lot to her fans, and they should grieve however they feel appropriate, but I just hate it when media buffoons tell us how we all loved her and her music and how we're all grieving. Give it a rest.

Then there's the profiteering from her death, starting with Sony raising the prices on her music, then quickly backtracking. Ugly.

rahock · February 21, 2012, 05:23:25 AM

Yeah, multiple channels broadcasting her "private" funeral. I guess there is a bright side to never becoming famous. People don't see your dirty laundry, people don't love or hate you without ever knowing you, and private can actually mean private.
Rick

Denis · February 21, 2012, 06:44:12 AM

A buddy of mine, who's a HUGE Johnny Cash fan, posted on his Facebook page that he didn't give a shit about Houston or that he died. It's tempting to ask him if he felt sad when Cash died. I'm not a Houston fan but I'm sure lots of people felt the same way about her music as many others felt about Cash's.

Dave W · February 21, 2012, 08:57:27 AM

Right, it's understandable that fans of any stars (or less well known performers) are sad and will grieve when they die. We should sympathize with them, because we feel the same way when someone dies whose music means a lot to us. Still, the reaction of your friend may just be backlash from the spectacle of mass funeral broadcasts, the mass of people who feel they have to be a part of it, and all the other excesses of the past few days.

Pilgrim · February 21, 2012, 09:19:05 AM

I confess that I don't feel a lot of surprise or regret when someone drives their life into the ground. Amy Winehouse was a flame-out in process for a long time; Whitney made it further, but she's primarily responsible for what happened. Michael Jackson was deeply weird for a long time, and frankly wasn't that much of a surprise to me.

All of us on this forum have enough miles behind us to know people who have driven themselves into the ground. That's never a good thing, but sometimes everyone around them sees it coming well ahead of time. I have as much regret for fans who invest so heavily in these people that they over-react to their passing. I wonder why they need to invest their emotions so heavily in a musician or public figure....but I figure it's their problem.

Dave W · February 23, 2012, 07:56:11 AM

I just heard a news story which said that the National Enquirer published a photo of Whitney Houston in her casket and now there's "outrage" on Twitter over this "invasion of privacy."

WTF? The same people who are begging for any scrap of dirt about her are now concerned with invasion of privacy? Priceless hypocrisy.

gweimer · February 23, 2012, 08:00:45 AM

The sad thing is that creative people who bring us so much that we love in our lives (music, art, film, etc.) are also frequently the most dysfunctional and pathetic people as individuals. We can mourn the lost of talent, but I can't always feel sorry for the circumstances behind it. And the fact that people want to iconize these people as idyllic souls is just a little unrealistic.

Rob · February 23, 2012, 09:24:21 AM

Quote from: gweimer on February 23, 2012, 08:00:45 AM
The sad thing is that creative people who bring us so much that we love in our lives (music, art, film, etc.) are also frequently the most dysfunctional and pathetic people as individuals. We can mourn the lost of talent, but I can't always feel sorry for the circumstances behind it. And the fact that people want to iconize these people as idyllic souls is just a little unrealistic.

Well said!

Pilgrim · February 23, 2012, 01:33:59 PM

Quote from: gweimer on February 23, 2012, 08:00:45 AM
The sad thing is that creative people who bring us so much that we love in our lives (music, art, film, etc.) are also frequently the most dysfunctional and pathetic people as individuals. We can mourn the lost of talent, but I can't always feel sorry for the circumstances behind it. And the fact that people want to iconize these people as idyllic souls is just a little unrealistic.

It seems to be true. I found myself wondering the other day if the personality type that drives someone to become a superb musician (requiring thousands of hours of practice and performance) is somehow associated with a tendency toward addiction. Seems to me that the drive to become so good at something could also be associated with a drive to repeat behaviors which lead to addiction.

That analysis is worth every penny it cost you.

gweimer · February 23, 2012, 02:05:36 PM

Drugs have a tendency to make you focus on one single thing when you are under the influence. If it happens to be playing music, the only thing you are conscious of are the notes. If you focus on your shoelace, then everything else falls apart. The people that say they play better when they are high are looking at their shoelaces.

FWIW - I actually did work in a band with a guitarist that truly played better when he was tripping. I was straight at the time, and have tapes to back it up.

Lightyear · February 24, 2012, 01:57:40 PM

Quote from: Pilgrim on February 23, 2012, 01:33:59 PM
It seems to be true. I found myself wondering the other day if the personality type that drives someone to become a superb musician (requiring thousands of hours of practice and performance) is somehow associated with a tendency toward addiction. Seems to me that the drive to become so good at something could also be associated with a drive to repeat behaviors which lead to addiction.

That analysis is worth every penny it cost you.

A chilhood friend of mine was a truly gifted drummer - 1 year of lessons and three years later he was drumming on a pro level - at the age of 15. When I say gifted I mean at a savant level - his abilities were truly frightening. But, he was absolutely crackers. Growing up and playing with him he was mercurial and erractic suffereing from bouts of anxiety and depression. By the time we finished high school none of us could play with him though he was still our friend. Fast forward twenty five years and I ran into him to find out he was living with his parents and on permanent disability - he had just been diagnosed as bipolar along with a host of other things. All of his past problems now made since. Seems like his gift was at the cost of his mind.