Introducing Whitney Houston to my daughter

How many times have I listened to "How will I know"?
How many hours did I dance to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"?
How many tears lost over boys listening to "Saving All My Love For You"?
How many hopes flying high with "Greatest Love of All"?
How many lost loves accompanied by "Didin't We Almost Have It all"?
How many times did the beat get going with "I'm Every Woman"?
How many chills went down my spin when I listen to "Exhale"?
How many dreams were about me having a voice like Whitney Houston?

Call me a hopeless romantic, because I am, but Whitney had a song for every moment in my life. Whitney Houston released her debut album, "Whitney Houston," in February 1985 to wide acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine called her "one of the most exciting new voices in years". I was 18 when I first heard her voice. She accompanied me through my ups and downs at boarding school - and believe me there where many!!!! Until this day she remains my favourite singer of all times.

Daughter of the great soul-and-gospel vocalist Cissy Houston, cousin to both Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick and goddaughter to Aretha Franklin, Houston's family background seemed a magically appropriate fusion of both the grit and the glamour of late-20th-century African-American pop music. She was a pop phenomenon capable of breaching all manner of audience boundaries whether of race, age or geographic origin.You couldn't find a more auspicious template for great expectations. And she delivred time after time until yesterday....

Today I shared all her greatest hits with my 8-year old daughter. She now will carry on dancing to Whitney's songs, just like I did!

Remains of the World Trade Center

"Never forget!"

The "USS New York" is the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named after the state of New York. She rose out of the ashes of 9/11 - and now it’s time to go back to her birthplace.

The ship is notable for using steel that was salvaged from the World Trade Center, after it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

The ship's motto: Strength forged through sacrifice. Never  Forget!

The ship sailed down the Hudson River on Thursday and her passengers included 170 members of the 9/11 Families Association, which includes first responders and families of victims. She will anchor near ground zero for ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks this year.

With the words Man your ship and bring her to life the world will change, at least for us. She will never fill the hole, but she will fill our hearts.

Amy Winehouse - a lost talent

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”
Norman Cousins, American Essayist 1912-1990

Newsweek magazine called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control" back in 2008.

Last night she was scheduled to appear at the Nyon Paleo Summer Festival 2011 but the date was cancelled due to health problems, after her recent Belgrade performance when she appeared to be drunk on stage.

Amy Winehouse's tragically short life was fraught with personal issues, but her immense talent was undeniable. Amy Winehouse was just 27 years old as were all these other (in-)famous artists when they died, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones.

It is extremely sad that she was never able to find peace whilst alive with her talent or success.  She led a rollercoaster life style that was destined to end in tragedy but she will live on in music history.

The last true Hollywood diva

"I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them."

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor, the legendary actress famed for her beauty, her jet-set lifestyle, her charitable endeavors and her many marriages, has died. She was 79.

Elizabeth Taylor was a "diva" when that word still had meaning, before it was applied to every female celebrity with slightest bit of attitude and style. She was also one of the first actors to be raised to celebrity status by the media for the dramatic conflicts of her personal life as much as for any thespian achievements on the screen. In a time when studios controlled the news that was fed to the media about their valuable "properties," Taylor's expansive personality and roller coaster personal life was way too extravagant and exciting to be contained by the spin doctors of Hollywood. Elizabeth Tayor was the incarnation of Hollywood glamour, at a time when studios that had more stars than there are in heaven, when actors weren't actors but were icons.

May her legacy live on!

All Souls' Day (Dia de los Muertos)

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,

love leaves a memory no one can steal. 

From a headstone in Ireland