You're Gonna Miss Me

This documentary tells the story of Roky Erickson, formally the lead singer of 60s' psychedelic rock band "13th Floor Elevators" and the 70s' "Roky Erickson and the Aliens". It quickly establishes a modern day, shambling, overweight Roky. He now stays in a three room apartment, listening to many ear-splitting sounds at once - a TV playing cartoons, a radio playing feedback, an electronic organ playing a test tune, and more. Roky settles into this, pulls down his shades and falls asleep. His mother says: "It's only when I turn them off that he wakes up". YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME explores what's going on in Erickson's head that he so desperately needs to silence.

Erickson did a lot of drugs in the 60s'... before and after 13th Floor Elevators' "You're Gonna Miss Me" was a big hit. LSD, straight acid, weed, the usual suspects. He became known to the local police, and was eventually arrested for having a "matchbox sized" amount of cannabis. His lawyer, wanting to keep Erickson out of prison, pleaded insanity... tentatively calling him schizophrenic. Not a good move. Erickson was shifted off to the nearby insane asylum... one that recently had severe riots. In one incident, the inmates strapped one of the doctors to a table and said "Let's shock him 'til he s***s" in an attempt to recreate what they'd had to endure. As Erickson arrives, few doctors want to practice there and the inmates are the craziest of the crazy. Erickson is there for almost five years, writing music, getting Etc treatments, and eventually forming a band with child molesters, incestual rapists, and family killers. Two of the band were all three of those.

Erickson shuts off his brain to survive, but is eventually freed after a lawyer wonders why a guy locked up for marijuana and schizophrenia has been banged up with violent criminals. But, of course, the Roky that is released is even more messed up. He thinks he's a space alien, with evil voices constantly talking to him. In an attempt to help him, one friend gets him to sign a document ("with a gold seal to make it look serious") where he professes to the world that he's an alien. He figures this is the only way the voices will stop pestering him. The voices need to accept Roky is one of their own.

What's fascinating about YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME is that it continues from there. All that exposition I've just given is only a small part of the story. Everything could have easily been presented as another tale of a 60s' musician driven loopy by too many drugs. But it isn't. Erickson is cared for by his slightly batty mother, who's the only person he's willing to see. She doesn't want him taking schizophrenic meds... while one of his brothers - a renowned tuba player - wants to "save" Roky.

The documentary doesn't offer any concrete answers and it's refreshing for that. The mother is blighted by religion and borderline insanity, while Erickson's brother is in serious therapy and at one stage weeps in the arms of his therapist. Yet at various stages both are sympathetic. Even Roky is sometimes an irritation as well as being someone you feel desperately sorry for. It was also good to see a documentary without a voice-over, the power of which is evident when Roky's father leaves the brother's house for the walk home... just see where he ends up, folks.

YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME blows some of the few remaining myths about the joys of excessive drug use, but also explodes myths on therapy and recovery. It reminded me of CRUMB in that the stories of the people around the protagonist are as interesting - if not more so - than the focus of the documentary. Although a few people I had heard of (the Angry Samoans' Mike and Butthole Surfers' Gibby) turn up in the documentary, the full story of Erickson had completely passed me by. It was certainly a lucky accident to come across YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME. Unlike some of the drug literature I've read, I'm very glad I checked this out. It's insightful, and highly recommended. And, hell, the final scene even brings a good ol' tear to the eye.

Was really wowed by this film. There are moments of utter brilliance, both comedic and dramatic. I laughed throughout the entire film, but the whole thing was suffused with a tragic tenderness that squeezed my heart. Rocky as a young musician is irresistible--charming, handsome, talented, charismatic. Rocky as an aging, mentally ill, reclusive former rocker is equally irresistible. The film takes us on an incredible journey from one to the other and stands out because in Rocky's world, there doesn't seem to be one bedrock of sanity. The filmmaker creates a world completely oblivious and impervious to the one we live in; one we see but can't really believe exists. The music is phenomenal. Truly one of America's untold rock legends.

In late 1965/early 1966,a band from Austin,Texas,named The 13th Floor Elevators exploded out of the garage & made a name for themselves in that era of rock & roll. The Elevators were said to coin the phrase, "Psychedelic Rock". One of the band members was Roger Keynard Erikson,coined "Roky" by his friends & fans. Roky,in the spirit of the times,experimented with various drugs (Marijuana,LSD,Heroin,etc.). After an arrest (that was obviously set up by the Texas feds)for possessing less than an ounce of Marijuana,his lawyer sought out an insanity plea & spent four years in a state psychiatric hospital,where he was diagnosed schizophrenic,emerged four years later & returned to music,but with a much darker edge,until he retired from music in 1987 and became a recluse. This well documented film manages to shed light on a troubled soul that was yanked from the limelight way too soon. Candid interviews with several of those who either knew him closely (his brothers & mother),as well as celebrities,such as fellow Texans, Billy Gibbons (Z.Z.Top),Gibby Haynes (The Butthole Surfers),Byron Coley (former editor of Forced Exposure),and a bevy of others. And then of course,the music (rare early film clips of The 13th Floor Elevators on American Bandstand,playing the film's title song,'You're Gonna Miss Me,as well as other performance footage,including the last time he was seen in public at a concert where he stood there,doing nothing,and if that wasn't enough,some rarely seen home movie footage of Roky,and the rest of his family). A sad,but insightful film. Not rated by the MPAA,this film serves up a few rude words,as well as spoken testimony of the horrors of Roky's four nightmare years in a mental institution,and descriptions of some of the more sordid aspects of the 1960's hippie counter culture (drugs,sexual experimentation,etc.)

It has the hallmarks of myth, a touch of Oedipus...a younger brother rescuing his older sibling from his mother... There's craziness, but whether its inherited, or ingested or otherwise invoked, it's hard to tell.

The film is vexingly perplexing, so though I was captivated while watching it, upon reflection it feels a little bit like an ambulance gawk. Contrasting the free recklessness of Roky's Elevator youth with his tentative steps at the end of the film is dizzying. He just seems like a husk of a man through most of the movie.

The image of him turning on all sorts of noise generators in his cramped apartment to help soothe him to sleep. Fascinating.

So I'm glad to read reports here and elsewhere that Roky is if not back, more on track. But I regard them with some suspicion, he's addled innocence seems to invite Svengalis. Footage from the mother's film archives was oddly awesome in a raw, and real outsider...yet creative way. The absent father gets a little screen time, yet a pretty strong indictment in passing. The brother seems caught between a lot of magnetic poles, his own crises rise up...he bites off more than he can chew with Roky...and then as an afterthought we find out he lives next door to said absent father?!?!

Weird is the word...

And I've left out the channeling therapist (you got to walk before you can rock?) and the once-upon-a-time defenders of electroshock and that track suit guy who celebrates with Sumner at the end.

At the end, like any family suffering, I wish them the best, at least some form of solace. And I wonder if Roky ever sort of misses Roky?

After seeing the movie, I still felt I didn't know the Roky Erickson story. Surprisingly little music. Too much focus on Roky's mom. She was unusual but not interesting enough to carry the movie.

The obvious comparison is to the Daniel Johnston documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" - that is the better movie. The decline into schizophrenia is more visible. Note that I am a BIG Roky fan and only a marginal Daniel Johnston fan.

Despite the review, if the movie is showing along with a performance of Roky Erickson and the Explosives - GO SEE IT! It is very interesting to compare the real Roky with the documentary Roky. Also the backing band ROCKS!!