SURE, THERE were movies like Mondo Cane and Faces of Death in the 1980s, but when Adam Parfrey compiled the first Apocalypse Culture in 1987, there wasn’t anything like it in bookstores. Bulging with articles on elaborate poli- tical conspiracies, racy satanic tales, sexual outlaws speaking their minds, and unrelenting accounts of violence, Parfrey’s stew of essays caught many off guard. It became a sort of user’s guide to the real underground culture, the culture that found dark humor in cataclysm, pranks, and writers fucking around with mainstream ethics.
Since Apocalypse Culture, Parfrey has been adopted as a champion by disenchanted weirdoes everywhere. These weirdoes consumed every release from Feral House Books, Parfrey’s consistently intriguing publishing house, which he started in 1989. With books like The Secret Life of a Satanist, Death Scenes, and Lords of Chaos, he became the premier publisher for beautifully rendered books on subject matters idealistic and controversial.
Now comes Apocalypse Culture II, a more comprehensive and jarring collection of writings. The many highlights include a riveting overview of Issei Sagawa, a modern-day cannibal turned best-selling novelist; the fractured writings of John Hinckley; a hilarious selection of letters sent to Satanist Anton LaVey; Peter Sotos’ point-blank dissection of child sexuality/violence; Crispin Glover’s questioning of Steven Spielberg’s motives; an uncomfortable portrait of somebody called “Mr. Awesome,” whose sole purpose in life is to somehow become famous; and even a few articles on the magic of eating shit (scatology).
Parfrey lived in New York as a young boy until his actor father moved the family to California, when live television and Broadway shows were scarce. While Parfrey would begin his chosen career writing for magazines like Hustler and Penthouse, his siblings landed more cheery occupations: His brother is president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, one of his sisters teaches culinary skills, and the other is starting an apothecary in Ireland.
Parfrey eventually graduated from smut into the world of weekly papers, writing a column for the San Diego Reader called “HelL.A.” When he began research for the first Apocalypse Culture book, it was before the Internet boom, so he did it the old-fashioned way, poring over dusty old books not studied in years. That seminal collection was first published by Amok Press. Now it’s the year 2000. We have access to mucho information and we’re not shocked as easily as we used to be. Does that mean we’re better off?
Parfrey took time away from his never-ending publishing projects to answer a few questions for The Stranger.
When the first Apocalypse Culture book came out, it was one of a kind. Now, with cable TV, you can always find TV shows obsessed with killers, cults, and conspiracies. Did you create a Frankenstein monster?
I’m not sure that I created this monster. More accurately, I anticipated its arrival. It’s damn disturbing. Art Bell and Jerry Springer and The X-Files are unlike Apocalypse Culture, though. The book asks troubling questions without overlays of hypocritical morality.
By publishing the art and writings of killers, do you think you’re helping to feed these people’s sense of celebrity?
Apocalypse Culture only publishes one page of art by one killer: Danny Rolling. It’s published as a revelation of his internal character.
Feral House has published a Danny Rolling/ Sondra London book, The Making of a Serial Killer, and the state of Florida sued co-author Sondra London to get her royalties seized, due to a strange interpretation of the Son of Sam law that she was too “friendly” toward the killer. But the book itself is a kind of confessional. Perhaps it feeds a naughty character’s sense of celebrity, but far more than that, it provides a better idea of how these people think and operate. The biggest murderers–like George Bush, who had hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed with war crimes and blockades–are feted everywhere. It’s a hypocritical world.
Well, there is a nice chunk of writing by Issei Sagawa, not to mention the artwork by Bobby Beausoleil. Aren’t they killers?
Issei Sagawa and Bobby Beausoleil don’t need my help in feeling a sense of celebrity. Sagawa is a Japanese superstar because he is a cannibal, and that is the most compelling aspect of his story. Beausoleil was played up from here to nowhere as a member of the Manson family, but he’s included in Apocalypse Culture II because his true story–beyond the stupid true-crime dross–was evoked by Michael Moynihan in his piece. Another reason Beausoleil was included was that I wanted to follow up a tradition started by the first Apocalypse Culture, and that is to write about misunderstood and currently forgotten weird occult figures from the ’60s. The first book had Robert DeGrimston from the Process [Church] and Mel Lyman.
You lived in Portland for a few years. What made you move back to California?
Portland was good for me to escape the hazy L.A. smog for several years, but a couple strange accidents told me to move. After completing a cover story for The Village Voice, I was going to visit a friend, Tom, who’s known as Pig Champion from Poison Idea. Before I ever got to his place, a drunken yuppie in a BMW smashed my truck practically head-on, and I was ejected through the windshield. I was lucky that it only took six months to recover from that one. But a few months later, I was up in Vancouver with a girlfriend to buy fireworks and passed out due to low blood sugar, and smashed my skull. Another severe head injury. I won’t go into detail about that episode, but the result of it was not unlike the Frances Farmer movie.
In time I felt unlucky in Portland, so I took off.
What’s the deal with that Crispin Glover movie? Is it coming out soon?
Crispin is still in the editing stage, and he’s currently directing another movie, since he’s concerned that the lead actor, Steve Stewart, who has severe cerebral palsy and is also in What Is It?, might die soon.
What Is It? came about after Crispin and I held long discussions about the hypocrisy and banality of Hollywood aesthetics and morality. Some people who have seen a cut say it’s by far the best and most exciting and different film they’ve ever seen. You do have to react to it, that’s for sure.
Does it spook you to go out on a book tour and encounter people–some of whom are probably crazy, while others are against what you’re doing?
You only live once.
Adam Parfrey and Peter Sotos (who, because of his disturbing and abrasive writing, is also a sort of underground legend) will appear together to talk about Apocalypse Culture II at Confounded Books in Fremont, 3506 Fremont N, 545-0744, Fri Oct 27, 7 pm. There will also be a slide show.