Hello everyone.  This was my second fest.  I attended my first at Tarrytown last year to see Frid and made the trek this year for Frid's Burbank return.

Attendance announced on Saturday put the fest at 1500 attendees, with a good third to one half attending their first ever fest (by a showing of hands.)  The most shocking thing about this weekend, besides Jonathan busting his rear end on Sunday (more about that later) was the fact that not only did they have a schedule, but they followed it and managed to stay on time for the most part. 

Let's start with Friday.
High point - Definitely John Karlen's apprearance.  He has lost a ton of weight, though he still has his spare tire.  (Someone near me said he had to lose weight due to health issues but he never said that himself.)  John was funny, very active and thoroughly enjoyed himself.  He came out talking about how scared he was that "Barnabas" was there this weekend and you all know what that can mean for poor Willie.  He also mentioned that he, Frid, Selby, and Lara Parker had dinner together the night before at KLS's house - first time Karlen has seen Frid in over two decades - and they all got to catch up and had a great time.
Low points - The lowest point was the pilot from the 2004 remake.  All I can say is thank God that crap was not picked up.  It was truly horrible.  The story sucked and the actors had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  The second low point was "Adam and Eve together again" - mostly because they weren't.  Rodan pulled a no-show.  He did show on Saturday and Sunday but offered no apology or explanation for his failure to fulfill his Friday commitment.  Marie Wallace looked great and had not changed (even her clothes) from the Tarrytown fest. 
I did not stay for the movies as I have House of Dark Shadows on DVD and can see it whenever I want.  The Norliss Tapes and the other B stuff they showed did not interest me at all.
Mid Point - KLS and Lara were on stage together viewing clips of their time as Josette and Angelique.  Nothing new here, they both went through the same talking points as last year, the same as the last 25 years.  This past year has not been overly kind to either of the ladies, especially KLS.  She looked as though she aged 10 years in the last 11 months.  Don't get me wrong.  They are both still very beautiful but as amazed as I was last year at how young they both still looked, they both definitely had that "Grandma" look this year.  Also, Lara refused to do her laugh this year.

Saturday
High point - Bob Colbert.  He was very entertaining and has a great sense of humor.  He far and away stole the show on Saturday.
Low points - David Selby.  So many of us were incredibly offended that he turned the DS fest into a political rally.  He effectively alienated over half the attendees with that crap, whether they supported the candidate his was shilling for or not.  It was in incredibly poor taste.  If you want to have a political rally David, fine.  Just tell people what you are doing beforehand.  Over half the attendees were sitting on their hands while a few were up "rapping" the Gettysburg Address.     I know Abe was looking to change his address after that fiasco.  The other low point was Frid's unflattering comments about Grayson Hall.  I understand you may not have liked her or appreciated her acting skills but I mean really, the woman has passed on.  Let's not step on her grave.  Also, and many may not agree with me, I think Frid coming out of the casket sounded much better on paper than it came across live.  He could have really gotten hurt with the way they set it up and it was amazing that the casket did not fall off the flimsy stand they had it on. 
Mid points - Sy Tomashoff was good but his memory seemed to fail him on many of the topics.  He did bring out some interesting facts about scene design.  Frid's "Growth of Barnabas" segment was fine for what it was.  A few clips with very few comments afterwards.  He once again praised Thayer David as the heart and soul of DS, and with that I completely agree.  The DS cast reunion was decent but you could tell how little everyone else thought of Roger Davis.  And when Roger mentioned Don Briscoe's use of marijuana on the set, if looks could kill, KLS would have put Roger 6 feet under right there.  Basically Roger is the only one currently doing anything, and is doing quite well in the real estate market.  (If I had invested the last 5-7 years of my life in that kind of project, I'd be talking about it too.)  He also had his heart surgery which has seemed to take a ton out of the man - as it does with all who go through such an invasive procedure.  It was great seeing Jerry Lacy as he is far and away my favorite non-major cast member from the show. 
NODS is being restored and will be a year (or more) before restoration is complete.  They have been having the actors re-dub some of their lines from footage found where the audio was unusable.  The Depp DS movie is in the very early script stage (still far from any type of guarantee a movie will actually come to fruition) and none of the original cast has yet been approached for cameo roles.  When asked, Frid did not sound like he would be interested in a single scene cameo and said his health (mostly his stamina due to back problems from the fall a couple of years ago) was not good enough to have a role any larger than a small cameo.  But said he would have to see how he felt when and if he was approached with an offer.  I was not there for the fan video segent or the costume segment nor did I stay for the movies shown that night.  Way too long a day for that.

Sunday
High point - the lost DS script.  The actors were Lara Parker, Robert Rodan, Marie Wallace, and Roger Davis.  Marie and Rodan began by reading the script at the mike with no action.  Once it was Roger and Marie, though, we actually saw some action to go with the words.  Roger really got into the role and gave far and away the best stage performance.  He actually interacted with Marie rather than simply reading the lines as the others did.  Lara had very few lines overall but brought the audio passion one would expect from Angelique.  Also a personal high point for me was the Jerry Lacy Many Faces of Trask segment, mostly because of how much I enjoyed the Trask character.  Jerry has great humor to him.
Low point - As much as I hate to say it (and I really do hate to say it as his being there was the only reason I decided to go again), the Frid performance.  He began by giving a recap of the "Growth of Frid as an Actor" which was somewhat interesting.  He then went into reading from the book "The Heiress" in a very monotone, emotionless and, quite frankly, boring reading  (Boring to the point that I was actually nodding off in the chair).  Not the kind of passion I expected or have seen and heard from him in the past, including last year.  He then turned it over to old recorded performances of himself, the first coming from his new DVD Frid-Evil.  As Frid turned toward the screen on his stool he slid off the side and landed hard on his rear end.  He came very, very close to going over backwards off the stage which would have caused him to strike the back of his head.  Fortunately he managed to teeter on the stage edge until others could run to him and assist him back to his feet.  He did a little dance on stage to try and show he was not injured but he was definitely suffering from the immediate effects of the fall, which could be seen in the way he walked.  After that, and understandably so, Frid basically turned the rest of the performance over to the videos with the Yma dream being the highlight, as it was at Tarrytown.  He also presented the Spanish Poe performance at his cousin's house that was on his website for a few weeks.  I'm sure for those that understood Spanish this was good but since most of us did not speak spanish we just kind of watched.  He ended on that note, which I found a little odd as most did not understand the words in the final performance.  The applause at the end was much, much less enthusiastic than in Tarrytown.  I am glad he seemed to be okay after the fall but chances are good he is going to have the lingering effects of that for quite a while.
Mid point - the Banquet.  I ended up sitting by Roger Davis' wife, who was a complete joy to talk with.  Roger was on the other side of her.  She is a very nice and interesting lady and shared some great stories about her life with Roger with me, including how they met at the 1990 fest.  I really enjoyed my time talking to her and feel Roger has got himself one great lady there.  The food was vegetarian lasagna, which I did not eat.  Way too much cheese and pasta for me.  I was disappointed they did not do the roasted chicken from last year.  Dessert was a fruit tart - no staked cheesecake this year.  I also skipped that, so I basically spent $50 to eat a salad, a little bit of broccoli and carrots that were on top of the lasagna, and visit with Roger's wife.  Roger's wife did make it worth it, though.  They showed a video of interview shows from the past (Rick Dees and Soap Net features) with KLS saying the same things, ver batim, that she said on the stage last year and this year.  (It must get mighty monotonous saying the exact same things year after year.)  They also showed a video of some of the restored footage and redubbed audio from NODS.  I hope that the video and audio go under a ton more work as the audio did not come close to matching the moving lips of the actors but I'm sure they will get that worked out before the DVD release - provided that really does ever happen.
I was not there for the early morning/afternoon stage talks of Chris Pennock, KLS and then Lara Parker.  I had little interest in Pennock and have heard all of what KLS and Parker have to say. 

All in all, while I would rate the Tarrytown fest last year as an A+, I would give the Burbank fest, at best, a C-.  Actually, I'll have to give it a D.  This was my second and last fest.  I've seen everything and everyone I've always wanted to see, except those no longer with us, and have no desire or longing to return to another fest, even if Frid makes the trek next year or in the future.  I know my review was overall quite negative and, believe me, no one is more disappointed in that than I am but feel I must call it as I saw it.  I still love the show and, of course, always will.  And I know that Frid is 83 and can't do what he once could do.  But seeing the difference between this year and last year, I think it best that I remember the triumph of 2007 over the tragedy of 2008.  I also feel I have seen the best of what they all have left to offer at this point in their lives.

Overall, I am still glad I went as I I had never been to California and I did meet some more very interesting people and made new friends but I found what I did outside the main event room much more enjoyable than what went on in the main event room.

I'm arriving at the Burbank airport on Thursday at noon... give or take a delay or two... and staying at the Marriot.

Anyone interested in getting together on Thu or Fri for a little sightseeing or perhaps meet up at the fest to hold seats during the fest and in line for autographs and the like.  I'm going solo for the weekend and found during the Tarrytown event last year that forming a group of around 4-6 people helps out a ton for bathroom runs, standing in line for the banquet, etc.

Anyone up for it?