May 4, 2012

ATTENTION:  To order the book or see information on the Updated/Revised edition of Barnabas & Company (c 2012) visit barnabasandcompany.com or contact co-author R. J. Jamison at rj@barnabasandcompany.com.

July 20, 2007

It is with great sadness that I write that Craig Hamick passed away from colon cancer on September 24, 2006, just 15 days shy of his 40th birthday. I have been slow to post this news here, because I am not nearly as web savvy as Craig was.

For those of you who have emailed with questions and thoughts about Dark Shadows, my apologies for not being back in touch. I check Craig's email account occasionally, but as you might imagine, it's difficult. I miss him.

I promised Craig that I would somehow finish his update of Barnabas & Company, so please look for that new edition in Summer 2008.

People from thoughout the Dark Shadows world have sent lovely thoughts and prayers, and I appreciate all of them. There may be a remembrance for Craig at the Dark Shadows event in August, so I hope that those who knew him and plan to attend the event in Tarrytown will participate. If you did not know Craig, he was an incredibly special person, with a unique outlook on life. I learned a lot from him in our 5 1/2 years together as partners. He inspired me, and continues to inspire me as an artist and as a human being. I am better at being both of those things because of the time we spent together.

I intend to keep this site active for as long as I can as a resource on Dark Shadows. For specific questions and inquiries about the show not answered on this site, I would recommend visiting www.collinwood.net and inquiring there.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Be well,

Joe Salvatore

 

 

2006 Dark Shadows Festival
August 25-27 in Brooklyn, New York

• Surprise "Appearance" by Jonathan Frid
• Barnabas Portrait Sells for $13,000!
• Cast Re-enacts First and Last Episodes
• Books and CDs Debut

To the delight of a ballroom full of Dark Shadows fans, their favorite former vampire, Jonathan Frid, made a long-distance "appearance" at the 2006 Dark Shadows Festival on August 26, greeting them with a phone call broadcast over the speakers. The actor, who portrayed Barnabas Collins on DS, has retired to his hometown in Canada and hasn't attended a DS Festival in about a decade. While other cast members reunited on stage Saturday, Festival Chairman Jim Pierson placed a phone call from the podium, and the room erupted in wild applause and cries of "We love you!" as as the audience recognized a familiar voice. Jonathan sent his best wishes and joked that he'd been afraid he might not be able to connect with the fans because he was having problems dealing with his long distance/internet company--and he confessed that working on his website (www.jonathanfrid.com) consumed a huge amount of his time.

The next day, a painting of Frid as Barnabas was sold for $13,000 after an exciting auction, with call-in bidders and a couple of very dedicated dueling bidders. The painting was a prop in the film House of Dark Shadows. (On Saturday, another painting -- of Victoria Winters -- used on the cover of the first Dark Shadows Gothic novel, sold for a comparatively low $700.)

The celebration of the 40th anniversary of the debut of Dark Shadows included several traditional elements -- including cast member Q&As, a hilarious skit by the Collinsport Players, and a musical performance by Nancy Barrett. For the first time, cast members re-enacted to episodes of DS -- the first and last -- in most cases taking over roles previously played by other actors. (Marie Wallace assumed Joan Bennett's characters, for example, while Kathryn Leigh Scott reprised her classic role of Maggie Evans.)

An amazing array of great new merchandise was available, including brand new books by Lara Parker, Donna McKechnie, Diana Millay, Kathryn Leigh Scott, and Betsy Durkin; an audio book by Lara; a cabaret CD by Nancy Barrett, a new set of recorded audio dramas starring Lara, Kathryn, David Selby, and John Karlen -- plus Marie Wallace's career memoir and much more.

I'll be posting a longer report on the Festival, and lots more photos -- but I wanted to go ahead and get this preview uploaded. Stay tuned! :)