Peter's music has been heard on hundreds of radio stations and has been on SiriusXM rotation for over a decade. As a multi-award winning artist, Peter's music has also topped Billboard's Classical and Crossover charts.
For Captain Beefheart, a maverick-artist-musician, who was not just a complicated man but highly demanding and by most accounts very difficult to deal with. It was appropriate that Beefheart's Magic Band was to prominently feature a bassist as accomplished, bold and adventurous as Mark Boston, a.k.a Rockette Morton.
Born on July 14, 1949, Mark began life in the small town of Salem, Illinois before his family moved out to Lancaster, California when he was 13. With a bassist and steel player for a father, Mark gained a great appreciation for country and bluegrass along with the R&B and rock’n’roll that was on the rise. Within a year of the Boston clan moving out to Lancaster, Mark befriended a young guitarist by the name of Bill Harkleroad.
At a time when the bass guitar was seen as the dummy’s instrument, Mark left quite an impression on Bill with his talent and equipment, leading to the two joining forces to form BC And The Cavemen. With Mark’s mother sewing some outfits for them, the band developed a decent reputation, and the two would also play in a band with Jeff Cotton and John French known as Blues In A Bottle. And then a local hero came calling. Or perhaps screaming and howling!
In that same Lancaster scene, Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band were making a big splash as a top flight blues rock outfit, with 'Safe As Milk' having made a strong impression and 'Strictly Personal' being a strong record as well. But even with a sound that was speaking to people, one that perhaps would have been a more pragmatic one as far as a career goes, Don Van Vliet just wasn’t meant for conventional norms.
The Captain had all these ideas, ideas far too out for many, including early members. He needed new musicians, younger and more impressionable ones that wouldn’t object to his ideas. Already having John and Jeff in the band, now 'Drumbo' and Antennae Jimmy Semens, he then recruited Bill, dubbed Zoot Horn Rollo. And on bass, he found Mark Boston, who took the name Rockette Morton due to his love of outer space. And the classic Magic Band was born.
Trout Mask Replica (TMR) wasn’t an easy album to make. Yet even with all the bizarre ideas and the difficulty in preparing those ideas into music, Mark was a total champ through it all. The Beefheart sound is one of great dichotomy, and Mark can capture all of it. He’s so tight and precise, and yet there’s this raw grit and dirt. He’s highly intelligent and sophisticated in his playing, and yet there remains this childlike sense of wonder and curiosity.
He takes after all the great traditional American music, yet out into a whole other realm of time and space. The bass traditionally serves the role of grounding the harmony while locking in with the drums to provide a foundation, yet Mark’s playing often serves as another melody line in the music. In a lot of ways, he’s like a third guitarist that just happens to be playing bass.
The TMR on its own is a legacy few can compete with, and yet Mark contributed to more classic records like "Lick My Decals Off, Baby", "The Spotlight Kid", and "Clear Spot". There on Decals, you get the equivalent of Godfather II. With Mother Art Tripp on marimba and drums rather Jeff on guitar, you get an album that captures a great deal of TMR's brilliance while being brilliant in its own unique way.
Then you get to 'The Spotlight Kid', with bass godliness on cuts like “When It Blows Its Stack”, resulting in a bass solo that often opened shows, yet Mark proves himself just as talented on traditional in-the-pocket styles as demonstrated on cuts like “I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby”. And that thing about bassists being failed guitarists? In the 'Clear Spot', with Mark taking guitar and the rhythm section now being a mini Mothers reunion of Art and Roy Estrada, yet nobody missed a beat. Throughout the record, Bill and Mark’s kinship really shines, their weaving right there with what Bill and Jeff had done, or what was done with Alex St Clair early on.
Of course, dealing with Don was quite a task of its own, so it’s inevitable that Mark and the others would all end up departing by 1974. He and Bill soon formed a group of their own called Mallard. For two albums, the first with Art and having some writing help from John French 'Drumbo', Mallard showed itself a pretty decent blues rock outfit. And giving that it was Mark who finally had a chance to create something that was truly his own rather than helping some achieve their vision, it’s understandably the work that he takes pride in. And over time, he’d end up making a solo record and create some cool artwork of his own, as well as performing with 'Drumbo' in the reformed Magic Band, allowing the music to live and breathe on stage again.
If you’re a Beefheart fan, how can you not love Rockette Morton? Not only a uniquely talented bass player but such a great stage presence full of joy, along with a lovably quirky personality and such a sweet guy. Easily one of my favorites from Magic Band members, you can’t help but smile when thinking about Mark. He’s been through some rough weather, including his health scares, and yet he’s still the same Mark we’ve known and loved all the years.
Happy birthday Mark! Thank you for all you have given us and look forward to more.
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Patrick Moore is a freehand drawing artist and freelance music writer.
Web Desk
TORONTO: India and Canada are natural allies as the two countries have many things in common such as parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, pluralism and diversity, said Indian Parliament Speaker Meira Kumar here on Saturday.
"Close bonds exist between us as we (both India and Canada) believe in democracy, the rule of law, pluralism and inclusive growth. Believing in the same things binds us,’’ said Meira Kumar speaking at a dinner hosted in her honour by Indian consul general Preeti Saran, the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce and Panorama India.
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Meira Kumar (right) wth Indian Consul General Preeti Saran.[/caption]
The Indian Speaker and her delegation were trasiting through Toronto after attending the Inter- Parliamentary Union meeting in Quebec City from Oct 21-26.
The first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha said increasing exchanges of visits by leaders of the two countries were reflective of deepening India-Canada relations.
She said India attached a huge importance to its relationship with Canada because it was rich in technical knowhow and natural resources and home to a million-strong Indian diaspora.
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Meira Kumar seen with Canadian minister of state (sports) Bal Gosal.[/caption]
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Meira Kumar seen with Deepak Obhrai (Canada's Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs) and consul general Preeti Saran.[/caption]
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Ontario minister Harinder Takhar at the dinner for the Indian Speaker.[/caption]
Meira Kumar highlighted the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Canada for the G-20 summit in Toronto in June 2010 and the signing of various agreements with Canada during that visit.
The upcoming visit of Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper to India from Nov 3-9 will further deepen our ties, she said.
"We are strengthening bilateral relations by frequent visits,’‘ she said, adding that the two countries have complementary interests in areas of energy and food security and infrastructure development which offer huge opportunities for collaboration.
In this context, the Indian Speaker said the Festival of India in Canada and the holding of the IIFA awards in Toronto last year point to the growing closeness between India and Canada in economic and cultural areas.
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Meira Kumar mingling with the Indo-Canadian community.[/caption]
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Ravi Shankar Prasad, former cabinet minister in the Vajapyee government and now a member of the Speaker’s delegation, seen interacting with Panorama India chief Jibanjit Tripathy (left).[/caption]
Meria Kumar said India’s soft diplomacy (Bollywood, music, yoga, cuisine, etc.) has made its impact around the world, and she specifically mentioned how the doorman at a hotel in Quebec City asked her ``whether I come from the country of Shahrukh Khan.’’
The Indian Speaker also lauded the success of the Indo-Canadians.
"You came here looking for a golden dream...it is not easy to realize one’s dream in one’s own country, leave alone a foreign land... but that you chose Canada speaks volumes about this country,’’ she said.
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Indian consul D Charandasi seen with journalist Renu Mehta.[/caption]
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Suneet Tuli (right), creator of the Aakash tablet, with SkyLink CEO Surjit Babra.[/caption]
She also gave credit to Canada for giving the Indian diaspora `equality and equity’’ in terms of opportunities to realize their dream.
Meira Kumar said India was a complex country to govern because of its huge population, caste divisions, social inequalities, and its many cultures and languages.
But India’s diversity, she said, is its biggest strength, and went on to elaborate how despite the global meltdown - when countries around the world struggled to keep zero growth - India posted an impressive growth rate.
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Seen in this picture (from left to right): Satish Thakkar (former ICCC president), Rahul Singh (GlobalMedic), Ajit Khanna (former ICCC president) and Suresh Madan (TiE Global).[/caption]
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Kam Rathee & his wife seen with Rahul Petkar (Polaris Canada CEO in the centre) and Dilip Soman (director of India Innovation Institute).[/caption]
The Speakers’ delegation included M Jagannath, Ravi Shankar Prasad, PS Bajwa, Jose K Mani, Dr Mehboob Beg (MPs), T K Viswanathan, Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha and Shumsher K Sheriff, Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha.
READ: Big India Day celebrations at Indian consulate general
Indian consul general Preeti Saran highlighted Meira Kumar’s achievements first in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and later in public life and recalled her association with Meira Kumar as her senior in the IFS in the early 1980s.
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Ragu Nayak: An excellent article, and nice pictures! Thanks.
Ragu
Amit Sharma: But India is not moving fast about Canada's resources and China is leaving them behind.
newsadmin: Thanks Ashok Ji.
newsadmin: Thanks Lachman. I actually covered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's June 2010 visit for IANS. Again, thanks a ton.
Ashok Bhargava: Very informative and well written article. A balanced coverage like this creates goodwill and help build bridges. Thanks Gurmukh - job well done.
Lachman Balani: 'Meira Kumar highlighted the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Canada for the G-20 summit in Toronto in June 2012 '-- It actually happened in 2010 
