Conversations from the Outer Realms...

DARK STARS RISING by Shade Rupe (2011 headpress Books / 560 pp. / tp)
When you can get through a 560-paged book in two sittings (as I did with this semi-door stop-sized volume), that's saying something.

International film festival producer Shade Rupe delivers this collection of interviews with 27 film makers, artists, writers, actors and performance artists. Each interview is as unique as the person being questioned, from cult movie icon Udo Kier to artist Andre Lassen, from everyone's favorite drag queen Divine to legendary director Alejandro Jodorowsky, there's something here for anyone who loves unusual entertainment (especially cinema).
A couple of chapters even hit me on a personal level. The late Chas. Balun (who not only gave my old fanzine, STINK, a nod in an issue of his DEEP RED magazine, but was an inspiration to me as a DIY guy) has a very informative interview here, conducted in 1994. Chas. was a fan's fan, a true horror fan who did more to get seldom-seen films into the hands of horror geeks around the globe than anyone else I can think of. In the wake of his passing, some of his statements here actually made me all misty...
Rupe's interview with COMBAT SHOCK director Buddy Giovinazzo (conducted in 1995) is chock-full of info I was unaware of, and I was thrilled to see him get such long-overdue coverage in a book of this nature (Buddy was also a film teacher at my local college, the College of Staten Island). Great stuff.
Rupe has introduced me to a few people here, and I found myself equally interested in every chapter, regardless of how familiar I was with the person's work. As a bonus, this Headpress Book is simply GORE-geous: there's countless photos, ad mats, and rare stills, something you'll never be able to fully appreciate on an e-reader (and MAN does this ink smell GOOD!).
Horror and cult film fans take note as there's interviews with William 'MANIAC' Lustig, Gaspar 'ENTER THE VOID' Noe, Jim 'DEADBEAT AT DAWN' Van Bebber, and Tura 'FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL! KILL!' Satana. There's also a rare "talking" interview with the usually silent Teller (of Penn & Teller fame) that turned out to be one of the more enjoyable sections of the book. Comic geeks will also be thrilled over the Arnold Drake interview, as well as Rupe's yak-session with MEAT CAKE creator Dame Darcy.
If you're a die hard cinephile or art nut, there's no reason not to have this on your shelf ASAP. I'm quite impressed...