A few words about “Lazarus The Legend”…

When I was a young man in Arizona in the 1990s, I loved Phoenix public access television (I believe it was Cox Cable’s channel 22). Our city had some pretty creative amateur filmmakers. One of them, Chris LaMont (“TV Or Not TV”) even went on to become a media instructor at Arizona State University and create the Phoenix Film Festival.

There was another named John Frazzini, a transplant from Erie, Pennsylvania. Him and his team made comedy videos (including the adventures of Pee Man, who used his superpowered urine stream to help the fire department, and extinguish illegal marijuana and make the smokers watch “Reefer Madness”). Some of my old classmates have stories about running into Frazzini and friends on Mill Avenue. Frazzini and his pals, such as Carter Tobin, had twisted enough senses of humor and foul enough mouths to end up on the local news in a story about whether or not public access should be censored. 

Frazzini also used his time on our local cable station to show his brother Matthew’s film and video works, made back in Erie. One such piece was a feature length action epic shot on VHS called “Lazarus the Legend.” I don’t quite grasp all the mythology these years later, but from what I understand, there was a handful of powerful warriors. There was always destined to be one on top and one isolated in a sort of purgatory. This movie showed the quest of the titular character, played by Dale Crawford, to find and defeat his rival (played by Matthew), assume power, and send his enemy into a phantom zone. The journey includes combat (and bloody b-movie style gore) with several underlings in all manners of ninja garb and Halloween masks. 

I loved all of this stuff. The wigs, the facepaint, the costumes, the appropriated “Star Trek” score. I should have thought to record it, but I didn’t, so it would be another 20 years until I rediscovered it. (I’m not actually going to point out where it is online, because the version I found is abbreviated. It ends at the climax, but omits the important denouement. You owe it to yourself to hold out for an unabridged version.) It brought back the memories of staying up late, watching “Frazzini Presents,” and calling into the phone number they posted to talk to John and Carter. I was even inspired to check out video equipment from my school and make my own videos.

Later in life, I ran into John in the halls of ASU, where he was pursuing a broadcasting degree at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. In my eyes, I might as well have run into one of the Coen Brothers. He was very kind and humble about his work. Several years later, when I reconnected with him online, he wrote, “I hope I did not corrupt your mind too much with the show.” 

I was saddened to learn that Matthew was killed in 2009 in a car accident caused by an impaired driver, a man who only spent 11 days total in jail for the crime. John and the rest of the Frazzini family have made sure to preserve Matthew’s memory and celebrate his work.

The most appropriate way to wrap this up is with Matthew Frazzini’s own words, written for his creation:

“The implosion and implementation of my internal spiritual power is complete. Let those who oppose fear the name… LAZARUS!”