The essential Roky Erickson documentary will finally be released on DVD July 10 of this year, a must see for anyone interested in the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson, or, for that matter, the real origins of psychadelic rock music. I saw this back in 2005 when it was still touring the festival circuit, and I was dissapointed that it wasn't eventually given a wider release, at least in the smaller independent theaters. It is not your conventional rock doc as Roky Erickson is not your conventional rock 'n' roll hero. You're Gonna Miss Me deals as much with Roky's mother, Evelyn, and her weird, manipulative relationship with her son as it does with Roky and the Elevators and his indelible fingerprints on psychadelic music. While this might be dissapointing to those in search of early Elevator's footage, (though there is some of this) the documentary more importantly reveals how key a figure Evelyn was and remains to be in Roky's life, and the implications this relationship has had on his music. Much is explained in this film about Roky's early years: his innability to handle heavy experimentation with psychadelic drugs, the inevitable unravelling of the band, and his mental-shock treatment that changed his life forever; his mother is a dynamic enough character to keep the film interesting througout, her surrealist folk-art creations as unsettlingly metaphoric as they are disturbing to behold. The film is funny at times and sad too and there are scenes where Roky casts his own mental condition into doubt; most importantly, though, it succeeds in revealing who Roky Erickson truly is and from where on this planet he has come.
