The legacy of Amy

AMY Winehouse is still proving to be one of the most popular recording artists these days, with fans buying more than 1.7 million copies of her recordings since her death.
The first anniversary of her death, at the age of 27, on Monday gave people the opportunity to reflect on what was an extraordinary talent but one that has sadly left little musical legacy behind. Her two studio albums, 2003’s Frank and 2006’s Back To Black, both saw a noticeable jump following her death, while her third album, the posthumously released Lioness: Hidden Treasures sold 194,000 copies in its first week alone last December.
Among Winehouse’s tragically small body of work, however, is a stunning 20-minute performance in the tiny Church of St James in Dingle, which formed the basis of Sunday night’s Arena: Amy Winehouse – The Day She Came to Dingle on BBC4.
The now legendary RTÉ programme Other Voices has featured acts such as Ryan Adams, The National, David Kitt, Steve Earle, Florence and the Machine, Jarvis Cocker, Lisa Hannigan and Anna Calvi to but touch on the guestlist. But in 2006, the show belonged to Amy.
The North London singer was 23 and had released her second critically acclaimed album less than two months earlier. On the cusp of greatness and used to the bright city lights, Winehouse was accompanied in Kerry by only by her guitarist and bass player for a stunning performance. After the gig, but before consuming a plate of oysters, she was interviewed in Benners Hotel by presenter John Kelly on her musical influences, her love of gospel and her then recent appreciaton for soul.
Her interview was very straightforward and honest, something she would lose later in life. Made up with her trademark heavy black eye-liner and beehive, she initially spoke about her talented boyfriend yet she was also quite self deprecating, perhaps in a glimpse of what was to come. Yet the programme never dipped into the morbid and it was in fact a wonderful insight into a talented young woman before the heady days of fame would lead her into a downward sprial of drugs and alcohol abuse.
The programme also spoke to those who had met her on her visit. “It was just brilliant,” noted Other Voices music producer Aoife Woodlock, “that she came with her spindly little legs and her mental hair and sang her heart out in Kerry. For us.”  Brilliant indeed.
With scientists in a panic this week that the Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate this month than at any other time in recorded history, with 97% of the entire ice sheet showing signs of thaw in just four days, the cream of the crop in Irish weather experts were forecasting a Hollywood-style doomsday scenario for us if we don’t change the bad habits.
In Sunday’s documentary Weather Permitting, Paddy McHugh, one of RTE’s first weather forecasters, noted “What’s happening in the atmosphere is that the gradual heating of it is causing much more vicious and violent weather events.”
So monsoon summers might a more permanent feature of the future then? Afraid so it would appear according to Professor Brendan Gleeson (not of the actor fame), “That is consistent with climate change – climate extremes rather than just simply warming.”
Broadcasting forecasts on television for 50 years, Met Éireann meterologists not alone took a look at changes in climate and science to see what the shape of Ireland will be over the next 50 years, it also took a rather humerous look at people’s obsession with the weather.
The man with the wink, Gerry ‘and a very good evening to you’ Fleming took us behind the scenes in Met Éireann to see the challenges they overcome to accurately deliver weather forecasts and the level to which the public can take personal affrontage if the forecast is not accurate.
We can rest assured however that no bad how things get in the world,  Ireland could in fact live up to the historical ‘insula sacra’ label – what has been coined a “lifeboat” region by the experts. The good Professor Gleeson told us that “Ireland is on the lifeboat register. It is a place that will be more habitable and productive relative to other parts of the world”.
Finally, all that experience with rain will be useful for something then!

One to watch
The TV spectacle of the week will no  doubt be the £27 million extravaganza Danny Boyle is putting on in the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday. The show has already run into problems and has been cut short by half an hour  due to safety concerns for people trying to get home on public transport, while the advent of mobile technology means a sizable amount of the ‘surprises’ on the night have been spoiled with internet leaks from the 10,000 strong  volunteers that will perform it and those that were treated to a preview of parts of the show earlier this week. It’s theme is Isle of Wonder and with Boyle at the helm, it can only be surreal. Coverage on RTE Two begins at 8.30pm, with the ceremony itself kicking off at 9.