Amy Winehouse: A Star Dead Again at 27

A Theory About Why Age 27 is an Unlucky Number

There is some great music that I have loved, yet makes me wince when I hear it. Prince is one example. Nirvana another. Janis Joplin casts a harsh shadow. I am angry at them for dying when they still had more to give. This Amy Winehouse column was posted to my Blogger blog, Wayne's Words, after her death July 23, 2011. I started the blog in order to stay writing fit from 2002-2012 with the likelihood that no one at all was reading it. Blogger, I think, used to cost $35 a year for a blogsite. It was bought in 2003 by Google, and I think they made it free. As a thank you for paying to blog that first year, the founders sent me a nice blue "Blogger" sweatshirt with hoodie.

The other day I was listening to Amy Winehouse sing "You Know I'm No Good" on WFUV, and thought about how authentic she sounded. Not authentic in the way that, say, white people have learned to sing the blues and R&B, but authentic in the way that she was explaining herself. Being herself. Knowing herself. "I cheated my…