Kevin McAlester's documentary on Roky Erickson makes its premier at Cinema Village on June 8th. Cinema Village is at 22 E. 12th Street in the Village.

Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures will be releasing Keven McAlester’s directorial debut film YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME in theatres and on DVD. Recently nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, the film details the rise and fall of rock legend Roky Erickson, whose band, The 13th Floor Elevators, coined the 1960’s term “psychedelic rock.”

YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME will have a limited theatrical release starting in New York on June 8, and the DVD release shortly following on July 10th.

Outside Austin, Texas, a 53-year-old man sits in an apartment with four radios, three televisions, two amps, a radio scanner, and a Casio electric piano playing all at the same time. Loudly. He has three teeth, his hair is matted into one huge dreadlock, and he has a notarized document on his wall declaring himself an alien, "so whoever's putting shocks to my head will stop."

This is the story of Roky Erickson: the manic singer and front man for the legendary band, The 13th Floor Elevators who are considered by many to be the creators of psychedelic music and muse to Janis Joplin. YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME is a disturbingly intimate portrait of an imploding family and the struggle between modernized medicine and religion. Known for his colossal heroin and LSD binges and an ongoing struggle with schizophrenia, Roky has become one of music's legendary tragic figures.

First arrested for carrying one joint of marijuana, Roky enters an insanity plea, which lands him in a minimum-security mental hospital. After numerous attempts to escape, the state of Texas transfers him to Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane, where he undergoes a series of implausible shock treatments, leaving this rock virtuoso a scarce whisper of his former self.

Now kept under lock and key by his mother Evelyn---who refuses him any treatment beyond love, prayer, and a view of psychiatry gleaned from the shows that she has seen on television. Erickson becomes the centerpiece of a surreal family struggle and the blank screen onto which those around him project their re-imagined pasts and hopeful futures.

Roky appears to be getting back on his feet and is playing two shows in town this month (which are both sold out). Here is his current tour itinerary:

April 13 Brooklyn NY @ SOUTHPAW
April 15 New York, NY @ BOWERY BALLROOM
May 2 New Orleans, LA @ PONDEROSA STOMP
April 28 Indio, CA @ COACHELLA FESTIVAL
June 18 SWEDEN @ HULTSFRED FESTIVAL
Jule 6 DENMARK @ ROSKILDE FESTIVAL
July 8 FINLAND @ RUISROCK FESTIVAL
August 8-11 NORWAY @ OYA FESTIVAL

If anyone has an extra ticket for the Southpaw show, please drop me an email.

Links:
You're Gonna Miss Me Movie (www.rokymovie.com)
Roky Erickson's Main Site (www.rokyerickson.com)