You're Gonna Miss Me

From the film synopsis: “Outside Austin, Texas, a 53-year-old man sleeps to the melody of four radios, three televisions, two amps, a radio scanner, and a Casio keyboard, all playing at the same time. Loudly. He has three teeth and his hair is matted into one huge dreadlock.” Like The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Keven McAlester's documentary You're Gonna Miss Me focuses on a rock singer struggling with serious psychological problems (including schizophrenia) exacerbated by major drug abuse (LSD, heroin). The subject is Texas native Roky Erickson, who became a cult figure as lead singer of the 13th Floor Elevators, a band at the forefront of the psychedelic rock movement during the 1960s. Erickson's musical history is interesting enough (he pioneered the use of feedback in performances), but the story of his personal life is the real draw here. Erickson's mother Evelyn (a decidedly peculiar woman) was an arguably negative influence on Roky, preferring religion to conventional medicine as her son's mental illness led to incarceration and hospitalization. In fact, the film is structured around a 2001 legal case that transferred guardianship from Evelyn to Erickson's younger brother Sumner, a classical tuba player, after which Erickson progressed during treatment and therapy. Combining extensive interviews (with family members, music critics, and admiring musicians) combined with archival stills/footage, You're Gonna Miss Me suffers a bit from ramshackle organization and sequences that are often allowed to run on too long, but there's a degree of fascination, even inspiration, in Erickson's decline, fall, and partial recovery that the film effectively captures. DVD extras include two follow-up featurettes (one of which finds Erickson at the 2006 Austin City Limits music festival), selected music performance clips, deleted scenes, home videos, and more. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)