The Return of Roky Erickson Part 3

I love this photo of Roky Erickson at the 2008 Austin Music Awards:

Austin Music Awards 2008 Photo licensed under Creative Commons

My 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.

The Return of Roky Erickson Part 2

The 13th Floor Elevators were the highly respected pioneers of psychedelic rock. Chet Helms, the rock promoter of the once famous Avalon Ballroom gives Roky Erickson credit for much of Janis Joplin’s stage presence. Singer/poet Patti Smith says that she would play her 13th Floor Elevator LPs over and over, going to sleep to them and, waking up to them.

I was a bit leery to watch the documentary You're Gonna Miss Me because it's about someone extremely wounded--by both mental illness and the mental healthcare system itself. I didn’t want to see that beautiful front man for the Elevators turn into someone broken. I'm very curious to know what hurt Roky the most: the LSD and other drugs he took, the potent medications (drugs) and electroshock therapy the "doctors" gave him, or the mental illness that was a part of Roky's makeup. But I will delve into this question in Part 3.

Although You’re Gonna Miss Me is a sad story, there is sweetness to this documentary that begins in 2001 in a Travis County Texas courtroom as Roky’s brother Sumner petitions the court for guardianship of Roky. He wants to lift Roky out of poverty and get him medical care. He dreams of Roky playing music again.

In the years that their mother took on the job of caregiver, Roky has declined further into isolation, poverty and nothingness. At the point this movie begins, Roky will only speak to his mother and no one else. When the mother testifies before the judge, she seems more concerned about the sadness of her own life than the outcome of the court hearing.

The Return of Roky Erickson Part 1

You’re Gonna Miss Me is a documentary that chronicles the life of Roky Erickson, front man for the 1960s psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. The band was popular when I was in high school. I heard about the movie and thought, what the heck; this movie about the singer might be kind of interesting, but it really grabbed me.

Toward the beginning of the documentary, there is footage of Roky and the band performing their hit single, “You’re Gonna Miss me,” You may have heard this song in the opening sequence of the movie Hi Fidelity. Dell Computers also featured the song in their 2006 ad for their XPS laptop. I've searched high and low for a decent video of this band that should have been seen by the whole world. I hope you'll settle for a good audio of "You're Gonna Miss Me" to HEAR Roky on vocals and guitar, Tommy Hall on the electric jug, and Stacy Sutherland playing some amazing lead guitar. Good gosh. I almost forgot about Roky on the harmonica. This band was clearly ahead of his time.

I plan to write a blog that lists the top 50 screamers of rock 'n' roll, like Jim Morrison in L.A. Woman or James Brown in just about anything. Please check out the delicious screams of "You're Gonna Miss Me."

Everyone at YouTube tries to upload the same shoddy film clip of the band’s 1966 performance on American Bandstand. I think you have to watch the documentary to see the only cleaned up version, which knocks my socks off. Roky, an extremely fine-looking individual, plays guitar and sings like a wild man. Only a few famous people possess that kind of stage presence. I’m a self-proclaimed music buff, and I honestly had no idea what we all missed when this band left the music scene way too soon.

The 13th Floor Elevators were the first “psychedelic” band. The members of the band believed in the mind-expanding virtues of LSD. (I once held the belief that LSD expanded the mind as well.) Those of us who survived until 2010 can clearly see how damaging LSD is to the brain. But so are psych drugs and other barberic remedies used by mental hospitals.