Randy Schmidt is a brilliant author, screenwriter and producer who discusses his brand new, multi-award winning documentary feature film about one of the greatest female vocalists in the history of pop music: Karen Carpenter, who with her brother Richard, formed a duo, “The Carpenters”, and became the #1 American music act of the 70s.
The movie is called “Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection”, and it chronicles not only her spectacular career, but also, what was going on behind closed doors: her quest for perfection resulting in low self-esteem, a disappointing love life, and a battle with anorexia, which resulted in her tragic death in 1983 at the young age of 32. We hear about Karen’s personal struggles in her own voice through never-before-released recordings—and through the voices of legendary stars who knew her and were inspired by her music, including Carol Burnett, Olivia Newton-John, Suzanne Sommers, Kristin Chenoweth, Carnie Wilson and others.
The movie, which is now available on the EVENTIVE.ORG streaming platform, is a captivating, revealing, and unvarnished documentary providing astounding new insight into Karen Carpenter’s tragically short life and enduring musical legacy. Randy Schmidt, who wrote and produced this movie, is a best-selling author who’s written 3 books about the Carpenters: “Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter”, “Yesterday Once More: The Carpenters Reader”, and “Carpenters: An Illustrated Discography”.
He’s also published 2 books about Judy Garland, entitled “Judy Garland on Judy Garland: Interviews and Encounters”, and “Becoming Judy Garland”. In 2018 he released a great book entitled, “Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton.”
Harvey Brownstone is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He is also the bestselling author of “Tug of War: A Judge’s Verdict on Separation, Custody Battles and the Bitter Realities of Family Court” and hosted “Family Matters with Justice Harvey Brownstone,” a television talk show on matters involving the family justice system.
After a distinguished legal career, Harvey was appointed a judge at the age of 38 in 1995. He has presided in family and criminal courts. He has been a trailblazer in several ways. He was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He was the first sitting judge in the world to write a national best seller and to host a TV talk show.
Harvey has been a role model and icon in the LGBTQ community. When same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2003, he was the only judge to make himself publicly available to officiate at weddings for lesbian and gay couples travelling to Toronto from all over the world to get married. In 2007, he officiated at the wedding of Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, the American couple whose marriage triggered the 2013 United States Supreme Court decision overturning the definition of “spouse” in the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
In February 2021, Harvey launched his online talk show “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” on his own YouTube channel. He saw this as an interesting hobby. Within several months, the show attracted hundreds of thousands – and then eventually, millions – of viewers. Because of the overwhelming success of the show, Harvey decided to retire from the judiciary on December 31, 2021 after having presided as a full-time judge for 26 1/2 years. Free from the constraints imposed upon judges regarding the expression of opinions and the endorsement of private enterprise, Harvey now happily devotes his full-time attention to hosting “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” as a regular member of the public – albeit one with a rather illustrious and unique career history.
Watch Randy Schmidt (talking About Karen Carpenter) on Harvey Brownstone Interviews on Youtube here:
The official website for Harvey Brownstone Interviews may be found at https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com
Get “The Talk Show Blend” – Coffee For The Modern Day Trailblazer! By Harvey Brownstone from Breakfast At Dominique’s available at https://www.HollywoodBlends.com
For more information about Harvey Brownstone, here’s his Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Brownstone