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“In 1972, Ra shot the feature-length film Space is the Place. Set in Oakland and directed by John Coney, the movie features Ra and company in Egyptian costumes borrowed from a local Masonic temple; a wonderfully bizarre mix of blacksploitation biopic and philosophical rant, it deftly refers to Ra’s growing visibility, warily speculating on the possibility of his having “sold out.” On the set, the band and the actors dotted the northern California landscape even more vividly than the hippies had a few years prior. In a parking lot, waiting to film, Ra’s rainbow robes fluttered in the wind as an anonymous member of the entourage snapped candid photos. For Ra, there was no real division between onstage and offstage persona. He was always on.” From John Corbett’s essay in Sun Ra + Ayé Aton: Space, Interiors and Exteriors, 1972, out now from Picturebox and in stores.