avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters February 16, 2012 - 2:30pm

GOD NO!

I don't know why.  I didn't realize I was exactly until i started getting really defensive of...Whitney Houston...

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry February 16, 2012 - 2:31pm

I'm sure she'd do the same for you.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters February 16, 2012 - 2:32pm

True.

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner February 16, 2012 - 2:39pm

Haha- I had a feeling you were. No worries, and let's be honest, I can be a dick, and overly passionate about something that I am overly passionate about. Yes. I said it. 

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters February 16, 2012 - 2:40pm

That's true, you can be a dick.

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner February 16, 2012 - 2:43pm

Hahaha, well played young lady. Well played. 

Laramore Black's picture
Laramore Black from Joplin, Missouri is reading Mario Kart 8 February 16, 2012 - 3:17pm

I think something is just in the air today.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. February 16, 2012 - 3:57pm

Its the smell of crack.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like February 16, 2012 - 4:48pm

Is the flippant treatment of her death any worse than the systemic absurdities in celebrity-obsessed media? I personally don't like to speak ill of the newly dead but I think, for many, irreverence is a natural reaction to the never-ending herd of supposedly sacred cows.

But, if I was to write a story about it, I'd probably try to refine the tragedy out of the mess of scandal and supposition.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. February 16, 2012 - 5:59pm

We should all just be hatin' on Bobby Brown, he got her hooked. Although they are saying the reason she went back on drugs now is that her daughter was doing crack and tried to stab her on her birthday then slit her wrists and was in the psych ward but the family covered it up. Having your 15yo daughter try to stab you and then kill herself would make me go back on drugs.

Laramore Black's picture
Laramore Black from Joplin, Missouri is reading Mario Kart 8 February 16, 2012 - 6:10pm

I'd write some fantastic jokes about this, but Bobby Brown already got all the hits in.

 

BAMBAMBAM!

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade February 16, 2012 - 6:10pm

Wouldn't it be awful to be remebered for your worst moments instead of your best?

...is my favorite response to the Discussion Thread premise...

If you had to write a story about Whitney Houston's death, how would you frame the narrative? What tone would you adopt? Whose story would it finally be?

I would frame Houston's death within our toxic culture's adoration of celebrities and its envious schaedenfreude glee when their clay feet are exposed. The tone would be satirical. The story would finally be about the "somebody" before they became a "something" - the flesh-and-blood human being before she became a literal American idol.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. February 16, 2012 - 6:15pm

Boone, you don't look like you are on drugs!

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade February 16, 2012 - 6:19pm

Because they are powerful yet subtle prescription drugs.

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff February 17, 2012 - 4:03am

This whole discussion is tickling my Hippocampus. Why not make a lit tournament of it? Phil?

We could post short stories, around the canonical 2500 words, here or in the workshop with Whitney Houston in the title field. Stories don't necessarily have to revolve around the actual death of the singer, just stick to the premise of this thread: A single famous person dies, press frenzy ensues - A million nobodies die, they stay nameless. Schadenfreude and all. Or stuff like that.

Who's up for it?

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 5:03am

Do I need to add any more comentary?

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters February 17, 2012 - 5:53am

I love it when writers choose to say it with pictures. 

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 6:42am

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner February 17, 2012 - 7:19am

I do think the point was well made. 

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade February 17, 2012 - 7:44am

@ joseph: When can we expect the rough draft of the Whitney Houston story? I can't wait to read it.

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff February 17, 2012 - 7:44am

ooops.. bad idea

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 7:46am

One day after I say I will have it in.

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade February 17, 2012 - 10:02am

Some of my favorite social commentators have strong Armed Services backgrounds. Joseph Heller, George Carlin, Tim O'Brien, etc. J-Day is gearing up for some killer social commentary - I know it.

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 7:51am

As soon as I finish my battle story, I will be more engaging than just throwing pictures up.

Laramore Black's picture
Laramore Black from Joplin, Missouri is reading Mario Kart 8 February 17, 2012 - 7:54am

No reason to get sexual.

Matt Attack's picture
Matt Attack from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner February 17, 2012 - 8:01am

He's Puerto Rican, he can't help getting sexual. haha

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff February 17, 2012 - 8:08am

If we go with the tournament we need someone who wants to moderate it, cause it's got to have a winner in the end. And I cannot be the moderator, because I want to wi- ahem, participate. I thought Phil, cause this is your thread and you don't submit stories to the workshop (isn't it?). But it can be anybody.

@Joe Day, you better think this over, cause if you're PTSD from the war it might not be a good idea to write about something emotionally charged, or it may be too soon.

Or, we go without a moderator, just post our stories and at the end, say a deadline, we start a fight over who's the winner. I like it so, the anarchy way.

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 9:19am

I am backing out. I'm in the Suzy Vitello class and don't have the time to read all the essays in there, do the reviews, and be a functional member of society. That and I have some other stories I want to focus on.

Mahalo all.

And no, I would not be able to separate the Whitney dying bit from the tragedy of fallen soldiers not getting any recognition because the public is too jaded by the war now. Yes, her music was good. She had a wondeful voice. She did some stupid shit. Fine. I wonder how many of those songs she actually wrote herself? (I'll do the research another time.) I know none of the guys in country give one rats ass that she died. To them she was a vocalist who did crack and got beat up by Bobby Brown. You know what kind of fanfare we get when one of us dies? We get protesters at the funeral. And we get this and this is all I really care about. I'm done talking about Whitney now.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry February 17, 2012 - 3:02pm

See, this is the thing.  This post is way off base from Phil's thread.  It doesn't have anything to do with literature.  Except maybe this:  the story I would write would be a non-fiction one where Chris Cornell hires me to kill somebody and I do it.  For free.  Because Chris Cornell is one of the greatest musical artists who ever lived and great artists need the help of hired guns.  And here's how all that ties into Whitney Houston:

I'd do the same for you, Phil.

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel February 17, 2012 - 3:06pm

I like the original Dolly Parton version better. Though this one is pretty awesome because he sang it because he wanted to, not because it was in the script.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry February 17, 2012 - 3:10pm

Cornell does nothing he doesn't want to.  Of course, that's probably why he can't stay with a band, and why he let Timbaland fuck up that one album in 2009.  But those are asides.

Boone Spaulding's picture
Boone Spaulding from Coldwater, Michigan, U.S.A. is reading Solarcide Presents: Nova Parade February 17, 2012 - 8:24pm

Thanks, J-Day - you are the only other person I've heard speak the truth - the Dolly Parton version is better. I've long argued against the diva-showboating of songs by incredible voices that can't convey emotion (Mariah Carey; Jennifer Hudson; every American Idol front-runner except Kelly Clarkson).

There are two kinds of great musicians - those who play the hell out of their instruments and those who play the hell out of a song. I prefer the latter. On the rarest of occasions, some musicians are able to do both.

This sounds like a separate thread on a site for a site devoted to music...