Austin Music Awards 2008 Photo licensed under Creative CommonsMy opinions about the people in the documentary You're Gonna Miss Me are based on what I saw and what I've read. I don't know these people personally. Having said that, I'll toss some ideas around about Roky Erickson, his situation and his family.
I watched the documentary a second time, and I saw things a bit differently. I understand Roky's mother better. She is an extremely bright woman with an elevated vocubulary. She is a frustrated performer who still dreams of being on the stage. Unfortunately, she is more than a pack rat. She appears to be a hoarder of the stacks of junk and filth around her that keep her at a low level of functioning.
Roky's youngest brother Sumner talks about growing up in a decaying house and the need to make noise before entering the kitchen so the rats would run away. The mother and the silent father did not teach their children to solve their own problems, at least by example. It's no wonder that the mom could not release Roky from his inward prison, no matter how much she loves him, when she's stuck in one herself.
Toward the end of the documentary, Roky has been with his youngest brother Sumner for one year, and he has grown beyond Sumner's hopes. Yet, it's evident that Sumner has invested a large part of himself to bring about his brother's rehabilitation. He pays for Roky's dental work; he arranges three therapy visits per week. Hopefully the therapist can help Sumner stay grounded to continue with this significant undertaking and to break away to help himself whenever it might be necessary.
When I watched the movie the second time, I had researched both "Roky Erickson" and "the 13th Floor Elevator," to understand the chronology of events and music. Roky had written and recorded more music after his stay in the mental hospital(s), but his music and lyrics were heavily fueled by his hospital experience. Some titles from the early eighties are: "I Think of Demons," "Stand for the Fire Demon," "I Walked with a Zombie," and "Don't Shake Me Lucifer."
I enjoy Roky's bluesy tunes interspersed throughout the documentary. I look forward to hearing his new album coming out in in a couple of months, and I'll be curious to hear his new lyrics. I've pre-ordered this album True Love Cast Out All Evil from Amazon.
As Sumner says, no one will ever know what hurt Roky the most: the EST, the acid (and street drugs), or the pre-existing schizophrenia. I can give a distant opinion without being privvy to all the private details:
From my own life experience, any drug that alters the mind can trigger a neurosis, so I'm quite sure it would trigger a psychosis as well. There was a time when I thought LSD was making me smarter, until I started getting stupid. It took me maybe 15 times to figure this out; in addition, I watched people around me getting strange. I knew exactly two people who thought they were Jesus. From what I've heard, Roky took LSD maybe 300 times.
Psychiatrists use mighty powerful drugs to stabilize their patients. The wrong psych drug can flip somebody out. The wrong psych drug can make changes to the brain that are long-lasting. When the wrong psych drug debilitates a patient and moves him further toward isolation, the mental health system rarely takes responsibility for what they've done.
Electroshock Therapy is barberic. It may help some people, but not when it's administered with hostility. If you picture One Flew Over the Cuckew's Nest, and you believe that scenario can happen, then consider what being locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane might be like.
The atmosphere of our culture has changed dramatically since the late sixties. Conservatives, especially law enforcement, HATED long-haired people and anyone who looked like a hippie or played popular music. The 13th Floor Elevator espoused the use of LSD to expand the brain. Consequently, the law constantly had its eye on Roky. Was the law out to get Roky? Yes.
Due to the mindset of law enforcement, it is likely they chose to teach young Roky a lesson. Arrest him for one joint. Make an example out of him. Throw the key away. He can only walk away from a mental hospital so many times. It doesn't matter that he shouldn't have been there in the first place. Roky Erickson had gone to a mental hospital to avoid prison. He and his friends didn't take the hospital's lack of security seriously. When his visitors kept helping him escape, the authorities put Roky in a hospital for the CRIMINALLY INSANE....for possession of one joint! And while he was there, possession of marijuana was decriminalized, and he was still there! Who can watch this documentary or read this story without utter frustration?
During the years since 2001 when Roky left his mother's care, he has returned to writing and playing music. The most detailed description of Roky's progress as of 2005 has been written by Margaret Moser for the Austin Chronicle that she called Starry Eyes.
I've written three blogs on the topic of Roky Erikson, with little said about the other band members of the 13th Floor Elevators. I tried to be accurate, but I'm not a historian. Part 3 has much opinion thrown in. If anyone objects to something I've said, please comment.
I'm hoping that Roky Erickson will tour the San Francisco Bay Area, preferably the East Bay. You can watch for tour dates at tour dates at www.rokyerickson.net/
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