Whitney, we hardly knew ye...

Ah - the news that - I'm sure - so many folks were not surprised about has finally reached us. Yes...Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown are splitting up.

This is kind of interesting...according to Bobby Brown's lawyer Phaedra Parks, this is what was said:

"It is a legal separation. It is not a divorce or a divorce petition," Phaedra Parks, an entertainment lawyer in Atlanta who represents Brown, told The Associated Press.

Uh - if you have to file for it in a court of law, it's definitely something, right? I've been through all of this before, but since I'm a commoner, I guess it's different for us. In many states, you have to file for separation before you file for divorce, right?. I think it has to do with preventing divorce or something.

But let's face it - it's over. And you know, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was really kind of pathetic watching the two of them fake the affection all these years. Their child is probably going to need her own cadre of therapists after all this.

I have my own unique memories regarding Whitney Houston.

She did two concerts at Iowa in Carver Hawkeye Arena.

The first one was in the round.

It also SUCKED. Let me tell ya all about it.

* First, you know there's going to be a problem when the opening act is better than the headliner. Jonathan Butler (guitarist/vocalist, not unlike George Benson) opened the show, and he was great. He didn't do anything flashy - he just played and sang. That was all he NEEDED to do.

* As the concert progressed, there were LOTS of empty seats not being filled. Carver Hawkeye Arena is a pretty big place, and it was just bizarre that people weren't filling the seats. It was late 1987, Whitney's second album was out, and she was still "hot" in the entertainment world. But those seats were just not filling up. Don't ask me why...

* Whitney came out on stage and sang one of her faster-paced songs, which was a good way to start the show. However, I think that was the only good decision she made that evening. The rest of the songs were long, drawn-out renditions of her ballads. One would have been fine, but NO...she had to go for the gusto and over-achieve at this feat. Great.

* One of the first things she said was, "It's so great to be here at Iowa State!" Keep in mind that mixing up the two schools is taboo. Iowa State and Iowa are rivals. Therefore, not cool to say that, Ms. Houston. When the audience started booing, she said, "Well, they all look the same to me." That's when I shouted, "Go, Aretha!" I'm surprised I didn't get the crap beaten out of me right there in my seat, but apparently I dodged fate just because Whitney's behavior was worse than mine.

* Some admiring fan gave Whitney a dozen red roses. What did Miss Thing do? Did she hand them to a stage assistant? No. She just let the bouquet drop to the floor. Nice. Really nice.

* She tried to dance. It was not pretty. She was not confident enough about her dancing, and she just proved that it's not her forte. Therefore, that song "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" was a plea for help to the Arthur Murray Dance Studio chain.

So, yeah, it wasn't one of the best concerts I went to. Probably the worst.

However, I did go see her one more time with a friend because friends do that. I was prepared for major suckage.

It wasn't as bad as the last time, I must admit.

She has such a powerful voice usually - however, I don't know if she was pushing herself through when she was tired or what. She sounded kind of pre-laryngitic, so therefore, the songs she performed that night were pitched lower than usual. That's actually not as unusual as you may think.

She also held off on dancing for us. (Thank you, God.) She had a good opening act, but this time she was a little more prepared to play to a live audience. However, something tells me if I had actually paid for my ticket, the fickle finger of fate would have flipped me the bird and it would have sucked WORSE the second time.

It's actually kind of sad to see Whitney's star fade. She was going great guns through the mid-90's, but then things got worse. She looked like HELL at the Michael Jackson tribute in 2001, and that reality show she and Bobby were in wasn't much better. Whether it's drugs or some other kind of illness, it is tragic. She comes from a musical family, she was also an actress/model, and she was surrounded by love from her family. What happened?

I really do wonder if she'll bounce back or if she'll be playing boat shows with Fred Travalena. Something tells me "boat show".

OH well...that's how it goes, I guess.