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.
Any Asaram rape victim had no sympathy from the jailed godman who justified it by saying that rape is no sin for enlightened persons
Agencies NEW DELHI: Self-styled Indian godman Asaram Bapu, 77, who has been jailed for life for raping a 16-year-old girl at his ashram near Jodhpur in Rajasthan in 2013, used to say that rape was no sin for an enlightened person like him. An enlightened person in the Indian context is called ``Brahmgyani.’’ This was divulged by one prosecution witness Rahul K Sachar, who was a former follower of the godman and had access to his living room (kutiya), during the trial. Any girl could be Asaram rape victim Sachar disclosed that he had seen the godman molest girls in his three ashrams in 2003. He said three girls used to stay permanently with the godman. He would roam among his devotees with these three girls and randomly select girls to fulfill his sexual lust. Whenever he wanted sex, the godman would send a torchlight signal to three girls who would take the selected girl to his room for sex. Sachar said when he saw the godman molesting a girl in his room, he sent him two letters but he never responded. He said then one day he forcibly entered the godman’s room and asked him why he was doing the sin of raping young girls. The godman said that he was an enlightened man (Brahmagyani) and rape was no sin for any enlightened person. These are the words of the godman: ``Brahmgiani ko ye sab karne se paap nahi lagta.'(Rape is no sin for an enlightened person)’’ Asaram rape victim The 16-year-old girl for raping whom he has been jailed for life was the daughter of his devotee couple. She was a student at a hostel run by the godman. When this girl complained of some illness, she was sent to the godman by her warden Shilpi (also jailed for 20 years) to cure her of `evil spirits.’ When the girl and her parents met the godman, he chanted some mantras and then asked the parents to leave the room. When the girl was alone with him in his room, the godman asked her about her studies. She said she wanted to become a chartered accountant. The godman said: “What will you do by becoming a CA? Big officers bow their head at my feet.’’ He then told the girl to instead study for a B.Ed, promising to appoint her a teacher and later principal at one of his ‘gurukuls’ (traditional schools). The godman then sexually assaulted the girl and kept her confined for one and a half hours. And this godman, who has millions of followers, over 400 ashrams and a business empire worth over Rs 100,000 million will now stay behind bars till his death. READ NEXT: Godman Asaram Bapu is sex maniac who needs new girl everyday, says former aide
