Now I'm Home (to Stay): Roky Erickson Documentary You're Gonna Miss Me

YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME
(Keven McAlester, US, 2005, 35mm, 92 mins.)

I am not a member of the human race (not an earthling) and am in fact an alien from a planet other than earth.
--Roky's Declaration, June, 13, 1975

Before watching You're Gonna Miss Me, I had just finished reading Eye Mind, Paul Drummond's exhaustively researched biography of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators. So, I already knew about the psychedelic Texan and his mystical band of miscreants. Not that they're a new interest.

I'm not sure when I first heard the 13th Floor Elevators, but it was probably 20 years ago. Since then, I've been collecting their records (three full-lengths and a mess of bootlegs), following Roky's ups and downs, and writing about his work for a variety of venues.

That makes me an informed fan, though not exactly a scholar. Drummond and Keven McAlester, on the other hand, are experts on Erickson's strange and fascinating career. The book was eight years in the making, while the film took six (both began in 1999). Further, McAlester, a former Texan, is credited as one of the book's researchers, while Drummond, a Brit--like Julian Cope, who penned the foreword--appears in the film.

To be an expert doesn't just necessitate an intimacy with Roky's recordings, but with Texas, hallucinogens, and mental illness. Texas, for instance, helped to make Roky the unique individual that he was--and remains. And in the form of its draconian drug laws, it conspired to destroy him (he did three years in a mental institute for possession). Like the book, the movie recounts Roky's rise, fall, and resurgence.

You may think you've heard this story before--and maybe you have--but that doesn't make it any less compelling. And the parallels with Be Here to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt and The Devil and Daniel Johnston are hard to deny: the three musicians all hail from the same state, two were subjected to shock treatment (Erickson and Van Zandt), and two were touched by madness (Erickson and Johnston).

And this isn't in the film, but not only did Erickson and Van Zandt co-habitate for a spell in 1968--they even dated the same woman--but Erickson and Johnston used to watch old horror movies together in the mid-1980s, inspiring Johnston's tribute, "I Met Roky Erickson" on the 1989 album with Jad Fair It's Spooky. It should also be noted that Richard Linklater associate Lee Daniel shot both You're Gonna Miss Me and Be Here to Love Me.

That said, McAlester's movie pivots on Roky's guardianship proceedings, and that certainly sets it apart from these other documentaries (the book covers the same territory, but not in as much depth). After making a splash with the Elevators in the 1960s, he pursued a solo career in the 1970s and 1980s, but years of heavy hallucinogenic use-over 300 acid trips-combined with pre-existing psychological problems, led to virtual incapacitation by the 1990s. The trial was arranged to transfer Roky's care from his eccentric mother, Evelyn, who doesn't believe in therapy-she prefers prayer-to Roky's younger brother, Sumner, who does.

Consequently, You're Gonna Miss Me revolves around Evelyn as much as it does Roky (his father, Roger, also puts in a brief appearance). While it's easy to sympathize with the sweet, if addled singer, his mother presents more of a challenge.

There's no doubt that Mrs. Erickson loves her oldest son, but doting on him to the exclusion of his siblings appears to have laid the groundwork for the trouble to come, since Roky never learned how to take care of himself. Instead, he bounced from woman to woman before returning to Evelyn--which seems to be the plan all along. Sumner, a classical musician based in Pennsylvania, turns out to be a bit of an odd duck, too, but one with a firmer grip on reality.

By the end of the documentary, Roky is finally on the road to recovery, though I wish McAlester had been able to film for another year or two (fortunately, the DVD includes a postscript). As the book concludes, Roky has progressed beyond what the director was able to portray on screen.

Since its completion, he's started playing out again. First, a few gigs in Austin, where he returned after a sojourn in Pittsburgh, and now he's hitting locales that were beyond his grasp as a member of the Elevators (International Artists promised, but never provided any tour support).

As a taster for Roky's performance at this year's Bumbershoot, You're Gonna Miss Me gets the job done, even if his inimitable music takes a backseat to his mental state. For more on the former, Eye Mind delivers a greater share of the goods. The two complement each other well.  

Sometimes people write something kind about what we did,
and I think, "Why not the Seeds, why not the 13th Floor Elevators?"
--Iggy Pop on the Stooges

 

You're Gonna Miss Me opens at the Northwest Film Forum on Fri., 8/24. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave on Capitol Hill. Roky Erickson and the Explosions play the Mural Ampitheater on Mon., 9/3 (followed by fellow Texan Steve Earle). Eye Mind: the Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, the Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound is set to be released in November. Images from Alternative Press, Amazon, and Michael Corcoran's Overserved (Evelyn and Roky 1991. Photo by Martha Grenon).