the big news in new york this weekend is that roky erickson is going to play his first ever live shows there, so if you are lucky you will squeeze your way in the venues (april 13 at southpaw; april 15 at bowery ballroom) and witness what is sure to be a dang exciting evening. we will have a chickfactor representative sizing it up for you later, but in the meantime if you cannot get in you might want to watch the roky erickson biopic instead entitled you’re gonna miss me, which will be screening at manhattan’s cinema village on june 8 and showing at some other fine cinemas. I saw the film at the london film festival in 2005 — interestingly it was in the same week I saw the townes van zandt biopic, which at least focused on the great man’s music a bit. the roky film is fascinating but it does leave you feeling like you know a little too much about someone else’s dysfunctional family and because he doesn’t talk too much, it even feels a tad exploitative. nevertheless, it’s a fine document about a true american musical original and it is amazing what the man has survived. and while we’re on the subject of mercurial texans (though he wasn’t always a texan), if you haven’t seen jeff feuerzeig’s film about daniel johnston, it is out on dvd and we highly recommend it. roky is also playing a few summer festivals in europe so see him if you can.