I was most elated when I was able to get my hands on author Shade Rupe’s lengthy compendium of peeks in to the sub-cultural icons we know as cult figures today. Though all of the individuals in Rupe’s book are prolific and iconic, they don’t nearly garner as much attention as they deserve to. While many would be quick to pass this off as a book filled with interviews, the truth is “Dark Stars Rising” is a compilation of mini-biographies for stars, or people we consider stars, that deserve a spotlight. While author Rupe could have easily passed off lazy articles for a non-fiction book, all of the chapters profiling Rupe’s subjects are comprehensive to a startling degree, painfully honest and blunt, and stand as mini-biographical in-depth explorations in to the many cult stars Rupe is lucky and determined enough to interview and admire with professionalism.
Never about appealing to the mainstream, but more spotlighting the stars behind the shadows, author Rupe takes it upon himself to interview some of the most controversial figures in pop culture, some of the most derided filmmakers in film, and many of the most underground and cult individuals who have yet to see their relevance dwindle.
As explained in the introduction, all of these interviews were conducted from previous publications in much earlier times in Rupe’s life (some meetings were recorded by Rupe at age seventeen) and were sadly either painfully truncated for an article, or sapped of crucial and interesting information. After painstaking retrieval of his past interviews from cassette tapes, they were transcribed and printed unedited. There’s a vast array of biographical pieces both informative and stunning from Tura Satana, Gasper Noe, Teller of Penn and Teller, transsexual cult star Divine, Jim Vanbebber, Udo Kier, and the marvelous madman Crispin Glover. “Dark Stars Rising” is thankfully void of pretension and grandstanding and more about setting the light on some of the most provocative individuals we’ve ever read about. Since “Fast Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” is one of my all time favorite films, I naturally turned to the chapter featuring the great Tura Satana and there are explorations in to her life that are shocking and often times entertaining. Satana allowed author Rupe two hours of her time and she unfolded her life for him for the sake of the reader explaining her life in an internment camp, her early development in to puberty, her training in martial arts, her communication with her mother who was also forced to live in an internment camp, her first marriage at thirteen years of age, her horrible rape, and her confrontation with a group of classmates that led to her beating the piss out of the head bully.
Satana is a woman with the cards stacked against her, born from a mixed Race of Asian, Native American and the like, and given the gift of sheer beauty, all of which ended in pure pain and misery. She of course took that turmoil and turned herself in to an icon for feminism and cult cinema. Yet another incredible discussion is with director Gasper Noe, a very volatile entity in modern filmmaking who has constantly challenged audiences and offended dozens of cineastes. The interview with Noe makes for some rather engrossing content as author Rupe engages in intelligent conversations with Noe that delves in Noe’s life in Paris, the imprisonment of left wing artists, the idiocy of censorship with his films and general art house filmmaking, masturbation, pedophilia, and Noe’s absolutely provocative films that have garnered rabid buzz and backlash. The conversation with Chas. Balum leads in to discussion about filmmaking, his working with and deriding of George Romero, and the phony facade of Hollywood. A conversation with Divine reveals a gentle, kind, and morally upright persona who is confident in their ability to entertain and convey their art for their fan base. The interesting and fantastic element about the book is that author Rupe is not a silly fan boy who sucks up and gives us knowledge we already know.
Rupe is a man who is capable of sitting down and speaking with these iconic folks at a common level and is able to influence them in opening up and providing some thoughts from them that many will be surprised to read. The central theme of “Dark Stars Rising” is that every single person featured are interesting and are very deserving of their own books, and author Shade Rupe allows us a chance to take a gander in to these people who have led fascinating, and shocking lives of merit and pain. They grabbed a hold of the pain and turned it in to art. Rupe feels like a man who is not intent on merely hobnobbing but bringing the readers some valuable bits of insight in to old souls who have something to offer the readers. And with the wide experience from Mr. Rupe, it’s not surprising his book is not just a compendium of interviews, but tales from people who will leave something behind when they’ve passed on. Author Rupe seems to understand that there’s something to be taken away from reading about someone like Jim Vanbebber and he’s right. Author Shade Rupe has compiled a marvelous assortment of discussions in to the darker corners of pop culture and the underground. For readers looking for a visit in to a zone beyond the diluted mainstream pabulum, “Dark Stars Rising” is a stellar book that deserves to be read and preserved.