The Sad Death of Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse is dead. The news flashed around the world by tweet before it hit the major networks. The inevitable jokes ensued, but the saddest thing about this is that no one was shocked by her death. Surprised, perhaps, that her death occurred so young but not surprised at all that she died. It's as if the world was waiting for the other Amy Winehouse shoe to drop.

She lived a troubled life, not uncommon for young celebrities, but her fame was coupled with addiction that virtually paved the way for her demise. She was, by all accounts, a full blown alcoholic and drug addict. And she appeared defiant and in denial. Even her hit "Rehab" with its chorus of "They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no" said Amy was not willing to accept that she was an addict and the song was a musical flip of the bird of sorts to all that suggested she was. Remember, though, she did not set out to be an addict. Addiction creeps up unexpectedly, tells you it's your friend, and then destroys your life. Throw in celebrity life and you have a volatile cocktail waiting to explode. And explode it did.

Her music lives on and it's the music that should be remembered. Amy was an addict, so what. She was a talented singer and the tragedy is that we will never know what she could have accomplished. She enters the pantheon of rock stars that have died young -- Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Kurt Cobain, to name a few. And guess what? They were addicts too, with the exception of Cobain who committed suicide. But we remember them for their music not for how they died.

We should remember Amy Winehouse the same way.

Juno Awards 2011: Live Blog

The 40th Juno Awards.

8:00
The introduction: Drake in the dressing room. Now, he's talking to Lloyd Robertson who wants to play COD.
Oh, Justin Beiber on Skype. How appropriate. So far, not funny. Got some bromance going on, they're singing "I Will Remember You."

Down With Webster. Horn section with bondage masks. WTF?

The set looks like the Toronto city hall.

Drake starts his emceeing. He singles out Neil Young in the audience. A coup for the Junos for sure. The usual suspects in the audience, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, etc.

Drake says  hip hop is taking over the evening. Rapping to the Hockey Night in Canada theme.
Hip hop with a grand piano. Somehow doesn't work.

8:15
First presenters. Deadmau5 and Buck 65 for Group of the Year award.
And of course Arcade Fire wins. No surprise there.

8:20
Royal Wood and Keisha Shante introduce Sarah McLachlan.
Sarah performs. An uptempo song from Sarah. Really? Good song.

Second presenters: Great Big Sea and Meisha
Fan Choice Award. Justin Beiber wins. No surprise there.

8:30
Drake's back and introduces K'naan.
K'naan presents Songwriter of the Year.
And the winner is Arcade Fire. No surprise there. The entire band is Songwriter of the Year. Methinks they're going to clean up.

Maestro Fresh Wes and Classified. Lots of hip hop artists on this year's show.
They introduce Hedley. A ballad. The grand piano looks like it has bullet holes. Not a bad tune though. Different than the usual Hedley fare.

8:40
Bryan Adams does a tribute to Shania Twain, Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee.
She still looks good. She takes her time getting to the stage and causes a bit of hiccup in the walk-up music.
She reaffirms the fact that we do have good musicians and songwriters in this country. Patriotism run amok and now she dishes on Bryan Adams. She also loves the Canadian bush, as do we all.

8:55
Drake introduces Robbie Robertson.
Robbie does a tribute to Toronto and Yonge Street and the early days of Canadian rock and roll.
All star band performs a tribute to Canadian artists.
Jim Cuddy in a suit. That's worth the price of admission.
An excellent segment.

9:15
Buffy Saint-Marie and Shawne present New Artist of the Year.
Megan Smith wins.

Drake's back. He likes rock bands.
Tokyo Police Club performs. Not a bad tune. Interesting sounds.

Ben Mulroney reviews the awards given out on Saturday night. He wants to be as cool as Jim Cuddy.

9:30
Barenaked Ladies present Single of the Year.
Waving Flag or K'naan wins.

Charles Kelly from Lady Antebellum introduces Johnny Reid.
Johnny Reid performs. Canadian country music has come a long way. Not the greatest tune though.

Drake on tape doing a segment with senior citizens."Old money," quite amusing.
Drake's back on stage now and the seniors from the clip are in the audience.

Billy Talent segment on music education. Short and sweet.

 9:45
Yoko on tape talking about the Bed-In for Peace in Montreal.

Emily Haynes and Jimmy Shaw introduce Broken Social Scene.Guitar players galore and two drummers.

Melanie Fiona and Dan Hill present Pop Album of the Year.
Justin Bieber wins. No surprise there.

10:00
Drake's back and flubs the intro. He introduces Daniel Lanois.
Lanois presents Humanitarian Award.
Tribute to Neil Young. Neil wins the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award.
Neil's the best.

10:15
Feist introduces Arcade Fire.
Biggest band yet. Strings section even and two drummers and a harpsichord.

Randy Bachman presents Artist of the Year.
Neil Young wins. Awesome.

10:25
Drake's back and introduces Chromio. Very cool.

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson present Album of the Year.
Arcade Fire wins. No surprise there. And they did clean up.

Drake's back. And that's the end of the show.

The best Junos yet. An excellent show.