Rock and roll in Electric Purgatory at MFAH tonight

Friday night funtime reminder!! Houston filmmaker Raymond Gayle's film Electric Purgatory shows at 7pm tonight at MFAH. The film is a documentary examining the lives and musical contributions of black rock musicians, such as Fish Bone, Jimi Hazel, Jimi Hendrix, ?uestlove and many more.

This documentary is a lively contribution to the history of rock music, examining reasons behind the lack of commercial success experienced by many contemporary black rock musicians. Blending classic performance footage from Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince with music and opinions from the current generation of artists — among them Fishbone, Living Colour, and the Roots — the film tackles such difficult questions as the ambivalence of the music industry towards black rockers and their complicated relationships with African-American audiences.

Raymond spent over a year traveling the country visiting with black musicians and rock enthusiasts trying to discern the ultimate fate of the Black Rock Musician. You can listen to a recent MFAH MCast interview about the film here and check out a cool Black Musician timeline here.