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Stephen Goodfellow (Admin)
Username: Admin
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - 11:02 am: | |
Pat "The Rat"Halley passes away
The Great Troubadour of the Corridor
11/19/07 - Peter Werbe writes:
This may be the first some of you have heard of the passing of Pat Halley. Despondent over the recent death of his son and other problems facing him, he took his own life a few days ago. It was all quite a shock to us. A memorial is planned sometime after this week; I'll let everyone know.
Pat's most famous act--the pieing of the boy god--is reported in the two links below. Following his essentially harmless blast at the guru, that was reported worldwide, Pat was physically attacked by guru goons, and almost died. He sustained a massive head injury and had to have a plate put in his head as a result.
If you have specific memories of Pat, please communicate with David who will write the obituary for the Fifth Estate as indicated below.
Peter
David Watson dwatREMOVEson@craTHISnbrook.edu wrote:
I would like to get any info you can remember (including dates--or years) of things Pat accomplished. Also memories. Thanks,
I wanted to propose two needed articles for the next FE, both obituaries of old comrades of ours. One is Jim Campbell, a good friend and @ comrade in Toronto (and for many years the editor of Bulldozer, a prisoner/political prisoner-support newsletter, which took as its motto "the only vehicle for prison reform").
The other is very important--our friend Pat "the Rat" Halley, who worked on the FE for many years, and ran a zany, radical working class theater of cruelty, the Freezer Theater (where one could go an a Saturday night and see, for example, the Marquis de Sade doing slam-down wrestling with a very large and hairy nun). Back in the 1970s, he also pied an infamous Indian guru who claimed to be God just after he was given the key to the City of Detroit--made national news, and then the guru's followers nearly killed him. Although he has lived in obscurity (and penury) for some time now, he is a big part of Detroit alternative/radical/anarchist history. |
Pete Carr
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2007 - 8:37 am: | |
I sent this on to David, and will post it here too:
Pat was an ordained minister and in 1970, officiated at my wedding, held in rural Macomb County. I knew Pat from the Fifth Estate/Open City days, and the pie incident as well.
I've followed his career since then, and had occasion to visit him while on several trips back to Detroit.
I'm deeply shocked and saddened by his passing, Pat was one of a kind, and will always remain one of the few people from those days that I consider family.
Rest well my friend.
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Ben Ross
| | Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2007 - 7:04 pm: | |
Pat, Joe and I shared a house on McLean in HP...
1979?....we performed as Primitive Lust Theater,
for free school benefit and traveled to Chicago's
revolutionary community for performances. I always referred to him a Dynamite Pat Hally. I last saw him
pryor to my geographic cure in 1988, as a hack, driving out of the lot of metro cab on Vernor Hway,
alway a true brother. |
aron pieman kay
| | Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2007 - 7:52 am: | |
i met pat halley at the 1980 protests surrounding the republican convention.....he was glad i carried out his way of protesting via the pie....
now it grieves me that he is gone,,,however he might be pieing st.peter at the gate |
Diane Polish
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2007 - 12:21 pm: | |
Pat Haley was the driving force behind the Freezer Theatre - the original theatre was located on 2nd or 3rd Street (my memory fails me) next to a liquor store. The first theatre was a small, dank, dark place that had been used as a freezer for the store (thus the name). At some point, the theatre moved onto Cass Ave. Pat Haley wrote most of the plays, but other talented people contributed plays and skits. Probably the most famous production was a satire on the Jonestown mass suicide (when Jim Jones, and followers of his religion committed suicide - or were forced to kill themselves - by drinking poisoned kool aid) At the end of the performance, we offered kool aid to theaudience, but few availed themselves of the free refreshment. Another great piece was the one in which Pat led the audience through the alleys of the Corridor, with actors popping out from behind trees and trash Dbins. |
Plum_Street_Hippie
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 11:01 am: | |
Pat, thanks for your work in Detroit's contribution to the counter-culture. Like Plum Street, you are now a treasured memory!
Shag
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Celeste Finley
| | Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 2:46 am: | |
As quoted by Sylvia Inwood: Pat just poured his heart out to me about his daughter Celeste (full name, Celestial Joy), who was born to Dollye Sue in March 1970. He related that Dollye and her 2nd husband, local artist Richard Dorris, an old high school friend of Pat's, had turned Celeste against him "because I'm a bum".
I just want to make a correction here; My mother, Dollye, and Stepfather, Richard Dorris (whom I've always called "Dad" since I was the age of 10), never attempted to "turn" me against my own father. As a matter-of-fact, Dollye never said a bad thing about Pat until I had my own bad experience with him in 1982 (I was 12 at the time)...I had been on a trip in the U.P. in MI with Pat & friends, and we had a father/daughter falling-out you could say...I returned home to my mother asking questions I had never asked before...It wasn't until then that my mother volunteered any good, bad, or otherwise info. regarding Pat.
The relationship I had with my father wasn't the typical father/daughter kind...He was always my "buddy"...my "clown"...my "bear"...If I asked to try one of his stinky cigars found in his glove box, I wasn't scolded...He allowed me to find out for myself that smoking it wasn't going to be fun...My father was a free-spirit and he allowed me to be the same...I always knew he loved me...but in adolescence, and child doesn't need a poet, anarchist, or radical for a father...they merely need a "Dad".
Pat left behind five beautiful grandchildren...I think that's quite an accomplishment in itself...They will someday get to know about their famouse pie thrower/brilliant writer, "Papa Bear"...Nothing but good words will be spoken of him...I have stowed away his well-used hockey equipment, and practically antique harmonicas (my youngest, Justin plays his own) for the kids to have someday...I've taken in my possession a few of his favorite books, including Walt Whitman & Oscar Wilde...His music & movie collection, I've already started to clean and restore to better condition...His prayer beads are within easy reach for times when I need strength...So rest easy folks...I've never turned against my father...I've always loved him...I've merely did a good job of hiding it for a while...which is a trait, among many, that I've inherited from my dear old Pat The Rat....Love & Light, Celeste Joy Halley-Finley.
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Timothy Dugdale
| | Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 12:28 am: | |
I lived above Pat for three months this year. I had just gotten out of my marriage and needed a crash pad right quick. My friend Dave Koukal made contact with the landlord and within a day, I was in. I remember Pat meeting me in the foyer and offering me a couch that he had commandeered from some crazy broad who had been living with him. We pushed the thing up the stairs and into the apartment. I think it's the best piece of furniture I've ever had to pleasure of sitting on. At night, as the radiators popped, I sat in the dark listening to Sonny Clark and Pat downstairs getting ready to drive his cab on the midnight shift. In a way, that job was the ultimate performance art for Pat - a bad-ass demonstration of his dedication to the city and to living outside and against the strictures of polite society. I always loved coming home in the morning after a night of wildcatting and seeing Pat's cab parked out front. The minute I walked into the foyer, I could smell one of those crazy skillet breakfasts he delighted in cooking up. Fox News was on full blast and Pat would be at the stove, foul cigar atilt, tending to his cast iron paradise.
Pat showed me the upmost kindness and civility during my all-too-brief time with him. If I hadn't had a money crunch, I would have stayed in that apartment, enjoying the presence of Pat downstairs. And I do feel a certain regret and guilt, knowing that I had the potential to be the most physically close person to Pat when the clouds rolled in and he really needed a harbour from his storms. |
Frank Bowdon
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 8:27 am: | |
I guess I am too far away from my roots. I just read the news about Pat today (08-19-2008). I often wondered what became of him but never made the effort to reconnect.
We were room-mates on Forest in 1969 (along with Jim Caffrey). His bizzare view of the world (being chased by the Ho-Ho Rat, shooting the landlord with a bb gun, peyote movie night and teaching the cat to roll a joint) made life interesting.
I met my wife, Jackie, while I was ushering at his wedding to Dollye. The combination of Pat and Mike Inwood made Open City a bit like something out of a surrealist painting. Sometimes much to the chagrin of John Martin.
When it all became too much, Jackie and I moved to Troy. Dollye and Richard were right across the street. Pat came to visit, but the visits became almost non-existent after the Maharishi incident.
As some others have said, he changed then. However, I will choose to remember the Pat that always smiled, encouraged me to rail against the status quo and wrote poetry in jelly on the kitchen wall. |
Larry Dahlka AKA Larry Doll
| | Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 2:59 am: | |
Hi I just came across this posting and thought I'd add something small, but neat I seen Pat after the pie incident and asked him about it and he said to me a lot of people are saying this is God and that is God but this Guy said he was God, and I always wanted to hit God in the face with a pie.
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Al Marzian
| | Posted on Saturday, November 29, 2008 - 1:30 am: | |
I remember Pat from the time of the attack. I believe he was with The Shadow People street theater. In that group was Dwight Grimmett, Jeanie Mueller, Pat, and maybe someone else. I remember they made up a list of non negotiable demands (like repealing the law of gravity) of the Guru/con man. I remember he took pains not to hurt the kid.
After the attack, Pat was a changed person. Who could blame him.
Our activities were centered on Prentis street, then later on Avery in the old Boones Farm Commune house. Pat, you were a funny friendly guy. Sad you had to hasten your departure from this reality.
BTW, Pat, if you run across Dwight, tell him he owes me a ten spot. |
Blaccmlz
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 9:02 pm: | |
comment2, |
Rakesh
| | Posted on Monday, September 10, 2012 - 1:03 pm: | |
In urma discutiei teeoilnfce cu dvs.rog raspuns in legatura cu materialul pentru o comanda de 10 buc.lenjerii pat pentru o persoana(cod C01),14 buc lenjerii pat 2 persoane matrimonial(cod C03).Toate lenjeriile vreau sa fie din acelasi material (bumbac creponat) iar codurile materialelor le enumar in ordinea preferintelor:2101,,2701,4101,3501,2702,4901,1902, 1904,4305,4306.Referitor la fetele de perna,pentru toate cele 24 seturi,dimensiunile as dori sa fie 70/50 in loc de 75/75.Deasemenea ma intereseaza materialul cu codul5001 si 5002 pentru cate 2 bucati lenjerie de o persoana, si 1 buc.lenjerie 2 pers. cod (C02)din material 5001 , materialul cu cod 0201 pentru 1 buc.lenjerie 2 pers.pat matrimonial cu dimensiuni cod (C04)si o1 buc.lenjerie 2 persoane cod(C02)+4 fete perna 40/40,materialul cu cod 2202 pt.1 buc lenjerie 2 pers. cod(CS02) + 2 buc fete perna 40/40 (satinat creponat).Pentru naproane nu am vazut culorile si materialul,dar daca aveti ma intereseaza 10 buc verde maslina sau caramiziu si 5 buc.crem.Rog seriozitate.Multumesc |
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