Look at how young she is...and she looks like a different person. Almost boyish.
She was Clive Davis' fair haired young lady...he built an entire empire and brand around her...made millions off of her...and produced her wonderful voice...and as she was taken to the morgue and her room at the Beverly Hilton was cordoned off as a crime scene, his Grammy Party...at the same hotel where she was discovered dead...went on.
Here is an excerpt from Whitney's obit in the New York Times.
"At Mr. Davis’s party, where Ms. Houston was a regular guest and
performer, tourists shot cellphone pictures of a police crime laboratory
van parked outside. But inside, the glamour of the event seemed
undiminished, even if Ms Houston’s name was on everyone’s lips
The streets in front of the Beverly Hilton, already crowded because of
the Grammy Awards party taking place there, swarmed with reporters and
fans, drawn by the news of this latest high-profile pop star dying in
Los Angeles.
Even after the news of Ms. Houston’s death had been released,
celebrities and other partygoers continued to arrive for the Davis
event, which went on as planned, while fans stood behind a rope trying
to take pictures"
I read this and it made me sadder than I already was.
It is this business of entertainment and music.
And I love music and entertainment...I truly love it...but the business of it can be so insensitive, have such a short memory and be dismissive...and we all have to remember...it is a business and must continue to move forward...as businesses do.
That fact doesn't make the business of moving on any less gross.
The idea of a party thrown by Clive Davis continuing steps and moments from where one of the best voices of our age (that he produced and profited greatly from) died could not better illustrate this grossness.
Whitney, indeed, was a grown person who made her own choices...some of them very bad...I have to say ( I secretly blame Bobby Brown for all of this...I can't stop myself...no matter how unpopular that opinion might be) the people around her...the people who made money off of her...probably did everything they could to keep her going...I am just guessing...I could be wrong...but do you guys think I am?
How did she end up on all of those world stages in such a state?
How?
Singing in an exhausted voice wracked by drug use and sadness.
I couldn't watch any of those youtube clips where people giggled at her bygone talent and pointed out how she was trying to resurrect her career...and tittered.
The mob of public can be so callous. So very bi polar....so embracing and then disgracing.
They love you when you are up and love to make fun of you when you are down.
And then...when you die...they celebrate you again.
Lord.
Now, I don't mean ALL people...but look at youtube...I love watching Youtube myself... and giggling at some peoples misfortune...we have all done it...let us be honest...but there are times when it moves to a whole other level of mockery.
There are people who cannot wait to capture or watch a moment of someone who is 'great' or 'celebrated' as they tumble down the ladder of celebrity...to the TMZ level.
The truly gross level.
I guess I look at that picture, above, and think of how much promise she had there.
Anything could happen.
And did...the best of the best...and the worst of the worst.
In front of the world, for all to see...and we felt like it was our right to see it.
The 'Being Bobby Brown' reality show.
Their visit to the Holy Land...yes, I remember it all...because I watched and read about it, too.
(Not the Being Bobby Brown...it made me too sad...and mad)
I guess I hoped that she might find herself some how and age in grace...or reality...or something...I don't know...but I hoped for peace for her...
Hopefully, she has it now.
Wherever she might be.
I don't know her...but I admired her....god, how I admired her
Here are some of my very fave clips of Whitney...the fact that they are from Youtube is not lost on me.
She was one of the first cassette tapes I bought.
All I wanted was to sing like her.
She led the way for Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Pink, Shania...you name them...
She was an amazing vocalist.
May she well and truly be at peace.
Singing 'Home' from the Wiz on the Merv Griffin Show in her earliest days.
Singing with a gospel choir in her teens.
Whitney singing THE BEST version of the Star Spangled Banner at the Superbowl...she seemed confidence and grace personified.
POST SCRIPT!!!!
And then the Grammy's put fucking Chris Brown on...it is hard to be the Grammy's...they are the victim...WHAT THE FUCK??!?!? Read the blog below...
Having Chris Brown on the show tells every woman that has been abused that after a few years...it doesn't matter...get over it.
Jesus Wept...
3 comments:
great blog sharron <3
some minor corrections: It´s unfair to blame bobby brown. Whitney had addiction issues way before even meeting him, as far back as the 80s and it runs in her family....her father and brothers all had major cocaine and alcohol problems. Whitney was actually the one who made Bobby´s problem worse, and then the cycle of adddiction began.
She didn't come from a healthy environment, although her mother and handlers spent years trying to make it sound that way. She was surrounded by addiction from the start, and was a self-proclaimed wild child who was on familair terms with hard living.
No doubt marrying an addict accelerated her decline, but many addicts marry or hook-up with other addicts. It's unfair to blame Bobby Brown for her own demons.
Whitney NEVER failed to move me. May sound silly, but I thought of her as a friend of sorts. It wasn't just her voice that gave me chills, but the knowledge that a real girl just like me struggled behind the words of her songs. Whitney to me, was a relatable girl...and was truly a beautiful gift. Hers was the first concert I ever attended. We belted out the words to every tune.
One friend noticed on the big screen that Whitney had a blemish on her face. That made us giddy with joy. But our joy was not directed at bringing her down. Our joy was in the knowledge that Whitney was just a girl, like us, even with her incredible voice. My heart breaks for all she has endured. Rest peacefully, dear friend.
Again...it is an unpopular opinion...but it is just my opinion...and the way my gut feels...right or wrong...
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