bridgecity's Diaryland Diary

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Roky

The first time I heard Roky Erickson was in 1994. His schizophrenic reputation had preceded him and I never liked that about an artists’ reputation so I never sought out his music. A few years later I became a full convert.

The first time I saw Roky live was in 2011 at a “psychedelic” music festival I was working at in Austin. Some friends of mine had worked hard to arrange this show and he was the headliner the first night. He sounded as good as he did 40 years earlier. I could barely believe how good it was. He played for an hour, mostly 13th Floor Elevators stuff, Bloody Hammer, I Walked With a Zombie, Night of the Vampire, You Don’t Love Me Yet, the hits. I met his mom and tried to talk with Roky afterward but he was clearly overwhelmed with medication.

Three years later Roky was touring and I saw him at a club in San Antonio. It was intimate and loud. He played almost the same set as the last time I saw him. A totally different band accompanied him. He kept strumming his guitar and looking at it like something was wrong. I realized his guitar was not turned up. He didn’t understand what was wrong and just kept singing and absently strumming.

In 2016 a friend told me Roky was doing a secret show in the backyard of a dive bar far south of town. It was springtime and cool out. About 200 people were there by invitation only. He again played almost the exact same set I saw him do twice. Also again his guitar wasn’t turned up and he was confused about it. I could tell he wasn’t playing along with the songs and the band had instructed the sound guy to turn him off if this happened. But he was singing perfectly. His voice was immaculate and strong. The crowd was very close and he could feel the eyes on him. I could feel his disease and see it in his eyes. He was scared and confused. His band was shaky and maybe thrown together at the last minute. The band members were totally different yet again. His voice was the only thing holding it together.

8:52 p.m. - 2019-06-18

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