Roky Erickson

Well, one more Roky Erickson song before we call a halt to October. This is actually not his scariest song (That is "Bloody Hammer" which I think is about a haunted insane asylum and is actually too horrifying for me to listen to very often), but I think it's a great one to have playing in your brain when you're out trick-or-treating. Or handing out candy. Or walking on a deserted path in the dark. What always makes Roky's stuff work in a way that other artists' forays into... MORE

So I was going to call my whole Halloween project to a halt because Sunday October 21 was the fourth anniversary of my late wife Kirsten's death from breast cancer. (I never say "passing" because a)it implies an afterlife she didn't believe in and b) it just reminds me of farting, which doesn't seem appropriately serious for what actually happened.) So, Kirsten's deathday having passed, I was feeling a little better and more able to focus on how incredibly lucky I am now... MORE

I couldn't resist following "Walking With a Ghost" with another even more minimal song about walking, Roky Erickson's "I Walked With a Zombie." In case you have trouble following along, I'll include the complete lyrics: I walked with a zombie (3x) Last Night. That's it. Is it about the movie of the same name (which airs tonight on TCM, by the way)(and which I blogged about here ) ? Is it, as legend has it, inspired by a nighttime walk through the mental hospi... MORE

It's probably possible to make all 31 days consist of Roky Erikson tracks, but I'll try to limit it to 15 or so. I've never understood why Roky gets so overlooked around Halloween, since he sings so convincingly about all things creepy. I guess there's kind of a voyeuristic quality to this--Roky Erikson has been institutionalized and apparently has a pretty tenuous grip on mental health, and so if he's singing with such conviction about demons and aliens and the like, it mig... MORE

Just cause I am such a fan and this is such a great song.

Just heard the most amazing Sound Opinions podcast about Roky Erickson. What an amazing life this man had and continues to have, absolutely harrowing and also truly inspiring. I believe the podcast was inspired by a new documentary out about Roky's life which is available on DVD. I intend on seeing it very soon. In the meantime, the podcast had clips of a tribute album put out in the 90's that sounds amazing! That should tide me over till I see the doc. In the meantime, here'... MORE

Palm Pictures is releasing a DVD about rock/psychedelic legend Roky Erickson on July 10th. Erickson was the force behind the revolutionary “13th Floor Elevators” in the sixties. Roky's tragic story that included drug binges, schizophrenia, and stay at Rusk hospital for the criminally insane is illustrated in the new film. You're Gonna Miss Me claims to "reveal the shocking & triumphant truth behind one of Rock's great mysteries".
The DVD also will include a so... MORE

By Kurt Loder Doing time in Hell with Roky Erickson, the great lost star of '60s psychedelia. Roky Erickson in 1967 (Palm Pictures) Texas singer and songwriter Roky Erickson, a man half-shrouded in myth and legend, is back. A lot of people may not be aware of it, though. A lot of people don't even know who he is. How can this be? Roky's best-known song, without a doubt, is "You're Gonna Miss Me," which he recorded in 1966 with his vanguard psychedelic band, the 13th... MORE

I won't bother recounting all the events I attended or helped out with this past weekend... but here's some Noise Pop 2007 highlights... While it came and went this past week already through San Francisco, the 15th year of Noise Pop... MORE

Roky Erickson & The Explosives (Great American Music Hall, SF, 3/1/07)
This is a moment I've been waiting for about 15 or 16 years, ever since I picked up vinyl copies of I Think Of Demons at the main branch of my public library and of Gremlins Have Pictures at one of the mainstay record stores of my youth. I've been waiting for it ever since I was struck all those years ago by the combination, then novel to me, of straight rock'n'roll with wailing vocals and song s... MORE

Damn, I love this album. I stumbled across it after listening to the 13th Floor Elevators for years. In case you do not know, the 13th Floor Elevators were a really awesome psychedelic/r&b/folk band from Texas in the 1960's. After a decade long hiatus (including a long stay in a mental hospital) Roky Erickson formed this band in the late 70's. This is a terrible analogy, but I would describe the Aliens as a mix of the Dead Boys and AC/DC with a hint of new-wave delivery (... MORE

Man, everytime I hear 'The Interpreter' by Roky Erickson it brings me back to a simpler time in life. Sitting in an friends apartment freshman year (he was an upper classman) , getting stoned out of our minds. Listening to the likes of Roky with another friend of mine that year, who just happened to be a sorta exchange student from Australia. He was the one who turned me onto Roky. Same time we would listen to Roxy Music and Pink Floyd. What a great bunch of mental advent... MORE

Madness, that’s what the more up tight puritanical forces would call those of us who embrace the terror and horror… really guys and girls it’s that we are either afraid of or have resigned ourselves to death, even the little death… but madness it is, cause we are all terminal.. and I bet that the Buddy Holly of Psychotronic Music Roky Erickson knows that better than most of us. Psychedelic pioneer and victim of the bazaar psychological medical industrial complex known as the ... MORE