|
 June 2004, news of a forthcoming book entitled "Erotic Funeral:
Peter Steele Unauthorized" was published online here at
Toronto Goth. Unfortunately, this present
news item is to announce that this book will not happen after all.
What
happened? Simple- I had a few chats with Peter Steele himself and from that
point on, things began to change. Let me explain.
First of all, I have
to say, that regardless of the demise of this project this fact still remains
true: I cannot think of any band or any one artist that I would rather write
about than Type O Negative/Peter Steele. The conversations that I had with
Steele confirmed what many have said about him all along: Peter Steele is very
intelligent, quite perceptive, brutally honest, funny as hell, and absolutely
relentless towards the "man in the mirror". Long story short-Peter Steele is
one hell of an artist, a legend unto himself (The Jim Morrison of Gothadelia)
and as human they come! That last comment-and listen up-that's the one Peter
Steele hopes everyone will remember most of all.
The content of our
conversations will never see the light of day. That's a promise I made to Mr.
Steele, and it's an apology of sorts to all those who were anticipating the
release of an excellent book on an excellent band-Type O Negative. I hope you
will all agree that sometimes, one discovers that there are certain priorities
in life that must be honored. Furthermore, Peter Steele made it very clear that
he believes "unauthorized biographies" to be "unethical". Steele elaborated on
his philosophy and after hearing what he had to say, I honestly couldn't
continue this venture without doing some serious soul searching. That soul
searching, which has lasted for months has finally lead me to call it a day,
and the decision has been made to put this project aside.
Believe me
when I say it is not an easy decision to make. This project has been almost
three years in the making and a lot of work and even decent cash went into this
book venture. However, that's the risk you take. The point is, I hope you all
realize--there is a damn good reason why putting this project down is the right
thing to do. And, finally, it needs to be said, that at no time did Peter
Steele or anyone in the band tell me to discontinue the book. It was a decision
I had to make-and it all comes down to priorities and one of these priorities
is 'respect'.
There are so many people I wish to thank, and I will not
be able to mention everyone. However, I do want to thank,
Dementia of "Toronto Goth" who has been
absolutely wonderful with me and very patient. I thank Martin Popoff whose
advice and support were very, very much appreciated. (Martin-you rock!) I thank
Johnny Kelly for having the patience of Job, and the same goes to Luna over at
the official website. Keith Alexander deserves a
mention for a really excellent interview-same goes to "Cooch". Finally, and
most important of all, I want to thank Peter Steele: your honesty Mr. Steele is
deeply appreciated! I want to say so much more, because you ARE a legend of
sorts-but since you can't stand the compliments-I'll just say that you are a
decent human being and this time I want to have the last word! Steele-I have
one wish for you-I hope the day comes when you will see that "man in the
mirror" the way thousands of people who call themselves your fans see you! Ad
Multos Annos!
News item submitted by
Dean Mason
Posted May 4, 2005 by Dem
|
