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.
___________________
Patrick Moore is a freehand drawing artist and freelance music writer.
The hit-and-run accident case involving a Reliance-registered Aston Martin Rapide sports car (MH-01- BK99) On December 8 is raging on social media networks, with most of the posts blaming the Mumbai Police’s shoddy attitude regarding the probe.
The accident that occurred on Peddar Road in Mumbai had claimed two people and injured six others. The Mumbai Police now say that no one died in the mishap.
According to report in the Bhaskar, the whereabouts of the person who was driving the car are still unknown. There have been reports that suggested that the driver was none other than Akash Ambani, the son of Reliance Industries president Mukesh Ambani.
He was allegedly drunk when he was behind the wheel, say other reports. This mystery young man is said to have fled the scene in one of the cars that were accompanying the Aston Martin.
The police in the meantime is allegedly taking a cool approach to the whole case and this has given rise to many a question being raised on many platforms, such as social media and the like.
The Daily Mail of Britain wrote, “On the evening of December 8, a customised Aston Martin worth Rs.4.5 crore registered to the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Ports under number MH 01 BK 99, was cruising down Pedder Road in Mumbai’s posh South Bombay suburb, when the driver lost control.
“The car was going at such high speed that it banged into an Audi being driven by a Ghatkopar resident – a 25-year-old MBA student called Foram Ruparel – causing the car to jump the divider and hit an oncoming bus.
“The next day a Reliance driver Bansilal Joshi, 55, and weighing 100kgs, who had worked with the company for around 30 years, and who claims to have been entrusted with driving Mukesh’s son Akash Ambani around, turned up at the Gamdevi police station to confess that he had taken the car for a test drive on Sunday morning, and had crashed it. While the police recorded his statement, a number of factors raised suspicions:
“First, why were two security details following a car driven by a chauffeur and not a family member.
“Second, no chauffeur would drive a Rs.4 crore Aston Martin at over 100km per hour when followed by a security detail.”
There are also rumors that this car was presented to Sachin Tendulkar by the Ambanis.
With all the major websites like ZEE News and NDTV deleting the story, will the truth finally come out? (Courtesy Gizmo Craze)
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courseworks: I'm always upset when I read such news. There is too much wrong in the world with which no one is fighting. Rich people get away with it and they continue to live on as they did before. In such cases, it is necessary to attract public attention as much as possible. Always you need to stay neat on the road because you never know what can happen.
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Thank you for stand against this crime.
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hyderali syed: Understanding the Politics of India & the politics of the world [PART ONE]
AAP = Aam Aadmi or common people
Do they really know what FREEDOM means?
Aryans invasion on semitic black nation - Indus valley [now Pakistan] the land of black dravidian.
Aryans introduced varnadharm - varna means profession [learned Administration Corporate & labor , dharm means A way of life.
The first syndicate of 3 elites profession between settlers & native took place here.
law written by them was introduced it was called Manu sastra.
Sanathan dharm of the black native who followed the law of equality as stated in Purana ittihassa upinishad. all the profession or varna lived by it. [aam or common people govern the 3 elites profession as they all were educated & they knew their rights]
Varnadharm : syndicate of elites introduced manu law which degrade common people from both the sides - settlers & native
invaders came and govern India as per the principle of Varnadharm & govern by law of Manu sastra.
Aam Aadmi Party : They in their ignorance have challenge that syndicates.
Remember sudra, slave, ansari different name given to labor or common people by different invaders.
TO BE CONTINUED .....
hyderali syed: Why shouldn't he be punished..??
Ravi: Live Akash ambani he is good
Is luck is not good
But live him is not wrong
Rajeev: Hi,
Nothing can be more hideous and disgraceful that this. It seems that Mr. Ambani has bought most of the news channel and none of them has courage to reveal this. The witness said that a young man came out of the car and that young man turned out to be 55 year old Driver overnight..Sad
Thanks
Rajeev 
