Well, Dark Shadows really isn't Dark Shadows without that fabulous old man we know as Jonathan Frid. He stopped going ... when--late 80's? -- because video footage of him was illegally shown? I would love to meet Jonathan, I really would. It is his brilliance that made the run down, almost canceled soap many of us love. Even if they brought on a Barnabas and had virtually anyone else do it, I fear they would have done the role injustice and the show still would have flopped. Frid obviously had tremendous training, which was evident.
I used to be a Dark Shadows fan. I am not any more really. I am a Frid fan though, and have been for a long time. Dark Shadows is something you can grow out of--I know I certainly have--but Frid is something that sticks with you
forever. I wish he had done more movies, and I wish I could get some of his earlier non DS work--like that will ever happen.
I am buying a video of one of his one man shows from a fan soon, so I am eagerly looking forward to that. I really have not seen much non-DS Frid, not even
Seizure, and I would really like to remedy this egregious error.
I would love to go to a Jonathan Frid show in the future, and most likely I will the next time they have one. But a DS fest...no...I don't think I would want to do one without Frid.
DS is Frid. But I know quite well that Frid is not DS -- it doesn't swing both ways!
And I am glad he has moved on from DS conventions in a way. Of course I'd love for him to go to one because he is who he is, but I am not sure I could stand in line with all these fans--some of them sound a bit "odd" from what I have read here and in the past. I have "met" various writers at Whitman College readings, and that was fantastic, but I don't know if I could hang out with a room full of 3000 people in fangs, with Barnabas t-shirts, etc etc. It would be slightly creepy. I have always liked online fan groups, but I have never been one to even think about going to a real life gathering. Of course, I don't mistakenly think the actors are their characters like some, and I am not interested in any of the actors except the sacred 4 (Frid, Grayson, Selby, and Thayer), so if others favor other actors, and are genuinely interested in them as people, they may have a slightly different persepective.
I don't know why Frid doesn't just record a series of skits or readings to distribute to fans among DVD. All the DS fans would have to have it, and they could easily be marketed online.
Producing things on DVD-R is quite easy. It costs like $50 only to convert a tape, and DVD-R media is getting cheaper and cheaper (as low as $3 per blank DVD-R). All that would be required is a nice computer set up. Well, obviously such Frid DVD-R's that I fantasy about would be in much more high demand than one lousy computer could make, but there are companies out there that duplicate material on DVD-R for very reasonable rates if done in bulk.
Anyway, this post is extremely (even frighteningly?) rambling, so rambling, in fact, that I cannot even bare to revise it. Imagine that!
(Actually, I did add some additional content, but did not bother to revise anything.)