I think of Demons for you

Oh.

Gotta love the picture, though.

"His appearance and three song set at SXSW . . "

I hadn't heard, and a return to live performance certainly does deserve a thread.

How was he? He looks in fair fettle, for all he's been through.

Well, I wasn't there. Same person who forwarded that cover to me also forwarded this, don't know if it's an article from that magazine or what, but it's nice, anyway:

Amid all the SXSW mania, the one thing I was determined not to miss -- and
as this was NOT part of the industry group-grope, but a benefit gig for
Roky, it actually might be of interest to folks here -- the first time Roky
performed in 10 years. It was at Threadgill's on Saturday afternoon and had
several other bands including the Gris-Gris and Michelle Shocked. A massive
rainstorm interrupted things for about 45 minutes but after that it was full
steam ahead. Chemically balanced, lucid and beaming from ear to ear, the
13th Floor Elevators legend strapped on his guitar, nodded at the Explosives
(his early ?80s band reunited, featuring Cam King and Freddie Krc, who also
did a couple of songs before Roky came on) and stepped to the mic. Just 3
songs ? a jangly/buoyant ?Starry Eyes,? creepy-crawl blooze ?The Beast? and
an incendiary, primal, howling ?Two Headed Dog? ? but that was enough.
Roky?s back; the earth has officially tilted on its axis. What also struck
me was how, in addition to how good his voice was (you can still hear that
old yelp, vigorous as ever) was what a good electric guitar player he was.
On "The Beast" Roky took several killer leads and did some mini-dueling with
Cam... really inspiring stuff.

I rode to the gig with Krc, Roky's drummer, who's an old friend of mine, and
he told all about the rehearsals and such; they only worked up about 5 songs
total so I knew to expect just a mini-set, although as it turns out they
might have played more had the P.A. not gotten a short in it towards the end
of "Two Headed Dog." That kinda unsettled Roky so he decided 3 tunes were
enough. I was also lucky enough to speak to Roky for a bit later on, and one
thing he said sticks out: "Let's do it again!" he said, when I asked about
any future performances, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

A couple of days before there was an interesting Elevators panel at SXSW
that had Roky, some of the surviving band members (no Tommy Hall, however,
who Krc says is a great guy but definitely... out there) plus Bill Bentley
(of Warner Brothers, who is writing an Elevators bio) and Roky's brother.
More or less interesting, as panels are always a case of "more or less."
There's also a new documentary film out about the band that I unfortunately
missed due to my schedule but which should be available sometime later this year.
FYI, if anyone is mulling over the purchase of the 2-CD "I Have Always Been
Here Before" Roky anthology, it's well worth the investment. Just to be able
to digitally replace my old singles and EPs from the late '70s made it worth
it for me. Great liner notes from Bentley, too, not to mention some
incredible fotos.

I guess it's something from an email list he's on or something?

Thanks for the update. I had heard that his personal circumstances had taken a turn for the better in recent years, and that his health had significantly improved as a result. Glad to hear it confirmed.

Look forward to the documentary. Be seeing some serious garage enthusiasts at the Chocolate Watchband show in Glasgow tomorrow - I'll pass on any news and stories that come my way.