Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Elizabeth Thomson, Editor, “Bob Dylan: No Direction Home”.
Today’s Harvey Brownstone Interviews is all about an artist who is widely considered to be America’s greatest musical poet laureate and visionary, Bob Dylan.
He is an artist of transcendent historical importance, both as a cultural hero and an anti-hero. His songs have become part of our cultural DNA. In 1986, a groundbreaking book entitled “Bob Dylan: No Direction Home” was written by the renowned New York Times music critic, Robert Shelton, whose very first article about Bob Dylan brought him national attention and launched him as a celebrity. The book is uniquely insightful, because it’s much more than a biography. It’s an eyewitness account, because Mr. Shelton was a close friend of Bob Dylan’s, and he was there for all of the pivotal events in Dylan’s career in the first half of his life. This book comes as close as any book can, to finding the essence of the real Bob Dylan, and pierces through all the myths about this elusive artist. Mr. Shelton not only conducted an extensive and profound interview with Bob Dylan – he is the ONLY person EVER to have interviewed Dylan’s parents. Sadly, Mr. Shelton passed away in 1995, but in 2011, a much more complete version of the book was published, which included many parts that were left out of the original edition.
And now, a brand new edition is being released, thanks to our guest Elizabeth Thomson. She is a renowned journalist, broadcaster and author whose work has been featured in the most prestigious publications around the world. She’s a contributing editor to theartsdesk.com, she’s a contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, she was a founding trustee of the Desmond Elliott Prize for first novels, she served as Editor of the business weekly, “Publishing News”, she was the founding Editor of “Book Brunch”, the online bulletin and website for the publishing industry, she has lectured at numerous universities, and as a broadcaster, she has interviewed everyone from Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, to Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Janis Ian, André Previn, Vanessa Redgrave and Joan Baez.
In fact, several years ago she wrote a highly compelling biography of Joan Baez entitled, “Joan Baez: The Last Leaf”. In 2018 she founded The Village Trip, a celebration of arts and activism in Greenwich Village and the East Village in Downtown Manhattan, and she currently serves as Joint Artistic Director of that event. But today, she’s here to talk about the brand new edition of “Bob Dylan: No Direction Home”.
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 Elizabeth Thomson 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