Long before the first frame of the Asif Kapadia film AMY found a home in the documentary tribute to Amy Jade Winehouse, the director’s team encouraged fans of the London jazz-singer turned international superstar to talk about what kind of movie they wanted to see produced. This egalitarian approach earned the filmmakers the respect and admiration of a good number of hardcore AJW fans, and may have yielded some worthwhile guiding principles for the film-team to consider. Since I and other AAN associates were among the fans that ‘lobbied’ for the kind of film that would be well received by us, it seems appropriate that my notes on AMY must be colored by my view of how well my own hopes for the film were met.

For what seemed like way too long, I looked forward to the film’s release. Then, when it came time to see it, I was overcome with the fear that seeing the Jade-Mermaid Princess on the big screen would be too emotionally draining. The vision of a grizzled old cowboy collapsed in a puddle of his own tears on the floor of a public theater was not pleasant. I had pretty much resolved to wait for the DVD and the opportunity to breakdown in private.

Nobody involved with AAN is a stranger to tears, or to that horrid sore-throat feeling that comes with the recurring realization of the loss that the world suffered four-years ago. Having manipulated more than 20,000 images of AJW, it may seem that we should be immune to the pain, but that is not the case. In fact, the constant exposure to the images has no curative properties at all; it may actually serve to keep the pain more alive and more intense.

After much encouragement from persuasive folks, I decided that I owed it to Amy’s memory – and to my own sense of paying tribute – to man-up and showup at the cineplex. What follows are my own respectfully offered and honest views on the film AMY, which I watched twice on consecutive days.

AMY Alt-Poster By Kleitson

Some Random Notes:

When contemplating the merits of a film, it is pretty easy to take the fast and easy way out by simply labeling it a ‘masterpiece’ or ‘junk.’ As an old guy, I avoid hating things but if I had to hate something it would likely be book, film, art reviews that reach rapid and simple conclusions; answers delivered without a full massage of the questions. While this entry could have been – and originally was – very much longer and far more detailed, obstinate editors decided to limit its length. I am consoled by reports that the AMY DVD will be released on October 26, 2015, at which time I will be given the chance to dissect and fully opine on each and every scene.

Within the first two-minutes of the film’s start, I knew that my breakdown barriers were not going to be breached. A strange sense of calm came over me as the face I have come to know so well filled the screen and seemed to be looking only at me. I felt that a friend I never met – and yet love as I do my grandkids – was telling me to relax and rest beneath the blanket of joy that she was about to unfold.

Folks who saw AJW perform in concert know that her stage presence was nearly unparalleled. No matter what else was happening upstage or down, the only thing you could look at was that tiny girl. So it is with the big-screen Amy, as her image seems to fill every inch of the real estate and everything else becomes invisible. Add potential movie-star to the list of things we lost when AJW made her final exit.

The early parts of the film are largely composed of never seen and infrequently seen vids and pics. But, there are many familiar images throughout the film that will make Amy fans comfortable and less fearful – more accepting – of what must inevitably come. The filmmakers showed respectful restraint in their selection of images. I saw none of the standard horror shots or bash-pics that are frequently used by the haters to wrongfully defame and discredit Amy.

Marketed and promoted under a ‘heartbreaking tragedy’ meme, AMY could have almost as easily been pumped as a ‘joyful celebration’ of the magnificent adventure that AJW – and her fans – experienced as she delivered the priceless treasures of her dynamic music and heart-melting personality. Just because we all know that the story ends in the worst possible way is no reason to allow maudlin expectations to diminish the fact that the film shows Amy in an extremely positive and uplifting light. AJW’s charm and humor are just two of the remarkable qualities shown that all fans should spend more time being grateful for having been allowed to adore when she was with us.

The first time the music got loud, I rejoiced that I had abandoned my plan to wait for the DVD. Big TVs and speakers are great, but AMY really deserves to be first experienced in a theater. While no fan ever gets enough of AJW’s music, there are ample tunes featured in the film for both newbies and oldtimers. There is small doubt that additional musical offerings – perhaps including some early live, and international performances – will likely be featured in the sundry DVD releases.

Though we all know that film is a ‘director’s medium,’ and clearly AMY director Asif Kapadia‘s vision is the loving and respectful one that appears on the screen, only the supreme skills of film editor Chris King could have delivered that vision. Because AMY is largely assembled from variations of the thousands of images that AJW fans have become familiar with, the task of assembling those pieces into a contiguous storytelling vehicle could only be accomplished by a genius assembler of celluloid jigsaw puzzles. King deserves mega-props for his spectacular achievement.

The powerful saga of AMY is told in a straightforward, right linear and fast-paced fashion. There are no boring parts; none at all, which is kind of rare for a two-hour movie. Nobody was squirming in their seat and nobody at either of the two screenings I attended took a snack or toilet break. [I know that because I always snake a backrow seat when I plan to write about the experience.] There was lots of appropriate laughter when Amy was being Amy, and a fair number of gasps at some particularly startling onscreen action. There was no talking, no ringing phones, everybody sat seemingly spellbound. There were a few Kleenex users near me, and when the low-lights came on just about everybody remained seated to watch the credits or, perhaps, to make sure their tears were properly dried.

While some folks have commented that the film is a bit long, and others that it is too short, the length felt right to me, but longer would have been fine as long as the pace remained the same. Are hardcore Amy fans really ready to see a nearly four-hour opus like Scorsese’s Dylan flick? Probably, but the newbies required to help expand the AJW fanbase and spur a new round of music sales ‘ain’t got half-a-day’ to spend learning every tiny-penny detail that the devoted worshipers and serious cultists crave. And, obviously, it is hard for a film to be commercially viable if its length radically reduces the number of times it can run each day. Novices want a spirited and fast-moving primer that is exciting, fun to look at, and feels jam-packed with info. AMY contains enough tidbits for oldhands and is short enough to capture and hold the attention of newcomers.

Folks who have found the film to be not comprehensive enough and/or not all-inclusive, neglect the fact that you cannot load 100-pounds of diamonds into a two-pound sack. With many hundreds of hours of material – and only two-hours to reveal it in an interesting and entertaining way – tough decisions have to be made. No one is more aware of that degree of difficulty than are the AMY filmmakers; by all traditional metrics, their challenge was remarkably well met.

My desire to see Amy treated ‘fairly and respectfully’ – as I alone define those concepts – is at the heart of my own criteria to determine whether or not this film has merit. I wanted to see AJW shown as a musical genius who altered the world of modern music; and, as a decent, honorable, and terminally ill human who was terribly and wrongfully abused by circumstance and society. In my view, AMY delivers magnificently on both counts.

For far too long, Amy’s life has been characterized as a matter of ‘great music and bad conduct.’ That half-right assessment is, of course, founded in disease chauvinism; the false and vile dogma that actually, in part, helped usher Amy’s unjust departure. AMY makes it sufficiently clear that the ‘conduct bashers’ are wrong in both their conclusions and their own despicable conduct. The conduct of humans suffering from the disease-ensemble that long plagued AJW is a symptom of those ailments; not a comedic topic and not a character defect.

It is also important to note that at virtually all of the dozens of post-screening Q&A sessions conducted by the filmmakers, the issue of the illnesses afflicting AJW has been discussed among the participants. Such public chats are extremely valuable in raising awareness and understanding of mental illness and its consequences.

Though I understand the magnitude of our collective loss as much as any longtime rank-and-file AJW fan, digesting the film has given me a minor sense of peace that I have not really felt since July 2011. I do not at all confuse that feeling with the myth of closure, but it is still welcome relief. Your results may vary, but at the very least you should feel that your fandom is fully vindicated when you see AJW so wonderfully exalted on the big screen by a world-class filmmaker.

Of the scores of AMY reviews published in the past two-months, I can just about count on one-hand the number of reviewers who correctly point out that the film is not just a funeral dirge or a loss lament. It is, in more than equal part, a celebration of the ultra-extraordinary human being that was AJW. Amy was not a ‘tragic figure’ and she was not harmed by ‘demons.’ She was a smart woman who excelled in her art and business, and suffered from a terminal disease that was never successfully addressed and ultimately claimed her life.

AMY Alt-Poster By Adam Cockerton

The Controversies:

Since a fair amount of publicity surrounding AMY has related to very nice folks who were not satisfied with the way they feel they were portrayed in the film, it would be far too politically correct, expedient, comfortable and cowardly not to briefly address that issue here.

There has been speculation about whether the filmmakers had a particular agenda from the outset of their project. A plan, if you will, to create a heroine that was vexed by evil forces and people who could be cast as caustic villains. To be polite in describing the nature of the ‘learning curve’ faced by the film-team when they began planning AMY, I’m not going to say they were ‘clueless’ about their subject matter. Instead, I’ll just say they seemed ‘not clue rich.’ Early on, AJW fans were asked questions by the film-team such as, “Who should we talk to?” It is hard to make a case that an agenda-driven film was in the making with such elementary queries being made.

However, in my view, the point and counterpoint are both moot. Quite simply, while some of the film’s content may make some folks uncomfortable, there are absolutely no allegations posed by the film against any of the persons featured. The film is only about Amy, and it tells the story of some of what was happening around her during certain points in time. Nothing in the film attacks anybody, no villains are specifically charged, and no individual blame is assigned.

Not being at all naive, I well understand that many viewers will infer certain things from the words and images in the film. But, as slight salve for that truth, I can offer my strong good-faith belief that there is nothing within the small complained of portions of AMY that was not long previously known to all serious AJW fans and YouTube scourers.

While I regret any ‘hard feelings’ that may have developed between some AJW fans during the promotional phase of the film, I do not regret supporting the only non-familial, major-media release to date that portrays Amy Jade Winehouse as the decent, humble, trusting and loving human genius that she was.

AMY Alt-Poster By Simon Carpenter

Conclusion:

AMY is, by any objective standard, a masterwork documentary. Kapadia’s ‘acquired love’ for his subject bleeds from every frame, and his only bias is revealed to be a fierce affirmative defense of Amy’s decency, artistry and innocence. He accomplishes his mission without once telling his audience exactly what they should think or believe. Pics, vids, music, lyrics, and voices take viewers on a strangely comforting mystery tour; while they wish they never had to make the trip, they will ultimately be glad they did.

Time will tell how long AMY can remain my pick as the definitive film-primer on the life and times of Amy Jade Winehouse. There will be future films, but Kapadia’s masterfully crafted overview will be very difficult to dethrone.

If for any reason you have avoided taking a looksee at AMY, you should remedy that circumstance now. Do not be afraid of the ‘sad meme’ that has prevailed; there is plenty of fun, excitement, joy and love in the mix, too. As ‘awards season’ approaches, numerous special screenings should be available hither and yon. Don’t cheat yourself; go see this film.

The Asif Kapadia gang is in the vanguard of a ‘new wave’ in documentary filmmaking. There is a longstanding reason that so many docs get made and so few attract a paying audience, and it’s not the absence of a secret sauce or the lack of interesting subject matter. Every aspiring doc-maker should go to school on both AMY and Kapadia’s previous film Senna. Forget film school, just employ AK’s anti-boredom techniques and you will have cracked the code.

.

What follows is an AAN translated summary of that brief interview. The original interview in Portuguese is linked here.

Gisele Burjack: When will the film open in Brazil?

Kleitson: No date has yet been set, but we hope very soon. As soon as the poster contest is completed, I will turn my attention to helping to encourage the filmmakers to bring AMY to Brazil as quickly as possible.

Gisele Burjack: How do you feel taking part in an international competition?

Kleitson: Obviously, for me, it is a great honor to participate in the contest. Not only because my featured work is well received but because I can best express my love for Amy Winehouse through my art. Everyone in Brazil is super anxious to see AMY – due to their love for the singer and because of director Asif Kapadia’s ‘star status’ here – so I feel really lucky to be part of the art competition.

Gisele Burjack: Your admiration for Amy seems to go beyond your artistic work as a draftsman?

Kleitson: Yes. I can say with 100% certainty, I always keep Amy inside of me, in my heart. She inspires me, guides my art.

AMY Posters  –  By  Kleitson

Gisele Burjack: What about Amy inspires you?

Kleitson: Her spirit, sincerity, voice, talent and humility all inspire me. I think she was never fully aware of her own genius.

Gisele Burjack: Which side of Amy guides your designs?

Kleitson: Like many fans, I felt I ‘knew’ Amy even though I never met her. She was smart, funny, unique, sweet. Through her music, I feel she guides my desire to show those qualities in my art.

Gisele Burjack: How have people reacted to your AMY posters?

Kleitson: People from around the world have contacted me and expressed their appreciation for my art. I was so honored when even Amy’s mother complimented my skills.

Gisele Burjack: What are your expectations about the contest?

Kleitson: I think I have a chance to win. I believe a lot in my work because it is more conceptual than most.

Gisele Burjack: Have you received orders for your work as a result of the contest?

Kleitson: I have received some orders but have declined them all because I am totally focused on the current competition, and will be until it closes.

Gisele Burjack: How many posters have you entered in the competition?

Kleitson: I think I have the most entries. Thus far, I have 19 different posters in the competition.
…..

AAN Favorites

You can view the full Kleitson Poster Collection here.

You can read more about Kleitson and his posters at this previous AAN entry.

Additional media coverage of Kleitson in Brazil will be posted on this blog through June 22, 2015.
…..

Among the early entrants in the worldwide competition is Brazil’s Kleitson. A former teen-prodigy and a currently well known illustrator, Kleitson is a self-taught artist. As a youth, he was ranked among the Top 10 artists in the Corel International Design Contest. Kleitson’s work has been praised by the UK’s Prince Charles, and was honored by Brazil’s Federal Senate in 2010. The winner of numerous art competitions, Kleitson’s most important qualification to participate in the AMY Alt-Poster Contest is his “unconditional love” for Amy Jade Winehouse.

“It is always nice to win competitions, but I am honored just to participate in the AMY contest,” Kleitson said. “I draw Amy with love in my heart and soul.”

“If Beardsley or Lautrec saw this Kleitson poster outside of an entertainment venue, they would no doubt be compelled to go inside.” — AAN

Kleitson has been an enthusiastic friend of the Fan Club Trouble founding chapter in Brazil. His Amy-Tribute Art has been featured in Trouble Expositions that help preserve AJW’s musical legend, and promote and support the fine work of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

“The output of the highly-skilled and prolific Kleitson is eclectic. He can serve up multiple styles, each with its own charm, character and technical appeal.” — AAN

“I am not too good with words, but I hope my tribute art always shows the unconditional love and respect I have for Amy,” Kleitson said.

A humble guy, not comfortable with promoting himself, the exceptional artist is needlessly self-conscious about his “lack of English skills.” But, as AAN says daily: If any human speaks Amyish, their other lingos are irrelevant; they are Amyites, they are us, we are one in our love for Amy Jade Winehouse.

‘You Can’t Hide Your Flyin’ Eyes’  –  By  Kleitson

Brazil and its people were very special to Amy. She spent time and effort in Brazil building a base of loyal and adoring fans that have eagerly awaited the release of AMY. Kapadia’s previous film SENNA remains hugely popular in the country; a unique synergy of history and circumstance exists in Brazil that will likely help assure a very popular reception for AMY.

No one knows what the outcome of the current poster competition will be. But, in our view, there is no doubt that the filmmakers would well serve their own and fans’ interests by making sure that a Kleitson poster graces theater fronts when AMY opens in Brazil.

You can enjoy the large and growing collection of Kleitson AMY Alt-Posters at the link.

The Kleitson Collection

…

Artists wishing to participate in the Alt-Poster Competition can submit their ORIGINAL ART entries here: PosterSpy

Good luck to all the competing artists.

.

Although the AANPN hobbyists are not about raising funds, we are still very pleased that our hobby pages raised a few dollars in their first year of service; all such funds were truly raised a tiny-penny at a time. The hobbyists are very grateful to the page viewers; without those visitors, the pages would earn no pennies. We are excited about the prospects of creating even better pages in 2013 and expanding the current fleet.

Most of the small revenues garnered come from ad-impressions that are determined by the gross number of views and clicks that a page generates. The formula to determine page revenues is complex and varies on each venue that AANPN publishes on. In some cases, way more than 100 page views are required to earn a tiny penny. In most cases, page traffic determines page ranking and the percentage of site-revenues received by each page.

Many of the subject pages have AMZN sales modules attached; small numbers of pennies are earned via the modules, but sales across the fleet have been negligible. Links to vendors supporting the AWF through the sale of merchandise are also incorporated in the pages, but there is no way to track the performance of those links and the AANPN does not earn any pennies from them. In 2013, we will be looking at better ways to encourage merch vendors to support the AWF in exchange for promotional links on our pages.

Because the AANPN gang is in the information delivery game, we spend virtually no time thinking about fundraising. Our mission is about raising awareness, not about raising funds. Most of our pages are published on venues that are not typically thought to be populated by Amyites; for that reason, we can judge that we have been successful in reaching readers that would have otherwise been unlikely to receive our message.

All of the AAN hobbyists are proud to be a miniature part in helping to preserve the legend and promote the philanthropic legacy of the JadeMermaid Princess. Raising a few dollars for doing something that we would gladly do for no money at all is a fun thing. We know that we are in the vanguard of a hobby that will continue to expand, and we are pleased to be able to create pages that can earn likkle residual revenues for the AWF for many years to come.

To learn more about how you can participate in the Amy Page Hobby and support the Amy Winehouse Foundation, read the AAN Disbursement Schedule entry and the many previous entries in the AAN blog. The AANPN helps promote all other respectful Amy Pages, and newcomers to the hobby are always welcome.

Thank you to all of our readers. We are honored by your continued interest in our pages and we appreciate your frequent visits.

The AAN Disbursement Schedule

The AANPN Website

The Jadeink Leafography

The Amy Winehouse Foundation Websites

AWF-UK

AWF-USA

The AANPN crew has published a new page to celebrate the extreme proliferation of tribute art that pays homage to Amy Jade Winehouse. The page will be frequently updated with new galleries that encourage fans to become more familiar with the artists that continue to provide terrific art for the enjoyment of all those who love AJW.

http://www.zujava.com/amy-jade-winehouse-tribute-art-educational-exhibit-list

It is also hoped that new artists will study the galleries and learn the techniques used by their more experienced peers in memorializing images of AJW.

Artists – of all skill levels – wishing to have their work featured in updated galleries are welcome to participate. All uplifting and respectful submissions will be published. Submit pics to amysarmynow@yahoo.com.

Anybody expecting a long dirge here today will be disappointed. I just don’t have it in me to express the pain with dark words. I am not at all burned out, just badly burned.

As we mark the one year anniversary of the day that the JadeMermaid Princess left us, the temptation to be overcome by paralyzing pain and sadness is powerful. Counseling the avoidance of such feelings is easy, abiding that counsel is hard.

In the past year, those who love AJW have made great progress in helping to assure that the true legend of her life and music will long survive, and that her philanthropic legacy will grow for many generations. Yet, I must admit, the only bright spot I can clearly ascertain in her absence is that she is now forever safe from the hurt of the words and deeds of others that lacked her sublime decency.

We will continue to abide AJW’s call to “live the dream,” and we will keep moving forward. The notion of tears drying on their own has been given the lie, but we are grown and we will get through this desperately hurtful and empty time.

It is easy to allow the crushing sadness to wipe away the great memories. At the end of the day, we must be less sad that the magnificent adventure has ended than we are glad that we had a chance to experience that adventure. It’s not easy, but it’s doable; it must be.

We will never be the same after feeling a part of her life and suffering at her departure. We will always be better for having received the message she delivered, and we will always lament the brevity of her time with us. Fate dealt the hand ordained and we will play it.

If AJW returned to our realm, her first word to you would be, “Alright?” We have a duty to always maintain strong minds and bodies, to assure that our resounding answer would be, “Alright!”

I often acknowledge that I am the luckiest human on the planet; my entire life has been charmed. As I count good fortune, I place my discovery of AJW’s music – and seeing her perform it – at the top of my chip stack. No artist ever delivered more joy, to me. Now, harsh and lasting grief is simply the price I must pay. I will handle it, and you will, too.

Please celebrate AJW’s life responsibly today and be ready for the September birthday anniversary fun that is being planned everywhere. Thanks!

…………………………………….

For updates on Amy Winehouse Foundation activity in the USA, visit:

http://tinyurl.com/bw344ud

For an AANPN overview of the history of the AWF, visit:

http://tinyurl.com/cu2htwk

.

Absent a fiduciary relationship dictating to the contrary, no one has an obligation to favorably review the written work of someone they like and admire. The only duty of a nonobligated reviewer is to tell his own truth; here is mine.

To date, the long awaited Mitch Winehouse volume, Amy, My Daughter is clearly the finest written offering on the life and times of Amy Jade Winehouse.

The challenge faced by reviewers bearing warm feelings about the subject matter of AMD will be to remain focused on the style of the book and leave alone their personal views about AJW. That task will not be mastered by me; it is simply not possible for me to divorce my own feelings regarding AJW from anything I write about subjects related to her. I always like to review good books, and I never like to review the lives of the people who write them. Consider my comments herein with that in mind.

I often refer to AJW’s journey as a “magnificent adventure.” AMD gives readers an involved insider’s view of that trek, and does so in an interesting, engaging and powerful manner. The book is an entertaining pageturner and there are truly no boring parts. Constructed, in part, from event contemporaneous diary entries, the story is told in a straightforward style that is super easy to follow and encourages folks to absorb the book in one long read.

AMD paints the accurate picture of a loving and ordinary parent engaged in a good faith war to save his beloved child. The author admits his lack of knowledge in some relevant matters and the most sophisticated readers should remind themselves that, notwithstanding any contrary historical notions, ignorance is not a sin. The inevitable “why didn’t he?” questions raised by readers are largely based in cocksure arrogance and/or the questioners’ own ignorance. The simple fact is that no parent “knows the things they don’t know” during their engagement in an AMD-style crisis; most such parents become gropers and blindly rely on the “expert” voices they are offered. Such reliance precludes third-party judgements of failure and exempts the actors from all but the guilt they routinely and wrongfully foist on themselves.

The major import of AMD, to knowledgeable fans of the megastar, is to be found in confirmation and not in revelation. Experienced Amyphiles can, in my view, rely absolutely on the truth of MW’s account; many of those truths were largely long known to seasoned fans and having them confirmed by a close participant is valuable, but AMD is revelatory of old truths more than expository of new secrets. Newcomers to the subject will find the generously offered details fully satisfying.

Amyites looking for the all encompassing and definitive biography of AJW will have to wait for skilled historians to brew and bake a bit longer. AMD simply offers what I deem to be the true and accurate telling of the author’s observations and feelings about the events he experienced as the public and private drama of his daughter’s terminal disease engulfed him.

The author’s wit and charm are compelling inside of AMD and are likely to soften some folks’ perceptions of him; the sympathy you want to feel for him may flow freely. Except for the general circumstance of his saga, he is not likely to make you cry in his telling, but you may feel the pain of his experiences in a way that you have not before.

The volume is skillfully compiled to interest a mainstream audience. That demo is critical to helping the Amyites preserve the legend and promote the philanthropic legacy. The AJW aficionados simply have to accept that most early books, regardless of who writes them, are going to be rather “basic” in nature. The advanced analytical writings can come as interest in the subject increases; and, it will.

Though I kind of like the full expression of feelings and opinions, I also know that it is not necessary for a writer to say everything he feels and thinks about the real life antagonists in his work. Seasoned bashers of BFC will applaud MW’s verbally harsh treatment of the sick manchild that the equally ill AJW loved much. That AJW was fully energized with the decency gene and her cohort was imbued with likkle but pure and demented evil will always make the trashing of the latter acceptable to the vast majority of those who love her, but I find even the most justifiable after-action hate to be harmful to its bearers and avoid expressing it; even when I feel it beyond measure.

If AMD was a work of fiction, I would note that the BFC character should have been eliminated from the story – by any means necessary – long prior to his ever having established a dominant position in the tale. In real life, public post-outcome bashing is easy to advise against – and hard to rise above – but its vent value is, to me, unseemly and the currency of its truth is outweighed thereby. When a nonfiction villain is indeed fully illustrated to be a “lowlife scumbag,” his conduct speaks to that fact and even the most involved storyteller need not be redundant in restating the obvious. I well know that my view in this matter is that of a tiny minority, and I cite it merely as a small point in the AMD narrative that might cause a slight sympathy-losing chill among some readers.

[DISCLAIMER: I am not so straightlaced that I did not laugh heartily upon entering the search term “lowlife scumbag” and getting a page-one GOOG return of a picture of BFC.]

AMD offers a bit of insight into some minor details of AJW’s business dealings. Folks who have grown tired of her being falsely portrayed as a brainless dunce that knew/cared nothing about her business should be somewhat satisfied. Future biographers are given a good resource of names that will prove useful in their efforts to flesh out the totality of AJW as a real human being that is exponentially more than just a disease victim.

It is also interesting to have revealed some details regarding the insiders’ recognition of the serious war that was being waged against AJW by a corrupt and vile media. While fightback efforts were never really successful, fans will at least learn that the hometeam was far from oblivious to the evil works of the demoralizing defamation machine.

As a strident and militant warrior in the ongoing battle against the deadly dogma of “disease chauvinism,” I found only a slight and grossly understated bone toss at page 206 of AMD, where the author meekly notes:

“… I also began to realize that, for most people, addiction is an illness, an illness that needs treatment, just like any other. …”

In my view, that mostly true but overly reticent observation represents a lost opportunity for a widely respected person to further spread the truth that has been recognized by the USA Government, via the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse:

Substance addiction is a terminal brain disease, the components of which obviate the patient’s ability to adequately exercise freewill choice.

Story and Video Re: NIH/NIDA     http://tinyurl.com/7u6kknk

Until that scientific fact becomes the prevailing medical paradigm – and it will – every parent on the planet will remain vulnerable to the same heartbreak now being suffered by AMD‘s author. The corrupt dogma of disease chauvinism rends the credibility destroying and dehumanizing stigmatization that heaps shame and embarrassment on the sick and often precludes, hinders, or delays their successful treatment. Though understandable and completely expected, the author’s failure to forcefully attack the anti-science gangs in the context of the AJW story was personally disappointing, but does not harm either the biographical or entertainment value of AMD.

Picture lovers will be pleased with the selected offerings. Some of the photos are “new,” some are not. Hopefully, a future pictorial volume will incorporate all of the hidden treasures not shared this time out.

The inclusion in the book of what seems to be the full text of AJW’s early Sylvia Young entrance essay is a super nice touch and makes the popular pull-quotes even more powerful. Personal notes and greeting cards from AJW also add charm and tears to the mix.

Is AMD a strong enough vehicle from which to devise a major film? Absolutely, but, perhaps, it should be contemplated to be crafted as a story about MW’s travails in the saga and not as a straight-up AJW biopic. That formula might be slightly more palatable to the adamantly “no movies” crowd.

All things considered, it is very difficult to find any real fault with AMD. Fans of AJW will like it a lot and many new fans will be born among those coming to the subject for the first time. That we all desperately wish this book never had to be written is a given; that every fan and every parent read it is a necessity spawned by the most hurtful circumstance that many of us have ever experienced.

All author proceeds are pledged to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Written By: Sandy Prezan

New Amy Pages are being launched each week, but efforts to promote them straight out of the gate are lagging production. The AANPN has expanded its reach and knows how to help get new pages in front of a broader audience and increase readership. But, if we don’t know that such pages have been published, we can’t help.

The likkle AAN crew does not have the resources to scour the internet everyday looking for each and every new Amy Page. Additionally, the indexing lag of the search engines is often too great to make such hunts useful. The fast solution:

If readers find a respectful new Amy Page, they should leave a link to the page in the comments section of the top post on the Amy Jade Winehouse Page Directory:

http://www.facebook.com/amywinehousedirectory

The new page will be entered into the directory promptly.

………………………………….

My morning chat with Hank:

SP: Are we having any impact on page promotion?

HM: I dunno. I do know we are asking people to build pages and showing them how to do it. When we find new pages, we place them in the directory and if the page owners want us to help promote the pages aggressively, we will do so.

SP: Why aren’t more page publishers asking for promo help?

HM: Maybe some are just shy. As you know, we will help promote all respectful pages. The PAs need to ask for that help. We aren’t going to go entrepreneurial on every new page. If the PAs want assistance they need to ask and they need to furnish us the info we need to get the job done.

SP: What do you mean?

HM: I mean we need to know something about the hopes, goals and wishes of the PAs and their pages. We need them to tell us in writing about their pages and give us enough background info so we can easily build the kind of promo pages that we know will work. We can’t profile and promote pages, if the PAs can’t tell us their story.

SP: I think a lot of PAs want to remain anonymous.

HM: That’s fine and has nothing to do with promoting their pages. They can use a pen name – a pseudonym – but they have to tell us about their pages. We aren’t in the ‘page review’ business and we don’t have the resources to research and write profiles from scratch. The PAs have to tell us about their pages in writing. We can then rewrite and expand on what they have written and produce the promo pages.

SP: Any special requirements to get the free promo help?

HM: Treat the subject matter respectfully, and prominently feature links to stories about the activities of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Those are the only requirements.

SP: Realistically, how many pages can we actively promote?

HM: Most of them. If there are quality pages with PAs willing to tell their story, we can crank out nice promo pages on numerous venues. We know the formula for “pump pages” and nobody that wants to promote a nice and respectful page will be excluded.

SP: Is the current page directory getting the job done?

HM: Of course not. The changes to the facebook format are still a mystery to millions of users. Navigating the directory is no longer an intuitive exercise; as it was before the changes. Once users learn the new navigation scheme, the utility of the directory should be back to normal.

SP: Are you still building a freestanding directory?

HM: Yes, but I am surrounded by all of you lazy folks and the job is too ‘boring’ for you to do. (lol) Nobody wants to parse and edit the current directory so it can be alphabetized and replicated on a new site. So, I’m doing it myself, but it is slow going; on account of me being lazy and bored with it, too. (lol)

SP: Are some pages becoming overly competitive?

HM: No. Friendly competition between pages is making all of the active pages better. What we have to guard against and resist is the tendency for pages to become insular as they compete. What’s good for a single Amy Page is good for the Amy Page Movement. Competition does not preclude cooperation; when it does, pages will fall like dominoes and the APM will crash. Competition is always the greatest encourager of growth.

SP: What do you think of the content of the current APs?

HM: I like all respectful content. It doesn’t have to be slick or even unique, but it must be respectful for me to like it. I don’t like tabloid nonsense or nasty stuff, but any content that exalts AJW and promotes the Amy Winehouse Foundation is good with me.

SP: The AAN facebook page has lots of pictures on it now. How come?

HM: I am a fan of written content. I don’t particularly like pictures. The new facebook format and the interest of visitors have made more pictures appropriate. As time passes, a better content mix and a better balance will be achieved. Patience is always good.

SP: There have been questions about pictures of products on the facebook page and readers want to know where to buy some of the pictured items.

HM: Most of the pics are just for fun and to remind readers of the massive impact that AJW continues to have on popular culture. Unless the pictures are linked to a site noting that some of the proceeds from the sale of the merch are to be shared with the Amy Winehouse Foundation, readers can do their own online searches for the products they like. Unless the AWF benefits, we don’t promote any specific merch sales.

SP: Anything else?

HM: All good things Amy, all the time. Preserve the legend and promote the philanthropic legacy. That’s about it.

………………………………….

PAs of active Amy Pages on any venue – facebook, blog, website – are encouraged to let the growing AANPN help promote those pages. The network can profile your pages on numerous sites and help better position them in search results. If you want promo assistance, send an email with “promo help” in the subject line to amysarmynow@yahoo.com.

To learn more about the AANPN, visit:

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/index.html

To learn more about the Amy Winehouse Foundation, visit:

UK Website:  http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/

USA Website:  http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/us/

.

Following the launch of the LikkleJade pages, the planned expansion of AANPN pages is on schedule. All additional branded page series will be deployed before the end of 2012.

The LikkleLetters pages are expected to go live in May. As part of that series, AANPN is asking readers to begin submitting tribute “Letters To Amy.” Submitted letters will be presented in multiple volumes as their quantity increases.

Letter writers requesting the same will receive a byline and a backlink to their relevant online pages attached to their published submissions. Letters signed with “pen names” are welcome; writers may use their real name or a pseudonym. Multiple letters from one writer are welcome. Letters may be edited for clarity. Generally, letters should be twixt 300 and 500 words, but exceptional letters that are longer will also be published. All letters should be respectful in tone and content.

At the option of the writer, letter topics might include:

* Recollections about AJW, her music, her concerts, her life;

* Details of what AJW has meant to the writer;

* Details of how the writer is currently feeling about AJW;

* The writer’s hopes and wishes for the future of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

In short, writers may pen letters on any subject that they would if AJW was available to read them. It is hoped that this likkle experiment in letter writing will have a cathartic effect on letter writers. It will also allow readers to better understand that they are not alone in their strong feelings about AJW. And, it may even help educate some non-Amyites about the importance that AJW fans place on their feelings for the JadeMermaid Princess.

Letters should be submitted as “copy and paste” content to amysarmynow@yahoo.com. No letters should be submitted as attachments. Please place the words “Amy Tribute Letters” on the email subject line. Include the name you want on your letter and, if desired, a backlink to your own page.

As time passes, one or more “coolest letters” contests may be announced. All letters published from the launch of the LikkleLetters series will be eligible for entry into any such future contests.

………………………..

The branded expansion page menu is displayed here:

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/branded-pages.html

Very brief details about the expansion pages are displayed here:

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/about-aanpn.html

The initial pages in the new LikkleJade series are displayed here:

http://www.wikinut.com/author~qlskqm/likklejade/

Readers can help assure the acceptance and success of the expansion pages by clicking on the facebook, twitter, and google+ buttons displayed on all pages. Visits and clicks are used by the page venues to determine which pages might be moved to the frontpages of those venues. Such placement is very useful in exposing new audiences to the work of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Readers wishing to have the greatest impact on page promotion can take an extra minute and register at the sundry publishing sites; registrants are able to leave “internal likes” on the pages, which are very helpful in securing higher page rankings. As always, your help is needed and appreciated.

………………………..

Observers are now asking if the AANPN plans to launch:

* An online video channel.

* An online picture site that will aggregate and display properly credited pictures for use by Amy Pages and fans.

* An internet radio outlet that programs All Good Things Amy, All The Time.

The answer to all of the above is simple: If such projects can be accomplished in a totally not-for-profit mode, and will be beneficial to the promotion of the Amy Winehouse Foundation, the likkle AANPN gang will act to expand its focus prudently and appropriately.

Stay tuned, be patient and of good cheer. Good things are on the way.

On April 11, Mitch and Janis were on hand in NYC to establish a USA presence for the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Americans are excited!

As part of the USA launch, the AWF granted $10K to the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which works to preserve and restore music education for young folks. Unknown to most readers, AJW worked tirelessly to support and fund efforts to reopen music education departments in USA public schools; many such programs have been shutdown due to severe financial constraints. I guess the tabloids “forgot” to report that aspect of AJW’s life.

The first thing that bloggers and Amy Page makers need to do in support of the AWF-USA is to make sure:

1. That both the UK and USA AWF websites are linked on all blogs and Amy Page entries.

UK

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/

USA

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/us/

To date, the majority of traffic to the UK website has been from the USA. Yet, the site has barely three-dozen Alexa-recorded “links in” from credible and authority sites. While the likkle AANPN gang is very pleased to have contributed some of those links, the low overall count is not acceptable and must not be allowed to stand. Bloggers and pagemakers are in the best position to help remedy the problem. Now, today, is the time to act aggressively in the battle to substantially increase the AWF’s link count.

(NOTE: 48-hours following the posting of this entry, Alexa released a new audit that revealed approximately 400 “linking in” sites had been recorded. That new count is excellent and must continue to increase.)

2. That all future AJW/AWF-relevant entries to blogs and freestanding pages contain the TAGS “amy winehouse foundation” AND “charitable foundation.”

Until the AWF begins to earn its fair share of returns for the search term “charitable foundation,” the organization cannot reach its full potential. Your placement of the “charitable foundation” tag on your blog/page entries will help move us toward that goal.

All USA residents who love the JadeMermaid Princess are extremely proud that the AWF has landed on our shores. We are ready to help get the job done; anyone who doubts the American resolve in that regard should simply watch our actions in 2012 and beyond.

We enthusiastically welcome the Amy Winehouse Foundation to the USA. Thank you so much for coming!

As part of the AANPN growth scheme, a new series of pages will be devoted to original tribute art depicting images of Amy Jade Winehouse. The venue for the pages is currently undetermined, but will be one of the expansion sites and will be selected soon. The series will be widely promoted. If you are an artist creating respectful AJW art, your work can be included in the new series.

The page series is not a “talent contest” and all submissions of serious and respectful art – amateur and professional – will be included in the serial page set. There will be no written critiques of submissions; all art placed in the multi-volume series will be promoted equally. All art mediums are welcome.

If you have original art – created by you or your client – here is the submission protocol.

1. Submit a photo(s) of the art that you want displayed in the series.

2. Submit a full description of the art.

3. Include a brief bio of the artist.

4. Include any link(s) or contact info that you want included in the series.

5. Email to amysarmynow@yahoo.com.

Submissions that pledge a portion of sales proceeds as a timely contribution to the Amy Winehouse Foundation will be given placement preference in the series.

The page publisher will not take part in any sales transactions, so make sure that links to your sales venue and other contact info is included with your submission.

The purpose of the page series is to help expand interest in Amy Art, to assist artists in the promotion of their work, and to provide interesting content for AANPN readers. The first volume in the series will be published when an adequate number of submissions have been received; subsequent volumes will follow on the same basis.

Here are some of the new page brands that may be used in the series:

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/page-two.html

If you wanna play, let us hear from you.

Thanks.

During 2012, the AAN Page Network will launch additional branded page sites. The new venues will present original content related to preserving the musical legend and promoting the philanthropic legacy of Amy Jade Winehouse.

As always, all original content featured on AANPN pages will be produced by unpaid volunteers and distributed at no cost for use by all Amy Page publishers. Skilled writers and other quality content producers will continue to be recruited to help assure that fans have a good supply of original and interesting material to enjoy.

Quotes From Hank:

“As the natural news cycle of AJW-centric stories winds down, I believe that the demand for additional original content will continue to expand. Our likkle crew hopes to help meet that demand.”

“All AANPN content will continue to promote the great work of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. We see the AWF as the backbone of the Amy Page Movement.”

“Aggregating readymade content was fun and easy for Amy Pages, while it lasted. Now, we must prepare for the next phase of our hobby.”

“Hopefully, we will find a good supply of talented writers and others that want to participate in our all volunteer efforts to help keep AJW a top-of-mind topic for a very long time.”

“Written content in each niche and genre will be rolled out. If it fits into our All Good Things Amy, All The Time motto, we want readers to have it.”

“We will continue to only use ‘free’ venues, as part of our serious effort to encourage new pagemakers to join the hobby. Obviously, we could have fancy pages built, but that would send the wrong message. We want to demonstrate that everybody can play in the Amy Page Movement, and that the only required investment is their time.”

“Every aspect of AJW’s life and times needs to be sensitively and positively explored and preserved in writing, if we are all to help meet the goal of keeping the JadeMermaid Princess alive forever in the hearts and minds of her fans and those who love her.”

“Our rodeo experience is substantial in managing the scale of projects. If we start to become overextended and lose the ability to do the job correctly, we will know it quickly and we will slow down. For now, it’s full speed ahead.”

“Since we have no need or desire to profit financially from any of our efforts, we have few restraints on the types of projects we can undertake. If, as some critics have alleged, we are ‘just propaganda hobbyists attempting to revise history,’ those critics may be very surprised by our ability to fight back. We don’t buy ink by the barrel, but we don’t need to.”

“At a time when our collective voices might have helped to alter the outcome of the AJW adventure, we feel that we shirked our obligations to someone who brought us great joy and we are not proud of those failures. We can’t change history, but we can make a meaningful contribution to ensuring that history gets the story right.”

“Folks participating in the Amy Page Movement are in the vanguard stages of building a great hobby that will be enjoyed by lots of folks during the coming decades. Our gang is thrilled to be able to make a small contribution to those building efforts.”

…

Readers can follow the growth of the AANPN at the linked page. As new venues go live, the likkle page will get bigger.

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/index.html

Everybody involved in the prospective expansion is very motivated to get the job done. Your participation in that effort is welcome, needed and appreciated.

On April 12, the window will close on a once in a lifetime opportunity for one lucky kid and their family. That day is the deadline for the filing of applications to receive the Amy Winehouse Foundation sponsored scholarship to attend the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

The scholarship is designed to allow a financially disadvantaged child to pursue his or her dreams of developing their natural talents in the area of drama, singing. and dance.

There is still time to submit a last minute application. If you are the parent of a “natural born star” – or know somebody who is – don’t sit on your hands; late applications cannot be accepted.

Full details about the scholarship and an application are at this link:

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/sylviayoungscholarship

Amy Jade Winehouse

When AJW was 13-years old, she wrote an application letter to the headmistress, Sylvia Young. That letter was preserved and reads:

“I want to go somewhere where I’m stretched right to my limits, and perhaps beyond to singing lessons without being told to shut up. But mostly I have this dream to be very famous. To work on stage. It’s my life long ambition. I want people to hear my voice and just forget their troubles for five minutes. I want to be remembered for being an actress, a singer, for sell out concerts, sell out West-end and Broadway shows, and for being just…me.”

For the education of the history buffs: The stories of AJW having been “expelled” from Sylvia Young are far from strictly accurate; tho, they do make for a fun and cool legend. During a time when one of the most talented students ever to present at the school turned 16-years old and became convinced that she absolutely could not continue with life unless she had her nose pierced, Sylvia Young became convinced that AJW was ready to meet the challenges that would be posed by William Ashton at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. It was decided that Ashton would take over the duties of mentoring and educating the “self-determined and semi-unruly” genius. AJW simply moved to another venue; she was not run off from SYTS with a stick.

Next week, a youngster, not so very different than AJW was when she first sought to matriculate at Sylvia Young, will take the first steps in a life-changing adventure. That child could be someone you know and love, if you can meet the looming application deadline.

The pride and joy that AJW would feel watching the auditions of the kids vying to be educated in her name would be enormous. The awarded child will be watched closely and encouraged by AJW fans. We all wish them Godspeed and hope that their early promise will be fully realized in future years.

Regarding my own promise: Each time I post the above Likkle Mermaid’s picture, I promise myself and others that “this time, it will not make me cry.” One of these days, I will keep my promise; maybe.

A Transparency Note: As is sometimes the case, this brief summary has become a consensus entry. It was originally intended to be published in January, as a much larger and more detailed document. I wanted to be realistic and honest in the review, but I also wanted to avoid being either too optimistically positive or too cautiously negative. I wanted to cover lots of issues, but I didn’t want to bore readers with numbers and stats. I wanted to detail challenges, but I didn’t want to throw gasoline on them; to cast light, not heat. I didn’t want a Jerry Maguire document, just a constructive one that would be perceived as being offered in goodfaith.

Some yelling, lots of rewrites, major deletions, and last minute edits have led to this final draft. I believe it accurately – and in lay terms – briefly abstracts an overview of where the Amy Page Movement (APM) is today, and where the world of Amy Pages (APs) might be headed tomorrow.

The views of others will be different than my own; as you know, I’m OK with that. The views of my fellow volunteers and associates are important to me; if that was not the case, this would be a substantially “different” document. Hopefully, the subject matter is actually best addressed via a consensus derived summary.

______________________________

The overall state of the APM is very strong. Following July 2011, the proliferation of APs in all social media has been explosive; many hundreds of pages have appeared. The APM shows that it has ample room for expansion; that circumstance should persist through 2013. Demand from fans for additional quality pages continues to grow. Concurrent with that demand, the APM has now entered its first period of admin attrition.

Admin Attrition:

It is natural, as time passes, that some admins will lose interest in their pages, or be otherwise made unable to continue their efforts. Some APs will simply be neglected and others will be abandoned or deleted. There should be no recriminations against the retiring admins. The players are all hobbyists and when a hobby is no longer fun, other interests should be pursued.

Trying to separate the task of content assembly and creation from the emotional feelings that most page admins have about the subject matter is likely neither possible nor desirable. Those feelings help produce the best pages, but deliver the most pain to the admins. While readers may meet the sadness of a few posts, page admins feel the pain of reviewing, rejecting, assembling, writing many such posts each day. Thus, being angry with an admin who simply cannot handle it anymore would be unfair.

I know how difficult it is to maintain even a moderately well-frequented page. Finding or creating good content is a tough task and, often, an emotionally draining and hurtful one. There is certainly some satisfaction in keeping a nice page but, on balance, it is largely a rather painful experience.

Because my involvement in the APM is relatively atypical, it affects me in some fairly harsh ways. I often tell myself that I am in the hobby “for AJW and the Amy Winehouse Foundation.” But, the truth is more likely that I participate solely for my own selfish reasons of trying to hold onto the “closeness” I always felt to AJW when she was here. That selfish payoff has some personal value, but regularly delivers more pain than I can easily discuss.

The admins are all “grown” and they can either handle the downsides or they can quit the hobby. The strong admins will stand firm without being begged to do so. I merely note those downsides because I want readers to understand the circumstances and to avoid viewing the dropouts harshly.

Page Adoption:

As admins retire, there will be substantial opportunities for newcomers to “adopt” the pages of the retirees. While the creation of new APs remains the optimal goal of the APM, it is worthwhile for prospective new admins to consider the option of simply adopting an existing page. Many retiring admins will likely be amenable to transferring their neglected or abandoned pages to competent and earnest beginners.

Newbies wanting to play in the hobby should consider looking for an AP they like – that appears to be inactive – and simply asking the current admin if he/she would allow their page to be adopted. The adoption scheme has some advantages. Such APs are ready to roll and require less work than a fresh startup page does, and they usually come with at least some existing readership and traffic.

Page Consolidation:

The urge for multiple pages to “consolidate” with each other is a bit tempting, but it will mean the collapse of the APM and must be avoided. The demand for additional high quality pages exists; consolidation does nothing to help meet that demand.

Consolidation lightens the workload for admins, but delivers no material gain in traffic; due to the huge number of readers who frequent multiple APs. For purposes of preserving the legend and promoting the philanthropic legacy, any consolidation is destructive. It is better for both fans and the APM to have many active pages with light traffic, than it is to have just a few pages with relatively heavy traffic.

Competent large pages serve a fine purpose, but they cannot and do not meet the demand for All Good Things Amy, All The Time, in the same way that the smaller pages can and do. In the distant future, some consolidation may well serve the APM; we are not yet near that future.

Demographics:

I am not hoarding any secret math, but most of it would only bore readers. I can report that the average page traffic:

* Is just a likkle older than most folks imagine it to be;

* Is mermaid dominant by a fair margin, but sailor interest is increasing;

* Is majority fluent-English speaking by a rapidly shrinking margin;

* Is usually fonder of videos and pictures than it is of written content;

* Is willing to view both properly aggregated and original written content;

* Is “shy to engage” – leave comments and content “likes” – on even the friendliest pages, by a huge margin;

* Is a movable audience that wants current/interesting info/views, and will search for the commodity with fast clicks across multiple pages and venues;

* Is willing to display loyalty to the multiple pages that best meet their needs;

* Is, by a very large majority, willing to visit and “like” multiple APs.

Competition and Cooperation:

It is undeniable, understandable and fortunate that competition exists and will continue to exist between APs. The spirit of reasonable competition results in better, more interesting, and stronger pages. But, currently, cooperation rates remain inadequate between page admins. There are some admins who see the APM as a cooperative hobby, but far too few.

Obviously, it is not desirable that all APs should be working on the same projects all of the time. However, it is desirable that all AP admins, when possible and reasonably practical, support and promote large polling/voting projects, event projects, and other worthwhile efforts that are brought forward by their fellow admins and readers.

The divide between APs published in English and those administered from non-English speaking countries is particularly large and is likely the greatest weakness of the APM. The circumstance has the potential to prevent dynamic page increases, cause a hike in admin-attrition rates, and shorten the natural lifespan of the APM.

An impediment to worldwide growth rates is the misguided notion of “ownership rights” to the AJW legend and legacy by any segment of her fans. When such claims are advanced by admins in any nation, they are disregarding the fact that AJW invested thousands of hours – and big money – building an international fanbase. Without doubt her primary motives for the build were economic, but she likely also envisioned at least some sense of unity between global fans.

Claims by any nation’s citizens of an absolute proprietary interest in what AJW created are unfounded and serve only to weaken the APM, shrink the fanbase, and unravel the worldwide work she accomplished. In life, AJW “belonged” to the entire world; that the ages have her now, does not change that fact.

Folks who doubt the value of the international concept should chat-up some record execs and concert promoters, to better understand its importance. Cooperation – in all worthwhile projects – between page admins in all nations must increase substantially, if the APM wants to best benefit from and help preserve what AJW built.

Page admins from all nations should be made to feel welcome, and should be supported and promoted. Readers should be made to feel welcome on all APs, regardless of what their primary language is. If any human speaks Amyish, their other lingos are irrelevant; they are Amyites, they are us, we are one in our love for AJW.

…………………..

Nota: para Administradores de habla hispana y lectores.

Lo mismo se advierte en contra de las nociones nacionalistas se aplica igualmente a los administradores en los terceros países de habla inglesa. Se sirve bien a sus intereses para asegurarse de que los lectores de habla inglesa son bienvenidos en los puntos de acceso.

Administradores de página en todas las naciones deben hacer sentir bienvenidos, y deben ser apoyados y promovidos. Los lectores deben hacer sentir bienvenidos a todos los puntos de acceso, independientemente de cuál sea su lengua materna es. Si cualquier ser humano habla Amyish, sus Lingos otros son irrelevantes, sino que son Amyites, ellos son nosotros, somos uno en nuestro amor por AJW.

…………………….

For some admins, the use of the “sister page” concept is worth considering, to help increase cooperation between APs in diverse countries. Such cooperation does not preclude vigorous competition to produce quality pages, but allows admins to work together on projects that benefit their mutual goals of maintaining and expanding interest in AJW and the AWF.

The cooperation deficit is not only evident among smaller pages. The large pages also need to step-up their support and promotion of projects that are brought forward by the grassroots AP admins and others. Such support and promo is particularly important in the areas of sundry polls and small events.

Any consideration of an “AP Association” to offer support and guidance to the APM should be quickly rejected. While the concept is likely offered in goodfaith, it would be a de facto consolidation, would splinter the APM and, ultimately, lead to fewer and weaker pages. Strong independent pages are the future of the APM and they will be created by determined individuals; not by a collective aparat.

Page Content:

Page content is king and every admin has to make their own decision as to what kind of content will best appeal to their known and hoped for audience.

Skilled content aggregators have been at an advantage during the past eight months. That advantage is very rapidly vanishing; interesting and legit news content is in an irreversible downtrend. Soon, relevant and worthwhile readymade news items will be much more difficult to find.

Tabloid and gossip/trash “news” will soon dominate the available supply of easy to aggregate stories. Admins who use such material do a disservice to their own pages and weaken the APM, but they have an absolute right to feature whatever content they choose.

While current numbers show that videos and pictures are very popular, there is both a theoretical and actual limit to the number of times an audience wants to see the same vids/pics. Additionally, growing copyright issues could easily derail the future use of large amounts of such content.

Original content – created by page admins, their associates and readers – will become much more critical in page operation. Analysis of present/past news and music and performances, editorial style issue examinations, and current/historical reviews will be in demand. By late 2012, the “fan fiction” genre is likely to see both quality and trashy content rolled out. Pages that make wise picks from a growing supply of original content will do well and attract visitors.

Niche pages that deal with very narrow and specific aspects of their subject will likely become small but important parts of the APM. The tight focus of such pages will enhance visitor experiences and will have a growth impact on the entire APM. The niche pages will have a relatively small audience, but they will find a constant and stable readership.

Hybrid and Commercial Pages:

While most APs are nonprofit by design, it is likely that hybrid and commercial pages will begin to emerge. The hybrid pages will have components that benefit the Amy Winehouse Foundation, and will also generate revenues on their own behalf. There will also be purely commercial pages joining the mix. All appropriate and respectful pages can be sustaining forces for the APM.

New Pages:

New and worthwhile APs continue to arrive on the scene; there is room for many more. Fans that want to newly participate as publishers in the AP hobby will find some basic guidance herebelow.

* The easiest and fastest venue on which to launch a new AP is facebook. Simply click on the “create page” tab on your personal page and follow the simple instructions.

* Take a look at the Amy Jade Winehouse Page Directory. Exploring the listed pages – large and small – will help you decide what you want the style and feel of your page to be. You will also gain an understanding of what kind of content is most popular. The AJWPD – and other AAN pages – will help to promote all pages that are appropriate and respectful.

http://www.facebook.com/amywinehousedirectory

* Resist any desire to include the acronym “RIP” – or any other morose phrases – in the title of your page; there are more than enough nice pages with mournful tags. If you want your page to have long legs that will carry it deep into the future of AJW’s popularity, launch it with a positive and forward looking title.

* Decide what niche you want to participate in. Most existing APs are aggregators of general content and are not tightly focused. There is an unfilled need for pages that focus solely on ONE or TWO elements of AJW’s art and life.

* You will need some initial content to get started. The internet is full of great music videos, pictures, artwork, articles related to AJW. Choose content that you like, populate your page with it and the chances are good that your visitors will like it, too.

* Original content is the best draw for any new AP. If you can create such content – either with writing, music, artwork or videos – you will have an advantage in the game.

* If AJW is the heart of the APM, then the Amy Winehouse Foundation is its backbone. Make sure you “like” the AWF FB-page and adjust your “featured settings” to always display the AWF avatar on the “likes panel” of your page. Here are the easy how-to directions:

English:

https://amysarmynow.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/note-to-facebook-amy-page-admins/

Spanish:

https://amysarmynow.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/nota-para-facebook-pagina-amy-administradores/

* Once your page is online, you will want to get some folks to “like” it. The easiest way to get some early “likes” is to “like” some of the pages listed in the AJWPD linked above. Many admins will leave a reciprocal “like” for your quality page.

* Make sure you also “like” the comments on other pages and leave relevant comments about the content on those pages. Such engagement will generate “likes” for your page and its contents.

* Start following the AJW fans on Twitter. Place a link to your AP on your Twitter profile. Send appropriate and sparing tweets informing folks about your page; be polite, don’t be a spammer. You will gain some followers and some of them will “like” your AP.

* If you post on forums, bulletin boards or blogs, place a link to your AP in your sigline on those venues.

* If you comment on youtube videos, leave a link to your AP along with your comments.

* If you are a blogger, write some Amy-related content and link it on your FB-page. Be sure to place links to your AP and your Twitter profile on your blog. This kind of multiangular crossfire is a very powerful tool to help boost traffic to all of your pages.

* If you start volume blogging, join Digg and Stumbleupon. Both are excellent spots to promote your blog entries and will help lead readers to your AP.

* Join Squidoo, Zujava, HubPages, Wizzley, Infobarrel, Seekyt and create an AJW-centric page to promote your facebook page and other APs that you like. The backlinks on such pages are a very valuable part of your promotion efforts. Post your eligible content on Lensroll, Lenslike, and SpicyPages.

* A free website can be easily built/hosted on Weebly. A simple page linking to all of your other pages will help build your AP traffic.

* Many experts think that fancy templates help attract readers. I find that “fancy” is irrelevant, unless you are already a superstar that needs to have a slick page to rival that of your peers. Plain pages with good content can perform well without the glitz and flash.

* Many experts think that you need a “landing page” that requires visitors to “like” your page before they are allowed to view it. I find that concept ridiculous, unless your name is already known to everybody on the planet. Your only landing page should be the wall of your AP.

* Keep the tone of your page upbeat and informative. Negative items turn readers off and will hurt traffic.

* Unless you want a gossip page, avoid aggregating sensational or tabloid trash on your page.

* Some engagement between yourself and your visitors is critical to making your page work well. Make sure to “like” readers’ comments and respond when appropriate.

* Unless your page is a “directory” of other pages OR a “museum page,” be sure that your settings allow visitors to make new posts of their own.

* If someone posts an inappropriate item, uses gratuitous profanity, insults your subject matter, is mean to your other posters, or bashes your page simply delete the offending content and block the poster. Don’t get into flame wars with trolls; your readers won’t understand such fights and they will flee your page. It is not possible to “win” an argument on the internet, but you can easily “lose” one by arguing with evil or demented folks.

* If you have opinions about subjects not related to the topic of your page, keep them to yourself. Half of your readers will agree with such opinions and the other half will abandon your page. All Good Things Amy, All The Time is the only appropriate moto for an AP.

* Build cooperative relationships with other page admins. They will help you promote your page and you will help them promote their page. Developing this synergy is probably the most effective way to get your AP in the mix and keep it there.

* Always be respectful of other admins’ pages. Do not be a spammer on those pages. Don’t use gratuitous profanity on other admins’ pages; some admins and their readers don’t like it.

* Facebook “likes” come and go. If you see a precipitous drop in your “like” count, examine your content and review your “insights” panel. If you cannot identify a problem, you are likely just experiencing the natural ebb/flow pattern of facebook popularity.

* Never beg folks to “like” your AP. Begging makes you look weak and will hurt your page. Present nice content and page “likes” will come.

* Never “like” your own posts. Doing so is redundant and makes you appear weak and, worst case, not very bright. If you did not like the post, you would not have posted it.

* Remember, while it is fun to see your “like” counts rise, it is better to have 100 dedicated/consistent readers than it is to have hundreds of “likes” from folks who seldom visit your page.

* Be patient. Throw out your notions of “build it and they will come.” Your content and your promotion efforts will determine your traffic. Experiment until you find the right content mix and your well run AP will slowly and steadily grow.

* Most Importantly: Have fun helping to preserve the legend and promote the philanthropic legacy. If the hobby stops being fun, let someone else adopt your page.

……………

Conclusion:

AJW fans do not need to worry. There is plenty of news and content on the horizon to last a very long time. There will be lots of folks ready to pick up the slack when the current admin crews grow weary. Our hobby should be going strong for as long as we want it to.

A lot of folks wanna know how long the APM can be kept alive. I dunno the absolute answer, but I do know that when I google the phrase “Anastasia Romanov Dynasty,” I get more than 640,000 returns. Many such entries sing the modern loyalists’ loud praises of their royal lady.

I suspect that the APM players and their future recruits and successors will be able to keep our JadeMermaid Princess close to front and center for at least as long as the Russian’s have been able to do it for their gal. You better start preparing to get your grandkids up to speed on the legend and legacy of Amy Jade Winehouse; there will be a great hobby waiting for them.

The following page publishing venues are ideal platforms from which individuals can easily promote and support the Amy Winehouse Foundation. There is no charge to use the venues and you will be paid a share of any revenues generated by your pages; you can then transmit such monies to the AWF.

Squidoo; Zujava; HubPages; InfoBarrel; Wizzley; Snipsly; Seekyt; Wikinut; RedGage; Weebly.

Pages are very easy to build; no advanced computer knowledge is required. If you know how to play on facebook or twitter, you will have no problem making a nice page.

_________________________

An AAN Transparency Note:

All AAN pages – whether there is one or 100 – will always remain not for profit and will be operated as a hobby, by unpaid volunteers. All AAN pages are promotional and informational vehicles only. No AAN pages are designed for fundraising purposes.

The AAN aparat supports the hopes, goals and wishes of the Amy Winehouse Foundation, and has no fiduciary relationship with the AWF,  and never acts – nor claims to act – for or on behalf of the AWF.

AAN pages will never solicit or collect funds on behalf of the AWF, but will encourage and help to enable readers to make direct donations to the AWF, via the AWF website or through other official AWF venues.

AAN pages that are published on venues with commercial components will be operated in one of the following ways:

1. Publishing venues upon which the AWF has been deemed an approved charity, will transmit 100% of any revenues generated by AAN pages directly to the AWF.

2. Publishing venues upon which the AWF has not been deemed an approved charity, but which venues have their own internally administered omnibus charity fund, will retain 100% of any revenues generated by AAN pages. The AAN aparat will, at least once annually, transmit an amount equal to the amount thusly retained, directly to the AWF.

3. Publishing venues upon which there is no official charity component, will, in the ordinary course of their business, either disburse to or hold in reserve for the AAN aparat, 100% of any revenues generated by AAN pages. The AAN aparat will, at least once annually, transmit an amount equal to the amount thusly disbursed or reserved, directly to the AWF.

Currently, based on:

1. The number of AAN pages with commercial components; and,

2. The past revenue generation of existing AAN pages,

it is not anticipated that revenues derived from the subject commercial components will, in the foreseeable future, be substantial. That circumstance could change in the event that the number of AAN pages was increased, and/or if other publishing venues were employed. In no event will the AAN aparat ever hold an amount of page generated revenues that exceeds, in the aggregate, $500.00 US. If said amount is reached, it will be immediately transmitted to the AWF, notwithstanding the previously noted annual transmittal pledge.

To learn more about the AWF, or to make a donation to the AWF, click the link:

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/

_________________________

If you are looking for a way to build a fun internet page that has the potential to raise some tiny pennies for the AWF, please consider building a likkle page on one or more of the above referenced venues. Such pages do not have to be AJW/AWF centric. Pages in any category and about any subject can be built. Simply place a promotional link to the AWF website on the page, and pledge any page revenues to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. When such revenues are received by you, simply transmit them to the AWF.

Don’t be shy. Jump in the mix. You’ll have fun and you can help with the important task of building awareness about the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Thanks.

When the general public contemplates Amy Jade Winehouse, they ordinarily think of her as a world famous artist, living an extravagant lifestyle; surrounded by wealth, security, paparazzi and controversy. Seldom does that public think about AJW in the context of what she always held as a top-tier tenet of her life: Giving back via generous support of sundry charitable causes.

AJW never stood on mountains and shouted, “Watch me be charitable.” She did most of her good deeds in the closet, as the maxim of all higher-powers dictates is proper. Tax deductions and public praise were never any element of her quiet generosity; she was compelled to help by the innate decency and compassion of her heart, mind and conscience.

History will be hard pressed to find honest philanthropy mavens who can testify that AJW ever said, “no, no, no,” when she was asked to be supportive of worthwhile charitable endeavors. She was known in many circles as a soft touch. “Ask Amy, she’ll do it,” was a common refrain inside of the charity community.

When breast cancer awareness needed a bump, AJW bared it all for the cause. When Nelson Madela’s 90th birthday charity-concert asked, AJW rose from a hospital bed to perform. When Caribbean groups needed help encouraging young musicians, AJW got it done. When hearing loss became an issue in developing countries, AJW’s cash could be heard loud and clear. When the Born HIV Free campaign needed a soundtrack for its award winning film, Baby In The Sky, AJW delivered Back To Black at no charge. When stalking paps discovered that AJW had repeatedly donated scores-of-thousands-of-dollars worth of designer clothes to thrift shops in poor neighborhoods, some in the media simply noted that she had “too many clothes, anyway.” When AJW encountered sick folks unable to pay for medical care, she picked up the tab and shunned any thanks for the kindness. When there was pain and a chance to heal it, need and a chance to meet it, AJW was the go-to woman. Yet, who knew?

AJW Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

Some of the philanthropic causes that AJW quietly supported:

21st Century Leaders  –  Helps support the philanthropy of  Whatever It Takes, a charity artwork project that gathers art from leaders in all fields – royalty, film, music, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sports, literature, theatre, media – and sells it to raise funds for nonprofits chosen by each contributing leader. Organizations supported include: Adopt-A-Minefield, Anti-Slavery International, Breast Cancer Campaign, CARE, Children of the Andes, Children’s Medical Research Institute, Christian Children’s Fund, City at Peace, Comic Relief, Dreams Can Be Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Greenpeace, Healthlink Worldwide, Heifer International, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, Red Cross, LIFEbeat, LifeLine & Rape Crisis PMB, Opportunity International, Oxfam, ROTA, Rights and Humanity, S.A.F.E., Save the Children, Sharon Osborne Colon Cancer Program, Snoop Youth Football League, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Teenage Cancer Trust, The BRIT Trust, Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, Little Dreams Foundation, Lotus Outreach, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Toothfairy Foundation, Trade Plus Aid, UNHCR, UNICEF, WaterAid, World Neighbors.

Global Fund  –  Has committed more than $5.4 BILLION – in 150 countries – to fund the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria.

Hear The World  –  Is an initiative by hearing aid manufacturer Phonak that works to raise awareness about hearing loss and to promote good hearing around the globe. The goal of the organization is to educate the general public about the importance of hearing loss prevention, the social and emotional impacts of hearing loss in third-world countries, and the solutions available for persons suffering hearing loss.

BID 2 BEAT AIDS  –  Is an annual entertainment memorabilia auction, with proceeds going to LIFEbeat. Among the hundreds of items available for bid are signed photographs of stars, original art, costumes and props, signed CDs and memorabilia, and celebrity meet-and-greet opportunities at many exclusive events.

LIFEbeat  –  Is dedicated to reaching America’s youth with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention. The organization mobilizes the talents and resources of the music industry to raise awareness and to provide support to the AIDS community.

Save The Music Foundation  –  Works to help improve the availability and quality of music education in America’s public schools, by funding the restoration of music programs in cities across the country, and by raising awareness about the importance of musical training to our nation’s youth.

V-Day  –  Is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. It promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day draws attention to the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, and sexual slavery.

The stories of AJW’s generosity to her friends in need – as well as to total strangers – are legion. Any mention of such kindness in her presence was likely to be met by her with “shadup,” or “intnuffin,” or “fugedaboutit.” The next time that those who know slight truth of AJW write a check to their fave charity, they should contemplate that charity never walks alone. And, perhaps, note that Amy Jade Winehouse had much more in common with each of them than they had ever imagined.

AJW does not need to be recalled as greater in the arms of the angels than she was when she walked with us. There is no movement to create Saint Amy in the public mind, but a tiny penny’s worth of recognition for her unheralded and never promoted giving nature is warranted. Those of us who love her and think of her as the JadeMermaid Princess do so not only because of her great artistic achievements, but also because she was graced with the “generosity and decency genes.” She made us all strive to be better and more compassionate humans.

Now, in her absence, many are engaged in efforts to continue the construction of what is destined to become AJW’s most important legacy: The Amy Winehouse Foundation. Those of us who work from the sidelines to cheer and encourage that organization, respectfully request that celebrities who worked with AJW on behalf of their own favorite charities, now step forward and lend their public support to the AWF.

Some high-profile celebs have already been extremely generous with their names and resources in support of the AWF, and many more are needed to help build awareness about the foundation’s great work. If you know any celebs who might want to help the AWF grow, please don’t be too shy to chat them up about the opportunity. If you are a celeb, large or likkle, please step up. AJW would say, “Fanks!”

Here is a link to the AWF website:

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/

Celebrity or fan, please visit, learn and step up.

With the new format of all facebook pages fast approaching, AAN’s prefered page banners will be replaced. On or before April 1, 2012, new interim banners will be uploaded onto the reformatted pages; these banners may or may not be subsequently updated.

The Interim Banners:

Amy’s Army Now Facebook Page

Amy Jade Winehouse Page Directory Facebook Page

Dionne Bromfield Page Directory Facebook Page

It is not clear that in the new format the directory pages will have the same utility that they currently have. If it becomes necessary, the directories will be moved to another site; possibly to WordPress, possibly to our own server. Such a move would allow for the directories to be alphabetized and would provide potentially more valuable backlinks to the listed pages.

While we very much regret that any format changes are being implemented, there is, obviously, nothing we can do about it. Such is life.

This brief entry is the kind that I really hate to pen. I will speak of these things now – from perceived necessity – and not chat of them again. In the future, when the subject comes up and a response is deemed appropriate, I will simply provide a link to this entry.

The tragedy of Belgrade continues to be used by the bashers and their disease-chauvinist allies, in ongoing attempts to discredit Amy Jade Winehouse, cast shame and embarrassment upon her memory, and diminish the fabulous recall that those of us who love her will always retain. The primary weapons of the trashers are, of course, the despicable and scandalous videos of AJW’s final public concert on June 18, 2011, in Kalemegdan, Belgrade, Serbia.

Like all AJW-bashing vids, the Belgrade films tell us nothing at all about her character, but well serve to reveal the lack of character possessed by their exploiters. There will be no vid links in this entry; the ghouls and the haters can find their own. A simple picture of horror, displayed on the wholly innocent and terrified face of a decent and broken human will justly suffice to illustrate tragedy and distribute guilt, without satisfying the subhuman bloodlust of the hateful.

On that dark night, barely a month before the JadeMermaid Princess made her final exit, humanity took a vacation and savagery took the eve. A terminally ill SuperStar took the stage, and the decency of thousands of ordinary folks vanished; replaced by outrageous conduct, shameful inaction, unparalleled greed and pure evil.

What happened on that awful night?

* As AJW’s inability to perform quickly became obvious, a de facto “kidnapping and hostage holding” incident unfolded.

* A cruel, backward, ignorant and disgusting mob of audience miscreants booed, screamed curses, and attempted to throw objects onto the stage.

* A group of trusted friends and close associates failed to summon the modicum of moral courage that would have been required to rescue their loyal friend.

* A gang of greed-directed shotcallers became determined that “50-minutes or more” was to be the ORDER of the night.

* A story of modern-day slavery – perpetrated by above-the-law gangsters in Savile Row suits – was revealed.

* An orchestrated attempt – directed from the heights of power – was immediately launched to prevent the wide distribution of video records documenting the sordid affair.

In some USA jurisdictions, the events of that horrible night could have resulted in the criminal prosecution of some of the participants. In many USA venues, successful civil litigation against those actors would have been a slamdunk. Yet, in the instant circumstance, all that was delivered was a tragic outcome, with no justice for the victim.

That the corruption-based campaign to conceal the video record of the outrage failed, yielded two results:

1) Haters got a useless – though irritating – bashing tool;

2) Good folks got a perfect record of the civil and moral crimes that went down.

The “coverup” campaign was never about preventing the artist from being shamed and embarrassed; it was designed solely to conceal the bad acts that were committed on behalf of the powerplayers.

While I despise the videos and rarely view them, it is appropriate that they survived. Let everybody look at them. Let the decent folks dissect them – a la Zapruder – to see exactly what a de facto “kidnapping and hostage holding” really looks like. It’s an ugly picture, but it happened and the vids assign blame where it belongs.

AJW was no stranger to “playing hurt.” Every athlete and performer is always ready to play. Yet, an ill or injured human is the least qualified to determine their own readiness. For that reason, there are strict rules and protocols in the sports world to help prevent disaster; similar schemes should be mandated to help protect our non-sports entertainers.

Since the “industry” refuses to act responsibly in these matters, the respective government regulators should now intervene. The delay of such intervention will yield only more tragedy, more heartbreak, and more dead songbirds.

Prospective regulations might mandate, among other things, that:

* “Properties” arriving at a venue via ambulance, cannot be allowed to take the stage.

* “Properties” that cannot engage in a cogent pre-show chat with the promoter or his responsible agents, cannot be allowed to take the stage.

* “Properties” that are obviously impaired, cannot be allowed to take the stage.

* Strict civil and criminal liability shall attach to violations of the regs, and the same shall be applied jointly and severally to promoters, record companies and their agents, talent managers and agents.

* Strict civil and disciplinary liability shall attach to legal practitioners that negotiate or facilitate contracts on behalf of “properties” that they know or should know are incompetent to either lawfully enter into or perform upon such contracts. All such contracts shall be deemed avoidable by any principal party thereto, without penalty or recourse. Attorneys and solicitors that participate in the making of such unlawful contracts shall be liable for any and all damages arising from breaches proven to have been committed by their incompetent clients. (This provision will put the insurance gangs on notice that they better be very certain of the “mental and physical soundness” of the contracting parties being represented by their insured attorneys/solicitors.)

In the early days of this new scheme, all of the gangsters will lose some money; refunds will freely flow from the pockets of the unfeeling, into the hands of the disappointed. Such reverse commerce will not last long. The gangsters will quickly cease their exploitive and blind-eye routines, our precious artists will be protected, and fans will get the highest value of their ticketed contract.

Fans also have a decency-based obligation in such remedial efforts. As bodyguard Raymond Watson fervently requested from the funeral pulpit of Whitney Houston:

“Please stop ridiculing our entertainers for their personal troubles. We must love our entertainers and protect them and support them when they are in trouble. They devote their lives to bringing us joy. We owe them much more than the price of a ticket.”

Watson is a bold, brave, righteous man, and his words should be abided.

AJW had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in her swansong appearance; she was simply abused as chatel by the forces of ignorance, cowardice, and evil that surrounded her. Reasonable people making good-faith contemplations can only conclude that the vile vids point the finger of shame correctly — away from Amy Jade Winehouse and toward those who betrayed her trust, confidence and love.

Our dear likkle princess rests now and no one can hurt her anymore. But, sundry other entertainers remain vulnerable. We collectively abandoned the moral imperative to defend and protect AJW, when it might have made a difference. We must now resolve to never again sacrifice our own humanity to the greatest servant of all things evil — our own silence.

A fair number of folks have asked for a closer look at the AAN infrastructure. As a promo – and in the interest of slight transparency – the complete roadmap is linked below.

The handful of folks involved in the likkle AAN piece of the Amy Page Movement are a slightly motley but united bunch.

1. We have collective backgrounds in legal services, governmental relations, media relations, and print publishing.

2. We are guided by the AAN Mission Statement:

The mission is to help preserve the legend – and to help promote the philanthropic legacy – of Amy Jade Winehouse, the most accomplished Jazz Singer of modern times.

3. We love AJW, we have loved her for a lot of years, and that love will not abate.

4. We support the hopes, goals and wishes of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

http://amywinehousefoundation.co.uk

5. We share a simple vision of what makes good Amy Pages:

“All Good Things Amy, All The Time”

6. We will not – not ever – be disrespectful to AJW; nor countenance those who fail to abide by that maxim.

7. We do not hate drama, but we are not presenting soap operas and we will not bite at every piece of nonsense tab-trash that is thrown out as bait.

8. We believe that the historical record regarding AJW and, thus, the public perception of AJW are largely inaccurate. When appropriate and in the proper context, we will work to rehab that record and that perception.

9. We are volunteer hobbyists and have neither the need nor the desire to profit financially from our Amy Page hobby.

10. We rarely work as hard as we should on our hobby, but we pledge to work harder in the future.

11. We will help promote all Amy Pages that subscribe to our notion of treating our shared subject matter respectfully.

12. We are in the mix of the Amy Page Movement for the long haul, but have no competitive interest in being “a big player.” We just want to provide good and fun and interesting AJW/AWF-centric material for folks to read and enjoy.

If news items and editorial opinions do not fit inside of our parameters, they will not appear or be discussed on AAN pages. While some folks may think we have “too many pages,” we strongly disagree. As time passes, we expect to expand our efforts in a number of exciting new directions; the AAN footprint is slated to grow just a bit.

Roadmap: The Current Likkle Fleet

AAN Blog

The blog is designed for us to present our views on news and events; both past and present.

https://amysarmynow.wordpress.com/

……….

AAN Facebook Presence

The Amy Jade Winehouse Page Directory

The AJWPD is our favorite page because it contains so many great Amy Pages. Readers must now scroll down “forever,” to see them all; new pages are regularly being added.

http://www.facebook.com/amywinehousedirectory

The AAN Facebook Wall

The AAN FB-page is an aggregator and an originator of “All Good Things Amy.”

http://www.facebook.com/amysarmynow

The Dionne Bromfield Page Directory

The DBPD is a joyful assumption of our partial responsibility to help fulfill some of the very minor duties that AJW can no longer perform.

http://www.facebook.com/dionnebromfieldpages

……….

The jadehorseshoe Pages

The jadehorseshoe pages are intended to provide useful information about AJW and the AWF.

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/jadehorseshoe

……….

The jadeink Pages

The jadeink pages are intended to provide useful information about AJW and the AWF.

http://www.zujava.com/users/jadeink

……….

The AANPN Website

http://aanpagenetwork.weebly.com/index.html

………..

We value each and every person who reads the AAN pages and we hope that those readers will continue to find some value in those pages. As the fleet grows, this entry will, of course, be updated.

.

A new online platform from which you can help build awareness about the Amy Winehouse Foundation has now gone live. Registration is fast and easy.

http://www.zujava.com/

Still in BETA, the platform can be expected to have a few bugs, but I was able to publish this sample page fairly quickly and with a minimum of “learning curve” blues. The building blocks are simple; after the first page, you should be able to go into high-production mode.

Sample Page:

http://www.zujava.com/ten-faves-amy-jade-winehouse-pages

The Likkle Page Fleet:

http://www.zujava.com/users/jadeink

The site has a “money making” component and any earnings can be donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, or retained by the page owner. Backlinks to your pages on other platforms can also be included in your zujava pages.

It is always good to find a new place to help promote the AWF. Take a look at zujava, if you want to painlessly help spread the word about the foundation’s great work.

Thanks!

The focus of this campaign is to deploy Squidoo Lenses to help advance the Amy Winehouse Foundation across all search engines; to help radically increase the number of backlinks to the AWF website; to help create more AWF-page returns for the search term “charitable foundation;” and, of course, most importantly, to help build general awareness about the hopes, goals, wishes and goodworks of the AWF.

__________________

Step One:

Join Squidoo. It’s FREE and it only takes a minute to register.

http://www.squidoo.com/

Step Two:

Study the material at the AWF website and Facebook page. Choose one or more aspects of the foundation’s work that you would like to build your Squidoo Lens around.

AWF Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/amywinehousefoundation

AWF Website

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.co.uk/

There are many possible topics that will make for an interesting lens. You might highlight one or more of the charitable organizations that are being supported and funded by the AWF. Or, you might choose to focus your lens on other aspects of the AWF that are covered on their website. If a topic seems interesting to you, it will likely be interesting to other folks, too.

Remember, we are not creating great literature with this effort; you don’t have to be a skilled writer to tell your story. You can use youtube videos and pictures to add interest to your story.

Step Three:

Build your first Squidoo Lens. The pages are built with modules and it will take you less than an hour to construct your first one. If you can read simple English instructions – or translate the instructions with google translator – you can build a fast lens without any special computer skills.

Here are some sample lenses to help guide your first efforts:

This lens is part of the JadeHorseshoe Loves series; it is in the charity/nonprofit category and offers sundry links to the AWF and a few stories.

http://www.squidoo.com/jadehorseshoe-loves-the-amy-winehouse-foundation

___________________

This lens is in the music/musician catgeory and is about the campaign to encourage Dionne Bromfield to plan a USA tour and hold an opening night concert in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Fox Theatre, for the benefit of the AWF.

http://www.squidoo.com/dionne-bromfield-quick-news-and-views-issue-1

___________________

This lens is in the entertainment category and is part of the JadeHorseshoe Loves series, which recognizes public-figures and entertainers – like Dana DeLorenzo – that support the hopes, goals and wishes of the AWF.

http://www.squidoo.com/jadehorseshoe-loves-dana-delorenzo

___________________

This lens is a fan/tribute page, in the music/musician category and features numerous AWF related links and some AWF news/views.

http://www.squidoo.com/amy-jade-winehouse2

___________________

This lens is an unpromoted tribute page, also in the music/musician category.

http://www.squidoo.com/amy-jade-winehouse3

___________________

It is pretty easy to make a “connection” between lots of subjects and the AWF. This means that even if you are not interested in building a lens that solely features the AWF, you can still help both the backlink campaign and the general awareness-building efforts by simply linking and mentioning the AWF within you lens.

Here are a few academic examples of “AJW centric” topics that can easily be connected to the AWF. These are not suggestions; just some simple examples that might help get your creative brain cooking.

1. A detailed lens in the fashion category about AJW’s tastes in designer wear, or ballet slippers, or high-heel pumps.

2. A detailed lens in the fashion category about Disaya’s donation of the Back To Black dress to the AWF and its purchase at auction by a South American fashion museum.

3. A detailed lens in the fashion category about Fred Perry’s AJW clothing lines.

4. A detailed lens in the cosmetics category about AJW’s progression of makeup styles.

5. A detailed lens in the hairstyle category about AJW’s progression of hairstyles.

6. A detailed lens in the art category about famous artists/photographers that have donated proceeds from the sale of their work to the AWF.

7. A detailed lens in the travel category about AJW’s world travels; simply look at the online setlists and layout the travel itinerary in pictures and videos. Such a lens would be best if produced as a “series;” indexed by year of travel.

8. A detailed lens in the travel/places category about the sundry locations where AJW lived.

9. A detailed lens in the collectibles category about the jukeboxes, records, and other items that AJW liked to collect.

10. A detailed lens in the music category about musicians who have created and/or delivered musical tributes to AJW.

11. A detailed lens in the fashion/beauty/bodyart category about the tattoo art that adorned AJW.

Any of those subjects – and hundreds more that are not necessarily “AJW centric” – will allow you to easily and logically integrate links and stories about the Amy Winehouse Foundation and its work. Just choose a positive and uplifting subject, present it in an informative manner, insert the AWF into the mix, and your lens will be a winner.

___________________

Make sure that you place your lens in the proper Squidoo category. If you make a music/entertainment lens, don’t place it in the charity/nonprofit category. If your lens is solely focused on some aspect of the AWF, it can go in the charity/nonprofit category as a “support” page. If your lens primarily features, for example, a musician, it should go in the music category; you can still load such a lens with AWF links and info.

It is also important not to allow your lens to be seen as a “direct fundraising” vehicle. Your placement of links to the AWF pages is not an attempt by you to fundraise and is permitted. Don’t make any “direct” appeals for donations; using the word “support” is not an appeal for funds and is permitted. Your readers will follow the links in your lens and they can decide for themselves if/how they want to “support” the AWF. The job of your lens is to raise awareness and increase the backlink count; not to engage in direct fundraising.

NOTE: Obviously, if your lens is about a fundraising event that you are authorized under the AWF guidelines to conduct, you should include details about the relevant ticket/donation scheme. Be sure that you also place links – in your lens – to your other “event pages.”

When building “music related” lenses, feel free to use the AMZN modules to link items for sale. Do not include any “unauthorized” or “pirated” items in your link lists. If someone buys an item via your lenses, you will receive a small amount of money from the transaction. If you register on Squidoo using the same email-addy that you use at PayPal, the cash will be direct deposited into your account; you can keep it, OR better yet, send it to the AWF.

“Tags” are words/phrases that help readers find your lens, and can help the search engines find/index your lens. In some instances, more than FIVE tags may handicap your lens; relevance is more important than quantity. In addition to any other lens-relevant tags, your tags should include:

Amy Winehouse Foundation

and

Charitable Foundation

After you hit the “PUBLISH” button and your lens goes live, DO NOT make any efforts to promote it online until AFTER it has been indexed by google. That will usually take a day or more; sometimes less, but be patient. When you find your lens on google, post a link to it on the AAN Facebook Page.

http://www.facebook.com/amysarmynow

Our resident “Monkey Man” – aka Pumper Dude – will help you to start spreading the word about your new creation. Don’t expect to exceed the readership of The New York Times – that might not be the best example – but he will help get your publication into the mix.

During the next few weeks, watch this blog for an entry entitled something like: How To Promote Your Amy Pages. It will show you – via a directory of aggregated links – how to make sure that some humans take a gander at your Squidoo Lenses and your other “Amy Pages.” As some of you know, AAN is not a good “hand holder;” we can show you how to promo your output, but you gotta do the hard work yourself AND you gotta be patient as your efforts begin to take hold.

__________________

As noted here many times, we are all in the serious game of “building awareness” about the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Each day, everything we do must move us toward collecting more “positive impressions” than we had yesterday. The FREE Squidoo Lens platform is a powerful arrow in our quiver; in early 2012, let’s start using it like Cupid would.

Thanks!

The AAN gang wishes its friends a great 2012. We hope that you all find peace, happiness, and prosperity in your lives during the coming year.

The past year has brought us all much pain and suffering, but we are still standing and we will continue moving forward. We will endure our harsh and lingering grief, and prevail in our efforts to increase awareness about what will become AJW’s greatest legacy: The Amy Winehouse Foundation.

We resolve that our desperate sadness will not be used as an excuse to avoid the hard and important work that confronts us. The JadeMermaid Princess would understand and be comforting of our sorrow, but she would never abide our grief-induced inaction or surrender.

My GF tells me that I use the Shakespeare Mashup waaayyy too frequently. She is, of course, correct, but it somehow seems to give me slight guidance about how I need to make sure that “perspective pushes through.”

__________________

They are but beggars that can count their worth;

but our love for her had grown to such excess, we

could not sum up sum of half our wealth. Yet, our

sorrow must not be measured by her worth to us,

for then our pain will have no end, and we, no peace.

__________________

AJW loved and valued her fans; even when she feigned belief that she had “no fans.” I know that she would wish us all a Happy New Year and ask that we make a worthy effort to dry our tears and redouble our determination to help make the AWF all that it can be in 2012 and beyond.

Let’s get busy. Thanks!

.

ADVISORY: This entry deals with a controversial and sensitive topic in a blunt and direct fashion. It expresses my views, opinions, thoughts, feelings and knowledge about the subject matter. Many readers may have alternate views and I respect their right to do so. It is a long and winding entry and might be judged to be only tangentially related to the usual subject matter covered here.

______________________

As a grossly over-educated fellow who happens to be ignorant about a few things – like nuclear physics and most aspects of rocket-engine design – I tend to be fairly tolerant of nice folks who simply do not know the facts of a circumstance and proceed to make incorrect judgments in good faith. But, such tolerance vanishes in the face of the mean-spirited ignorance of the “disease chauvinists.”

The bogus doctrine of disease chauvinism dictates that, for example, heart ailments and cancer are legitimate diseases, but that persons who contract the disease of “addiction” do so by their own “freewill choice.” This ignorance-based maxim is still extremely widespread. Because it is anti-science, illogical, and leads to death and misery it must not be tolerated by a civilized society.

The “disease or choice” debate is being kept alive by a few greedy insurance cabals, the Prison Industrial Complex, governments that seek to divide their subjects, and the remunerated and corrupted quacks that serve each of those entities. These evil chauvinists claim self-serving and archaic opinions to be “facts;” they get away with it because most folks are ignorant of modern science and will buy any view that the loudest and most authoritative sounding voice publicly pronounces.

A Fairness Disclaimer:

There are certainly some well-meaning experts who have a good-faith belief that the “choice” label is both a deterrent to “first use/abuse” and an “aid to recovery.” They are totally wrong, but the harm they cause, though via intentional acts, is not willfully brought nor evil-based. These good folks simply refuse to accept the very science that they claim to believe rules the universe. How many more lives will be destroyed before these folks “get it,” and how will history view their obstinate ignorance? We should soon know.

Broadly-accepted science defines “disease” as follows:

Any deviation from or interruption of the normal structure or function of any body part, organ, or system that is manifested by a characteristic set of symptoms and signs and whose etiology, pathology, and prognosis may be known or unknown.

General Elements – Addiction: A Lifelong Terminal Disease

It produces diagnosable symptoms.

It is chronic and does not time expire.

It is relapse common.

It is progressive, until death occurs.

It is treatable by known medical science.

Using that definition and those elements, even the least swift folks among us should be able to reach an appropriate verdict in the case of Disease v. Choice. Yet, the controversy lives, spreads, and continues to render suffering and death everyday.

______________________________

We all know that just shy of about 10% of cigarette-smokers will contract lung cancer, but we don’t hate them if cancer strikes; we treat them. We all know that many instances of coronary-artery disease are delivered to folks who eat too much fat and rotting dead-animal flesh, but we don’t hate them when they collapse with a heart attack; we treat them. We treat the skin cancers caused by avoidable sunshine and we never hate the sunbathers. We all know that poor dietary habits are contributory causes of diabetes, obesity, and a myriad of other diseases; but when such ailments strike, we deal the treatment card, not the hate card.

Though each of the patients above described made a “free choice” to indulge in the initial behavior and conduct that, in part, led to their afflictions, they all get a free-pass on the blame-game board.

Yet, the collective humanity of many folks – even their common decency – is prone to vanish in the face of a human bearing the socially unacceptable disease of addiction. The addict is viewed as subhuman and criminal and trash that deserves whatever happens to it; after all, it chose to sicken itself. It knew what would happen, but because it is an immoral and bad creature it chose to engage in foul conduct. If it was of decent moral character and not a degenerate – and had just a little bit of willpower – it would not be sick; it got what it deserved.

There are three primary reasons for the double-standards maintained by the rank-and-file disease chauvinists.

1. Some cling to the peasantine cloak of “minimal superiority” awarded to their ancestors by every despotic ruler for the last 3,000 years. That garment was figurative and allowed that while the peasants themselves were scarcely human, they were “more human” than those among them who overindulged in the spirits of the grape and the grain and brought “disorder” to the system of things. The need to feel superior to something is a base but powerful force that resides within most humans; it can uneasily be overcome, but is ever so easy for tyrants to manipulate and exploit.

2. Some fear that their share of a socialist government’s – or a capitalist insurance company’s – healthcare benefits will be reduced, if addicts are treated as the disease burdened persons that they actually are. The irony of such ignorance is fun: It costs a government much more to criminalize addiction than it would cost to medically treat it. And, of course, the insurance companies and private-prison operators are thrilled to have the ignorant cheerleaders in their corner, too.

3. Some merely subscribe to the politically and financially motivated opinions espoused by their own physicians simplistic nonsense that addiction is a “disabling disorder, but not actually a disease, as such.” Thankfully, the ranks of such quackery dispensers are thinning under the reality pressures of modern science.

Very simply put, just what does this so called “modern science” say?

Substance addiction is a disease; caused by a combination of genetic predisposition – and/or a cell-division related anomaly – and irreversible alterations in brain physiology and chemistry triggered by and/or resulting from the use/abuse of coping-mechanism substitutes like alcohol and other drugs.

It turns out that your government was right when it proclaimed that an egg frying in a pan was kinda like “your brain on dope.” Once those “alterations” have occurred, the addict is no longer acting as a freewill chooser; no amount of “moral character and will-power” is capable of “curing” the disease.

Once the disease takes hold, only medical/pharmacological treatment – combined with “talk it out” psychiatric care – can save the patient from the chronic and terminal disease of addiction.

______________________________

I well realize how much modern humans hate to read “dry material.” Even so, I must suggest that you take a serious read of the material at the following links.

This info will reinforce the fact-based beliefs held by the anti-chauvinists. If it does not change the minds of the chauvinists, it should at least let them know for sure that they are on the wrong side of both science and, ultimately, history’s harsh judgment.

The links are not in any particular order. Some of the information is presented in an elementary manner; some is moderately high-end academic and clinical material. You can start reading anywhere and follow your curiosity.

Definition: Disease of Addiction

____________________________

Addiction: Disease of Compulsion and Drive

____________________________

Addiction: A Chronic Disease

____________________________

The Science Of Addiction

____________________________

Addiction As Disease

____________________________

Alcohol Addiction: A Brain Disease

____________________________

The Disease Concept

____________________________

The Disease of Drug Addiction

____________________________

Addiction: A Primer For Young Teens

____________________________

Genetics of Addiction

____________________________

Addiction: A Brain Disease

____________________________

Addiction: Neurologically Based

____________________________

The Elementary Wiki View

This one is included not because it is dispositive to the argument, but because it so charitably treats the bogus arguments of those who are so completely wrong. The mere use of the word “theory” always reveals upon which side its users’ bread is buttered.

____________________________

The Causes of Cancer: Genetics

This one is included for folks who are particularly interested in the genetic factors inherent to virtually all diseases.

____________________

http://https://youtu.be/5f1ie_It8wM

Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse, explains:

Addiction Is A Disease, Not A Character Defect.

____________________

The Stigma of Cancer

Supporters of the Amy Winehouse Foundation from around the globe are starting to plan and promote their 2012 benefit events.

As time passes, this entry will be updated to include many of the other events that are being organized.

If an event is being planned near where you reside, please support it and plan to attend.

If you want to plan your own event, please read the “AWF Fundraising and Event Planning Guide.”

____________________________

AWF Fundraising and Event Planning Guide

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.co.uk/how-to-fundraise

________________________________

Seattle, WA (USA) – A Benefit For Amy – Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Benefit-For-Amy/303739076320587

________________________________

Netherlands – Amy’s Style Angels – Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amys-Style-Angels/286724264698495

________________________________

Netherlands – Amy’s Style Angels – Website

http://www.amy-style-angels.com/

________________________________

Please check back often for updates.

If you have an appropriate benefit-promo page that you want listed here and on other venues, just let me know and I will add it.

Thanks!