to think it rather strange that fans are leaving tributes of alcohol and cigarettes outside Amy Winehouse's flat?

[Thruaglassdarkly]

...given that her addiction killed her? Anyone else think that's a bit ???

[Signet2012]

I agree with OP, as far as reports goes, it was her addictions that killed her. You wouldnt leave a fluffy dice at the site someone was killed by a car now would you?!

I think its a bit weird. But then I dont get the cult following people get for being famous for singing/acting/dancing etc

[Portofino]

What the feck does it matter? If I dropped dead tomorrow and people marked my passing with marlboro lights and chardonnay, well they would be spot on and I would smite from Heaven anyone that wrote twee verse.

[ScrambledSmegs]

Yep, it's a bit strange. But then I cycled home via Camden Square (not a detour, is my normal route) and saw some older teenagers having their photos taken next to the street sign, in the traditional cheesy grin/thumbs up style . Some people just don't think.

[mayorquimby]

Seems odd but they may view it as a way of reclaiming her memory or being unapologetic about who she was in a form of backlash to the forums/facebook pages/text messages going around about "92 dead in Norway yet a junkie makes front page/ Amy WInehouse made a choice to do drugs and her death is celebrated by the media our brave troops fight for freedom every day yet get no recognition."
As I say I don't really get these types of memorials/apparent competitive grieving in public, but different people (at both ends of the spectrum) react to these things differently in ways I'll never understand.

[ScrambledSmegs]

Bother. Where's sceptical gorn? Ok, I was too. And .

[AwesomePan]

Am with Jux totally.

We seem to be forgetting that 'life is about the living'.

Memorials and funerals are about the living, not the dead, about our attachments to those who have died, and how we express those attachments are v. specific to the individuals. For me, I have addressed two funeral services - my dad's, and my best friend's. At both I included stuff which, outside of those who knew them could be seen as 'inappropriate', or 'disrepectful', but those there knew exactly what was being said.

So no, it isn't or to leave some evidence of how you attached to those gone. Leaving something/anything involves a sacrifice, and I wouldn't judge these people at all.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Wot goldbrass said.

Idiots.

[AwesomePan]

SGB, in that case, exhibits a lack of thought about this sort of stuff, I'm afraid.

[Huffythetantrumslayer]

I don't think you're allowed to smite people from heaven are you? Unless you're god or something. Think you're just supposed to sit around playing the harp.

[sue52]

People still leave joints on Jim Morrison's grave. I think it makes them feel connected in some way.

[SpringchickenGoldBrass]

I did make a clear distinction: it's those who leave stuff out for people they didn't know who are stupid. What people choose to do at funerals for their own friends/family is up to them.

[Thruaglassdarkly]

I know those who left the booze/fag tributes weren't being deliberately insensitive. They were just expressing something of who she was to them. I imagine her parents would have liked to think people recognised that there was far more to who she was than a singer with addictions though. Although to be fair, these two aspects of Amy were all the media were interested in. I'm sure her parents are realistic and recognise rationally that these aspects of Amy were all most people knew, apart from her family and friends. On an emotional level, it must add a bit of salt to the wound.

So not meaning to be judgy, just thinking it's all a bit ouch for the family. Not that they're not already suffering a great deal anyway.

[AwesomePan]

But in a few ways they did know her - through her music( which was immensely personal, angsty, and direct), poss. been around her in Camden where she was well known, apparently. You are too keen here, SGB, to chuck out a judgement on people who you don't know, and what their motives are. This utilitarian, 'that's okay, this isn't' doesn't chime with people's emotional expressions.

[2shoes]

sue52 he would have probably have said 'people are strange"

[AwesomePan]

Also, by your same token, the people who laid stuff in Oslo centre over the weekend are stupid because they didn't know the individuals who were killed? I don't think so.

I and a friend laid items at the 'memorial site' when Sir Matt Busby, former football manager of Man utd, died. We didn't 'know' him (though he was a friend of my family and I met him once when I was a boy), but it was a mark from us. Were we 'stupid'? No.

[sunshinelifeisgood]

I think her fans thought that she would appreciate the tributes and rightly or wrongly that was her life :(. I still say she was a fantastic artist and a loss to her family. I also think it is wrong to speak ill of the dead. If people have nothing positive to say then I am sure her family would appreciate the silence

[TurkeyBurgerThing]

blimey, is there no let up? People have been doing this sort of thing since the beginning of time! I don't find it odd at all.

[sunshinelifeisgood]

simple: let the girl rest in peace and let her family grieve simple as fecking that :) maybe this and other threads should stop.

[flangeismyfaveword]

I agree with sunshine -if someone wants to leave something to someone who are we to judge?
when my brother died we left cigs, celtic stickers, oasis cd etc in his coffin I was also insistant that he was dressed correctly with the right socks!!as at the time it felt right.....
Of course now (Not in the midst of grief) we realise he wouldn't of give a shite!

[sunshinelifeisgood]

i am now not going to comment on this thread as I find it a little tasteless considering her parents are burying her tommorow.

[AgentZigzag]

It's a bit late to be slagging the thread off for being tasteless after you've just posted three times on it sunshine.

[AwesomePan]

I don't think it's tasteless, or even about Amy W. - rather it's about expressions of grief per se.

[Thruaglassdarkly]

How is it tasteless Sunshine? I explained that it's out of concern for her parents I felt that a few of the tributes seemed a bit . I think when you express your "grief" for a celebrity who you didn't know personally at all, it may be appropriate not to indulge in your own image of that person and perhaps give a little thought to their family and friends and how they're feeling.

I know from personal experience, that when someone you love dies of an addiction, the last thing you want is to have them remembered as having that addiction, as though it defines them. It bloody hurts like hell actually. Of course, you don't say anything, as people will do what they want and remember people how they like, but I wish sometimes they'd just consider how painful this is for the family.

[Thruaglassdarkly]

I'm talking here about the fan tributes remember. How the family and friends of someone decide to remember them is their business and I'm not talking about those of you who remembered your loved ones by putting things they enjoyed in life in their graves etc. That's totally your prerogative as loved ones (I believe) and you should do whatever seems fitting at the time to remember them. I think that as family and friends, your feelings should be paramount in this situation though, as it is you who live daily with the loss.

I'm talking about people who don't really know the deceased person I guess. Vague acquaintances, fans etc...it's different (I think).

[HengshanRoad]

"Memorials and funerals are about the living, not the dead"

Funerals and memorials aren't held for living people.