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　　I started by doing some research. “Who is Amy Winehouse?” I asked my children. There was silence. The children sighed and rolled their eyes. It is very embarrassing¹ for them to have a parent who asks them silly questions about pop music – questions like “Who is Amy Winehouse?”. Parents are allowed to like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but they are not allowed to know anything that happened later than about 1990. That is for the younger generation. Parents should keep out.

　　So I asked them again, “Who is Amy Winehouse?” And they explained that she is a singer, and that she had a gig in Birmingham last week and the gig had been a shambles². And, please, will I not talk about it in front of their friends.

　　And in case you do not understand what this means, a gig means a concert or performance, and a shambles means something which is chaotic³ and disorganised. Amy Winehouse had a concert in Birmingham last week and it was a disaster.

　　It happened like this. Amy Winehouse is 24 years old. She comes from Enfield in north London. She sings jazzy songs very well. And she is now regarded as one of the big figures in the British pop music scene.

　　But she does not go home in the evening to watch TV and drink a mug of cocoa, like good girls should. The newspapers report that she has a lifestyle in which alcohol⁴ and illegal drugs play an important part. Earlier this year she got married to a man called Blake Fielder-Civil. Mr Fielder-Civil has had a bit of trouble with the police. He has been arrested for causing serious injury to someone in a fight and for trying to bribe⁵ witnesses. He is at present enjoying a short rest in Pentonville Prison in London.

　　Last week, Amy visited her husband in prison, and this was obviously⁶ an upsetting experience for her. She then travelled to Birmingham for the opening concert of her UK tour. She arrived very late. She sang several songs so badly that the audience started to boo. She broke down in tears. She dropped the microphone⁷. She walked off the stage in the middle of a song, leaving the backing group to carry on without her. She shouted abuse⁸ at the audience. She told them that they were stupid to buy tickets for the concert. She told them, “Just wait until my husband gets out of prison”. (What is he going to do – come to Birmingham and beat us all up?) The audience booed some more. Many people left long before the end of the concert. It was, in a word, a shambles. I wish I had been there.

　　Everyone in Birmingham knows someone who knows someone who was at the gig. And in places where people discuss these matters seriously, such as our local hairdressing salon⁹, you hear three different points of view.

　　it was a disgrace¹⁰ and people who bought tickets for the concert should get their money back.

　　poor Amy. She is such a great singer. It is good that she still came to Birmingham at all, when she was obviously so upset about her husband being in prison. It is good that she could show her fans how upset she was. Everyone knows that Amy is a bit, well, unreliable, because of her little problems with alcohol and so on. People knew this before they bought tickets for the concert so of course they should not get their money back.

　　and other people don’t care, because they have more important things to worry about.

　　What do you think?

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