Rocket Boy: Intergalactic space mercenary (and out of work porn actor)
A kind soul has posted a segment from my old British Disinformation TV series—which was on Channel 4 way back in 2000 and 2001—the one about “space mercenary” Rocket Boy, a quirky individual who apparently believed himself to be a superhero (half cat/half human) and who fronted a noise rock band, also called Rocket Boy. He was never, ever out of character, as far as I could tell the few times I was around him. He always wore a cape, a plastic helmet and carried a kiddie toy “ray gun.”
He was kind of like a real-life version of the Martian that Bugs Bunny meets.
I am Rocket Boy, space mercenary of the universe!
I ‘stroy world and planets.
I kill people and blow up their heads.
Just a-cause you pay me the most doesn’t mean that I obey you!
I saw his band play once in a dive bar in downtown Los Angeles in the early 1990s. The “musicians” just made great/terrible noise while Rocket Boy screamed. All of the music in this piece is his own recorded material. He also made a bizarre cameo in a porno film. It’s difficult to imagine anyone (besides him) getting off on it (and you’ll never think of cream corn the same way ever again, so be warned). I heard that he passed away a few years back.
In the clip below—one of my favorites from the series—directed by Brian Butler and shot and edited by Nimrod Erez, Rocket Boy goes head-to-head with his landlord and upstairs neighbor, Captain Art. Rocket Boy lived in Art’s basement in San Pedro and you see, they just never got along…