Arts & Entertainment

Memorial for Peter Steele, Type O Negative Front Man, in Prospect Park

The Brooklyn-born metal band bassist and singer is remembered with a skeleton, a pick, and a candle near a tree in the park's Long Meadow.

 

A lone candle flickered at the foot of a tree on a dark, cold, and windy night in Prospect Park.

Hanging above the candle on a small branch, a plastic skeleton swayed back and forth with each gust, its purple eyes glared in the dark.

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This small, but formidable memorial in the park’s Long Meadow is not a religious offering to the gods, or demons, but rather for Brooklyn-born heavy metal singer and bassist Peter Steele—the front man and bassist for the metal outfit Type O Negative.

Peter Steele, real name Peter Ratajczyk, was born in Red Hook and grew up in Bensonhurst. And before becoming the 6-foot-7 giant who screamed gothic lyrics like, “Jesus Christ looks like me” or “Loving you was like loving the dead,” he worked for the New York City Parks Department.

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Before starting his first band in 1982 named Carnivore, Steele was an employee/heavy equipment operator for the New York Department of Parks. Steele became manager of Brooklyn Heights Promenade Park.

So, the location of the memorial is fitting for the metal bassist, who passed away from heart failure on April 14, 2010. He was 48.

Steele formed Type O Negative in 1989 along with his childhood friends Josh Silver, Kenny Hickey and Sal Abruscato (later replaced by Johnny Kelly) and released their first album, Slow, Deep and Hard in 1991. The Brooklyn band’s front man wrote dark, gothic songs with lyrical themes on death, depression and romance. Type O Negative went platinum in 1993 with their album Bloody Kisses. And their latest album, Dead Again was produced in 2007.

On November 21, 2011, an oak tree was planted in Prospect Park to commemorate Steele by fans, who also have a Facebook group “Peter’s Tree.” Read about it here. There is also a bench close by dedicated to him that reads: “In Memory of the Green Man Peter ‘Steele’ Ratajczyk 1962-2010.”

The group’s leader, a woman named Emma Earley, told Patch why she decided to plant a tree in Long Meadow.

“I wanted to be able to give Peter's fans a place to remember him that celebrated life rather than mourned death. I knew a tree in Prospect Park would be perfect because as we all know Peter was a nature enthusiast, and had connections to the park because it's where a ton of shots for their famous Love You to Death music video was shot,” Earley explained. “At the time there was a lot if controversy and battling about fans seeking out the then undisclosed burial site. I felt the tree would give fans all over the world a better more respectful place to pay homage. Even better, it was something they could all contribute to.”

She continued:

“Now the tree stands as a living celebration of the wonderful man we lost too soon. The tree is a shrine if you will, and Brooklyn its holy city.”

On the website Metal Underground Johnny Kelly, Type O Negative’s drummer, said the tree is for all of Peter’s fans:

“[The oak tree planting is] something that's been a long time in the making. A lot of fans took it upon themselves to do something special for Peter. It is something that is in the true spirit of what Peter was about and who he was.”

On the Facebook group’s page, Earley posted words by Hermann Hesse, which is from his work Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte (trees. considerations and poems):

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree,” Hesse wrote.

So, if you’re a fan of Peter Steele, go find the tree nestled in the corner of Long Meadow near the archway that leads to Grand Army Plaza. 


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