[AGL] You're Gonna Miss Me

[Gerry]

Yes, Roky looked just like her when they were the same age, amazing resemblance. Donny and Mikel looked just like the father, Roger, Scandinavian blondes, could have been twins. Sumner more like Roky and Mom. Never met Ben.

Back in the 70's Donny was the stable one. Mikel used to consult him. Boy did Donny change. Very little talk about Mikel in the flick, probably in prison when it was being made, in only one scene. Of all the brothers I was closest to him for a few years. I wonder if schizophrenia is in the genes? 

BTW, it was Mikel who bribed the shrinks who ultimately declared Roky to be sane and secured his release from Rusk. The story in the flick was that one of the docs happened to be in Rusk and was surprised to see Roky there and got him out. Mikel sent the doc. Cost him altogether around $25K as I recall. At that time it was he, rather than Sumner, who went to bat for the crazy brother. But Dana snatched Roky away and Mikel could not deal with her. Little thanks for his efforts as opposed to those of Sumner, officially forgotten now that it was not in the flick. Sumner appears to be quite a cat, never met him, hell of a tuba player. We were all wondering how Roky would be when he got out. He was great, at first, skinny and pale but healthy, way better than when he went in. Told us he had been playing music and had a lot of new songs. Then we heard the songs, Two-Headed Dog and its like, wow! ...the power of schizophrenia...not pop material.

Mikel had two children with Patty. She took them with her to California when she and Mikel broke up. When he was grown, the son, Jason, returned and whipped Mikel's ass...had to go to the emergency room. Mikel claimed that he won the fight, didn't look like it. Poor Mikel was the opposite of his brother; a Capricorn to the brother's Cancer, bold and Mars-like to his brother's sweet Venus, an underground operative to the shining rock star...never had a chance with Mom. 
G


                                                                                                                          
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fontaine Maverick 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 2:38 PM
  Subject: Re: [AGL] You're Gonna Miss Me


  I saw it a while back, and remember the unadorned intimacy between roky and his mother, and between roky and sumner, which is pretty amazing considering roky was "not of this world". I thought sumner was a brave soul for taking on the project of rehabilitating a mad older brother. Did you see the Austin Chronicle cover photo of Roky about a year after this movie was finished? Wore a top hat, new teeth. Lovely.
  Hope everyone knows that Roky is doing reasonably well now.

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Gerry 
    To: ghetto 
    Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 7:30 PM
    Subject: [AGL] You're Gonna Miss Me


    I checked out the above titled documentary on Netflix and watched it last night. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Some of the "facts" were off a bit but all in all it was a good. 

    There were lots of scenes in and around Austin, driving down familiar streets in South Austin, etc. and some familiar faces, now old people.

    Anyone who has a young friend who wants to be a rock and roller should require them to see this flick, a rare peek through the hype.
    G
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