(obviously taken in happier times…look how good she looks)

Wow.  I have been asking for a while now what has happened to the family of Amy Winehouse, and look at what I found…an explosive interview with her father Mitch where he lets loose on a whole number of subjects concerning his wayward daughter.  I know it sounds hypocritical, but as much as I wanted to know where they were in her obvious time of need, perhaps there was some of this info he could have kept to himself, y’know?

Well, anyway, he said it, I read it, and now I offer it to you.  So gird your loins, we’re gonna dive right in…

But wait, there’s more…

Well, they say the first step is knowing you have a problem, but then you actually have to do something about it.  Amy Winehouse apparently understands her need to return to rehab (and hopefully for more than a two-week clean-her-up dust-her-off make-the-junkie-pretty-for-the-cameras stay this time):

The singer is said to be close to returning to rehab, and has reportedly admitted that “she needs to check into rehab again”.

A source told The Sun: “There are too many temptations for her in the UK — people around her in London are making it impossible for her to stay clean for any length of time.

“Her management had considered flying her to a clinic in Israel but are now looking further afield. They are assessing a clinic in Cape Town in South Africa.”

Look, I don’t care if they fly her to Penguin Rehab Center in Antarctica, just get her out of London and into rehab somewhere, now.  Her previous two-week vacation spa treatment rebab stint was just to get her cleaned up and prettied up for the Grammys, but in terms of lasting effect it was obviously destined for fail.  But while getting her to an out-of-town/state/country/continent rehab is probably a good idea, at some point she will have to return home if she plans on continuing to live near her Blake Incarcerated-Druggie, who’s visiting hours she recently missed.  That’s the problem facing all recovering addicts…returning to daily life after rehab is over.

And it doesn’t look like her face is clearing up either:

[T]he heavy make-up could not hide the unsightly scabs on her face which some sources have blamed on her ‘drug-taking’ lifestyle.

The award-winning singer is in desperate shape and the pan-stick make-up failed to conceal the spots and scabs on her wrinkled cheeks, chin and nose.

Amy’s spokesman has insisted she is suffering from the bacterial skin infection impetigo - which is highly contagious and can develop by repetitive scratching of a sore.

He said the 24-year-old has been put on a course of antibiotics to clear it up.

But friends fear the scabs on her face are a sign that her drinking and drug taking is once again spiralling out of control.

Amy, if you do indeed have impetigo, do everyone in London a favor…STAY HOME UNTIL IT CLEARS UP.  Nobody wants your nawsty, scabby germs, okay?  How selfish do you have to be?  I mean, it’s not a personal thing…if it is in fact impetigo, that is highly contagious, and nobody else wants it!

Friends blame multiple sources for her facial problems, including drugs, medications, and diet:

Miss Winehouse’s spokesman has insisted she is suffering from the bacterial skin infection impetigo - which is highly contagious and can develop by repetitive scratching of a sore.

He said the 24-year-old has been put on a course of antibiotics to clear it up.

But friends fear the scabs on her face are a sign that her drinking and drug taking is once again spiralling out of control.

Her love of junk food has also not helped the condition of her skin. She was pictured emerging from a fast-food outlet with fish and chips and a bottle of Lucozade.

A source said: “Her friends are worried these sores have been caused by an excessive use of crack cocaine, which can cause these kind of blemishes.

“Pete Doherty used to have similar sores under his nose.

“Her skin also suffers because Amy takes in barely any nutrients. Fruit and vegetables never pass her lips.” […]

Another source said: “When Blake was in solitary confinement recently they both started self harming again.

“It is like some kind of pact to show how much they love each other.”

Sally Penford, of the International Dermal Institute, said: “This is very much what impetigo looks like. However your skin mirrors what is going on inside your body.

“If you are taking medication, or you are not getting any nutrients and toxins are not being flushed out of the body, it will show on the skin.”

Amy is a self-confessed junk-food junkie, and loves her crisps, candy, fish-n-chips, and KFC.  It’s true what is said about the skin being a mirror of what goes on inside our bodies…just this week, as I’ve been dealing with the flu and all its assorted deliciousness, my skin has looked dull and lifeless and I’ve had a few breakouts.  That always happens when I get sick.  But I also haven’t been eating right this week (or much at all, for that matter), so that hasn’t helped my skin either.  I don’t even take drugs, outside of OTC flu medication…I can’t even imagine what one would have to ingest to cause this sort of reaction to one’s skin, if indeed that is what it is, and not impetigo.

If it isn’t impetigo and it is some sort of reaction to illegal drugs, then she must be in more serious trouble than anyone thought.  Her lips alone show there is a problem…dry and scabby, they look like she possibly is dehydrated.  All told, it’s a far, far cry from what she looked like at the Grammy Awards just a couple of months ago.

It’s interesting to me how her family were always pictured with her in the weeks leading up to the Grammys, but they are nowhere to be found now.  Yes, they could be working in private to get her help, and I sincerely hope they are.  It’s just that before the Grammys, they preferred to do their good deeds before men.  Perhaps her going out with her scabs and her carved-up arms, presumably from self-harming, is a desperate and possibly unconscious cry for help.  You’ll notice in the photo above, taken just before the Grammys, she is wearing longer sleeves even though there were no marks to cover up, but now that she has marked up her arms (see previous photos), she’s got on short sleeves, with her scabs on display for everyone to see.

I hope something is done soon, before we’re writing her obituary.  That would be sad, indeed.

When will these people learn?  (Probably never, because if they did we’d all be out of business.)  Richie Sambora, lead guitarist for Bon Jovi and two-time rehabber, was busted for DUI:

Law enforcement sources tell us the Bon Jovi guitarist was pulled over by the Laguna Beach PD just before 11:00 PM last night. Cops say they observed him driving erratically in a black Hummer and pulled him over. He failed numerous field sobriety tests and was detained for DUI.

At the station, a cooperative Sambora opted to take a blood test rather than blow into a breathalyzer. Laguna Beach PD tells TMZ there’s no indication of drugs.

But the hits just keep coming…there was a mysterious woman and not one, but two juveniles in the vehicle, one of which was Richie’s daughter with Heather Locklear, Ava:

Richie Sambora was busted for DUI with his 10-year-old daughter Ava in the car, along with another juvenile and another adult — a woman. If Sambora was driving drunk, he could be charged with endangering the two kids.

Police sources tell us Sambora has not been charged with endangerment but the Laguna Beach P.D. is “actively investigating.”

And, police sources say, after Sambora was busted, the cops called Heather Locklear, Ava’s mom. We’re told Heather authorized the woman in the car to drive her daughter home.

It never ceases to amaze me how the rich and famous can continuously, repeatedly, and so thoroughly screw up their lives.  Why do we have all these celebs being popped for DUI, when they can, oh, I don’t know…AFFORD A DRIVER???  If nothing else, the woman in the vehicle should have refused to get in with those two girls as long as Richie was behind the wheel.  It’s called “being a responsible adult,” and these people might try it sometime.  I hope they bust her too, for just being stupid enough to get in the vehicle.

It sounds like he needs some more time in rehab.  Richie, dude, get help.  Drinking and driving is no joke.  Maybe the third time will be a charm, but keep trying until it works.

If he needs help, I sincerely hope he gets it, because we definitely do not need any more stories like this.

Oh, in case you’d forgotten, Richie left Heather Locklear, Ava’s mommy, for her then-BFF, Denise “Someone’s tampered wit da bawwwwwwmb” Richards.  That woman sullies everything she gets her hands on!  She’s poison, I tell you, poison!  (don’t forget the boycott!)

In the weeks heading up to the Grammys, you couldn’t swing a beehive without hitting a photo, video, or article about Amy Winehouse and her beloved family, doing what beloved families do…helping her get into rehab, standing by her as she battled her drug demons, celebrating with her as she won five Grammy awards, and…uhm…disappearing?  Family was nowhere to be found as rehabbed Amy inhaled vodka to get her buzz on:

While DJ Seb Chew manned the decks, the Rehab star played the rather unpleasantly named “Gas Chamber” game. Medics say it’s dangerous because it gets alcohol absorbed directly into the bloodstream.

Our insider tells us: “Amy was the life and soul - but even we were shocked by this party trick.

“She was sat next to Kelly and Miquita when she covered one nostril, tilted her head back and sucked the vodka shot down her open nostril through a straw.

“She threw back her head and reeled in shock and everyone around her looked stunned.”

Wino performed the stunt after a round of 20 shots were brought to the table. Says the source: “She necked the top of the shot and lit the rest with a lighter. Then she grabbed a straw and sucked what was left up her nose.”

And her outlandish antics didn’t end there. The five-times Grammy winner - who only came out of rehab last month - knocked back cocktails before begging a pal to teach her the dangerous “duttywine” dance, which can cause serious neck injury and pain.

A spy said: “Amy was on top form and begged a pal to teach her the dance where you spin your head around really fast while you wind into the ground. Amy was so into it at one point her beehive nearly fell off.”

A far cry from just a few weeks ago, when Amy had her family around her, rallying her to get clean.  The singer’s father Mitch was an almost constant companion leading up to the prestigious Grammy awards ceremony, and he was instrumental in getting his famously rebellious daughter to check into rehab shortly before the Grammys.  For a while, everything seemed to be clicking.  After spending a mere two weeks in rehab, Amy emerged looking better than she has in ages, with clear eyes and bright skin, and after putting on a little bit of needed weight she looked curvy and healthy again.  She gave a performance that knocked me out.  You could see that she was overjoyed to be there, and overwhelmed at the awards given to her.

Yet, even in what was arguably a stellar performance, there was a hint of defiance and the old Amy in her shout-outs to her “Blake Incarcerated”, with a look in her eye that dared anyone to say anything bad about her jailed druggie husband.  I had hoped that seeing the sort of benefits living a drug-free life can bring would change Amy for the better, and make her realize that she needs Blake Incarcerated-Druggie like she needs a millstone around her neck, but the cracks were starting to show almost as soon as the last notes of “Rehab” died out.  Ever since the Grammys, Amy has started a slow but steady downward slide back into her drug-fueled, chaotic lifestyle, as evidenced by a shaky and sub-par performance at the Brits and continuing documented bad behavior chronicled in the newspapers and tabloids.

And so I do have to ask…just where is Amy’s family, now that there is no awards ceremony to prepare for and get her cleaned up to attend?  They rallied around her in the weeks before the Grammys, cheering her on and giving interviews about how hard Amy was trying to get clean.  Her mother even stated that she believed Amy was on the road to recovery:

Meanwhile, Janis Winehouse says her daughter is well on the road to recovery.

She said: “I think she had a back against the wall situation like if you don’t get cleaned up you can’t get the visa and you can’t tour. I was like ‘wake up Amy’.

“I was helpless There was nothing I could do because Amy had to do it for Amy. Addiction is something that once it’s got hold of the person it’s very hard to get them off.”

Janis told GMTV today: “We all felt that was the best she’s performed.

“I think it would have been too much for her because all of the travelling. If Amy were there she would be lost in it. She would be a little girl lost in it all.”

Janis praised the medical staff caring for Amy but says her daughter will continue to receive support.

She said: “She will see a therapist and she will still be getting help because she wants the help.

“She’s on the road to recovery and that’s what it’s about.”

However, Amy’s actions are speaking so loudly that we can’t hear anything her mother is saying.  Now, I have no doubt whatsoever that Amy was in a place at that time where she realized she couldn’t do anything if she didn’t get cleaned up.  Her visa to the United States was in serious doubt, she was being investigated into her possible role in her husband’s illegal activities, she was up for five Grammys in an awards ceremony she couldn’t attend…I do think she saw the light for a moment.

It seems that it was only for a moment, though.  You see, it’s the same trap so many of us fall into when we try to achieve a goal for a certain event…once the event has come and gone, we no longer have any “reason” to try and clean ourselves up.  It’s like when someone tries to lose weight for an upcoming social event, or cleans their house in preparation for an upcoming family holiday…once the big day has come and gone, we go right back to gaining weight again and leaving our dirty dishes in the living room, because there is no longer an impetus.  We don’t realize that we lose weight for ourselves, we keep our house clean for ourselves…and Amy, in my opinion, doesn’t quite yet understand that she has to get clean not so she can get a visa, or tour, or receive awards, but for herself.

It’s easy to blame her family, however, because isn’t that what people do as soon as someone goes off the rails?  “Where’s the family?”  But in situations like this, where drugs are involved, often there is nothing someone’s family can do until the person themselves gets to the point where they realize they need help.  Amy did get almost to that point when she realized her trip to the Grammys was at stake, but it doesn’t seem to have been enough.  Until she truly reaches that point (and by all indications, that isn’t going to happen any time soon), there isn’t much her family can do other than be there for her and let her know that help is just a “yes” away.  It does seem odd, however, that for a while there, all we saw was Amy’s family, and now it seems they have disappeared from the face of the earth.  For a while, Mitch was in every pap photo, but it’s as if he were sucked into some back hole.  Once she won her awards, where did they go?

I certainly do hope they are still working behind the scenes to get her back into rehab and back into cleaning up her life.  A scant two weeks inhouse is not going to clean her up…she needs intensive, inpatient therapy.  I argued at the time, when Natalie Cole said what she did about Amy not deserving her awards because of her drug lifestyle, that we don’t give awards only to people who have successfully cleaned themselves up.  I said that those who are trying (and trying again) should not be exempt from accolades from their peers, and that if we only gave awards to people who lived exlemplary lives and who did everything perfectly there would be no awards given (even to Ms. Cole, recovering drug addict).  I stand by those words today…but Amy needs to get back to trying, instead of spitting in the face of her fans, her family, her peers, and even herself (metaphorically speaking).

I sincerely hope she can get herself together before it is too late.  Otherwise, the family of Amy Winehouse will have another ceremony to prepare for, but it won’t be one Amy will be singing at.

i can type saeyen tahlojee???

oh yez
mad skillz
i gots dem

He quit the programme early when the facility which housed himself and others, like fellow actor Daniel Baldwin, reportedly ran out of the pain medication he needed. But Conaway isn’t opposed to returning to Celebrity Rehab for a planned second season. He says, “It’s not over, I’m gonna go back in.” The actor admits he no longer feels like a suicidal lost cause, thanks to Dr. Pinsky’s treatment, and help from former Grease costar John Travolta, who has come to his aid since his rehab stint. Conaway insists the recent death of his mother made him realise how far he has come: “I miss her a lot, but I didn’t go back to using over that.” The fallen star admits he still needs to work on his painkiller addiction - and that’s why he’d like to return to Celebrity Rehab.

Well, hmm.  It seems that Grease star Jeff Conaway (am I the only one who remembers him from Taxi?) isn’t quite de-narced-anoned yet.  So much for Scientology’s success rate, huh?  JT had been attempting to “help” Jeff by sending over a Scientology auditor to….do whatever it is auditors do:

According to Conaway, “I’ve been doing Scientology…my doctor was like, ‘Holy cow,’ he says, ‘Whatever you’ve been doing keep doing it because it’s really working.’ ”

Conaway says his former Grease co-star John Travolta introduced him to the controversial religion.  “John and I stayed friends but he couldn’t watch me going down the tubes…he gave me a whole library of Scientology books and he’s given me an auditor who comes almost every day.” 

Interesting how he says he has been “doing Scientology.”  Just a weird choice of words.  But I’m not sure you can implant manipulative suggestions into a brain that’s half burned up already.

Hey, Jeff.  C’mere.  I can help you, and I won’t even take your money to do it.  Now, sit very still, look into my eyes, and listen very carefully to what I’m about to say:

GO INTO REHAB.  REHAB IS GOOD.

LISTEN TO DOCTOR DREW.

DON’T DO DRUGS.  DRUGS ARE BAD.

GIVE THEM UP FOR YOURSELF, NOT ANYONE ELSE.

OH…AND STAY AWAY FROM SCIENTOLOGY.

NO NARCANON, MMK?  NARCANON IS BAD.

you can has sober eye atee nao furevers!
kthxbai

Rehabbing singer Amy Winehouse was caught out grabbing some takeaway from KFC with a drawn-on black tear under her eye.  Those in the know (which is pretty much anyone who reads news and who knows who Amy is) say it is a reaction to the news that hubby Blake Shine’er-Silver got hold of some bad drugs in the big house:

She emerged from her Camden home with her bodyguard, to pick up a take away from Kentucky Fried Chicken on the day it was reported that husband Blake nearly died after overdosing on heroin in prison.

Today he was said to be recovering in Pentonville Prison’s hospital block, after guards found him in his cell writhing in pain, and violently vomiting.

Prison officers later discovered that the drug was a toxic hybrid of heroin and other potent chemicals.

As our intrepid Dawn first reported on Sunday, Blake is reportedly upset that while he sits and rots away in jail, wife Amy is not only rehabbing and cleaning up her party-animal act, but she has been seen out partying and shopping with another Blake, an American artist who is squeaky-clean…even though she dedicated her Grammys to Bad Blake and gave him a shout-out twice in her set:

Blake was apparently fearful for his relationship amid rumours that the Grammys five-award winner has been enjoying herself with American photographer and artist, Blake Wood.

Fielder-Civil sent the singer a romantic Valentine’s hamper gift from his prison cell, following reports she had grown close to Wood, who has been dubbed “Good Blake”.

For her part, Amy has told friends that their relationship is platonic, and that Good Blake is actually homosexual.  The gays always make the best shopping buddies, don’t they, girls?

Amy.  Honey.  Come here a second.  I know that you are infatuated with Bad Blake, and he’s your husband and all that rot.  But listen to me a second…he’s a bloodsucking leech, a millstone round your neck, and he will do nothing but drag you down further and further into a drug-fueled descent to Hell.  I know it’s hard to let go of what you believe is such a romantic notion, and believing that the two of you are some sort of star-cross’d lovers, and it’s the two of you against the world, but trust me…crap like that only happens in plays, bad movies, and sugary love songs.  This is real life.

Let’s take a look at the comparisons…husband in jail, you NOT in jail.  Husband a unrepentant drug addict…you NOT on drugs and in rehab.  Husband poor and never works…you NOT on the dole of somebody else.  Husband’s life going down the dumper…your life NOT going down but your star is rising.  Husband a no-talent, no ambition, gagged-with-the-ugly-stick, knuckle-dragging monosyllabic troglodyte…well, you get the idea.  Just think about it, okay?

And if you’re worried about dumping him while he’s incarcerated, and how it will look, don’t worry…it will look GREAT, and we’ll all stand up and cheer.

I would like to know what this is in her nose…it could just be nose in her nose, but then again…I hope not.

I don’t believe that we, as a viewing and purchasing audience, should reward those in positions of fame when they wilfully and knowingly act in ways that are illegal, immoral, and detrimental to themselves and their fans. Too many so-called “stars” are rewarded for acting like jerks when they should be punished for such behavior, whether that be by the law or by our closed wallets.

But I also believe that when someone does try to pull themselves up out of the mire of their crashed lives, that the effort shouldn’t be ignored.  For so many, there is no destination, no place to say, “I’m cured,” but there’s simply a continuous journey and many conscious decisions over the course of a lifetime to try not be what they were.

So, let’s see just how far Amy Winehouse has come in her journey out of the drug and alcohol-induced hell she put herself in.  I certainly hope that she can continue her journey successfully.  She’s just beginning, she’ll stumble and fall along the way, but hopefully she can keep up what has begun. It’s new every day, Amy…Godspeed.

A video I found of Amy singing “Rehab” while drunk:

And at the Grammys:

She did it!

Amy Winehouse, the rehabbing bluesy vixen with the voice of a soulful black woman in a skinny beehived retro body, took home five Grammys Sunday night and performed her hits “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab” via satellite from London.

And let me tell you something…I was almost in tears watching her performance. I was totally enraptured by this Amy…a far cry from the spitting, surly, stoned slip of a girl we’d watched her waste away to, sinking ever farther in the muck and mire of a drug habit gone totally out of control. That Amy made me want to cry, too, albeit out of a sadness that this talent was slowly killing herself for a temporary fix. But this Amy is well on her way back.

The shimmy of her songs was coy, brash, awkward, and self-conscious, all at once…she spent her set physically jerking the songs out of her soul, leaving you wondering just what it was about this little girl that was so appealing, and at the end not caring because of the velvety sandpaper that was her Voice. It roughed you up and smoothed you down all at the same time, leaving you gaping openmouthed and wanting more. The glint in her eye and sly smile as she performed her hit “Rehab” let you know that yes, she was in on the irony, and that that she was perfectly capable of poking some fun at her recent troubles while at the same time reestablishing herself as a driving force in music today.

I’ve listened to her Grammy performance the whole time I’ve been writing this and it just gets better and better. One thing I noticed right off is that her band and backup dancers actually look happy to be there, unlike previous performances. I certainly hope she can keep this up, because if she can, she’ll have a huge career ahead of her.

And what about that shellshocked look when she won? She looked like a little girl who just won an award in kindergarten and wasn’t quite sure why, yet was really sure that she wanted that prize.

Plus, how can you not love a backup band with both a tenor AND baritone sax? You gotta love a bari sax scoop!  I am seriously coveting those!

After all the trouble she took to try and get a US visa so she could perform at the Grammys this Sunday, now that they’ve decided to grant her a visa after all Amy Winehouse has decided not to show up:

But because of the tight timing, reps for the nominee say she’s going to stick to her plan to perform live via satellite from London.

“Unfortunately, due to the logistics involved and timing complications, Amy will not be coming to the U.S. this weekend to perform at the Grammys in Los Angeles, however she will still be performing via satellite broadcast from London as previously announced this morning,” her label says in a statement.

The statement adds: “Amy would like to thank all of those people, and in particular the staff involved at the U.S. Embassy in London, who have all worked so hard to expedite her application. She is very sad not to be attending the prestigious awards in person, but wishes to express her heartfelt gratitude to all of those involved in the process.”

Why go to all that trouble just to say, “Oh, well, thanks, but I changed my mind,”? Do Amy’s people not own calendars over there in the UK? Do they not understand things like time zones and travel schedules and the concept of days and hours and the passage of time? Girlfriend has to schedule, make plans, pack suitcases, wrap up that beehive!

So let’s see. The Grammy Awards are this Sunday. Okay, it is approximately 3PM in Los Angeles right now, and that makes it almost 10PM London time. So if she leaves in the morning at 8AM London time, which is 1AM Los Angeles time, and flies to Los Angeles, which takes almost 11 hours, but you’re going backwards in the time zones, and LA is 7 hours behind London, she’d arrive at noon tomorrow. That’s enough time, isn’t it?

Well…okay, that’s too much maths for today. My head hurts. Stick with your original plan, Amy, and perform via satellite. I’m afraid trying to do all the maths is going to disrupt your rehab process.

Amy will have to send a representative to pick up any Grammy Awards she might win, because she’s been denied a visa to come to the United States:

“The singer has been invited to appear at the event on Sunday after receiving an amazing six nominations for the prestigious awards,” reads a statement issued by her publicist on Thursday. “Unfortunately, her application for a visa to enter the United States of America has been rejected at this time by the American Embassy in London.

However, apparently being nominated was the impetus behind her attending rehab to start with.  I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a setback for her.  She was photographed Wednesday in London at a restaurant lashing out after visiting hubby Blake in jail.

I can’t say as I’m surprised.  In a way, I wish she could have come, because her CD Back To Black was such a breakout hit, and I’m sure she’s disappointed to not be able to attend.  But she’s brought this on herself, and even though I applaud her attempting to get her life back on track by finally checking into rehab, sometimes we do have to suffer the consequences of our actions even when we are very sorry and are attempting to fix things.

But if she can get herself straightened out, there will be many more opportunities for Grammy Awards.  And the best award she can give herself is a clean, drug-free life.

UPDATE:  Well, here’s a solution I hadn’t thought of.  Amy can’t attend the Grammys, but will perform at them…via satellite:

A music executive close to the Grammys said Amy Winehouse’s visa has been denied but she will still perform at this Sunday’s show via satellite. Winehouse, who is up for multiple awards including album and record of the year and best new artist, will also accept her award via satellite if she wins.