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.
Created in 2016 by an Indo-Brazilian couple, Shobhan Saxena and Florencia Costa, Bloco Bollywood has become a huge hit with Brazilians
By a reporter
SAO PAULO: After paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the 2023 carnival, Bloco Bollywood returned to Rua Augusta Street here on February 18, Saturday, with an explosion of colors, drum rhythms, dances and music, turning it into the biggest celebration of Indian culture in the entire Latin America.
Under an overcast sky, people – Indians and Brazilians – began to gather at the corner of the iconic street. They came dressed in the most colorful costumes. While some were dressed as maharajas, a few came as sadhus and the women came in dresses representing different parts of India – from Punjabi salwar-kurta to South Indian sarees to lehanga-cholis from Gujarat.
While the street began to rock with Bhangra beats, Bollywood music and rythmic steps of dancers as early as 11 am, the bloco was formally declared open by MC Vijay Bavaskar with the playing of “Deva Shri Ganesha” from the massive speakers of the float, locally known as trio or sound truck. As the popular song bounced from the buildings on both sides of the street, a group of drum players joined in as they played the Indian beats on their Brazilian instruments.
With thousands of people walking behind the float, which was adorned with beautiful banners, the Consul General of India in Sao Paulo, Ms Manisha Swami, joined the event as she climbed up the float to address the gathering. “It is a matter of pride for us that so many of you have joined the celebration of Indian culture, which is all about including all. It is also a very special occasion as we are paying a tribute to Indian women at this year’s street carnival of Indian community in Brazil,” Ms Swami said to a loud applause from the people. “I am so happy to see so many Brazilian present here today. So, enjoy yourself with Indian music and dances”.
After the Consul-General’s remarks, the carnival began with a special presentation called “Amrita”, a homage to Indian women. “Amrita celebrates the spirit of women's empowerment and their contribution to the development of emerging India,” said Dr. Jyoti Kiran Shukla, director of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), addressing the gathering from the top of the float as a group of dancers stepped in to present “Amrita”, a sequence of specially-choreographed dances on six icnic songs. While the music and dance were all Indian, the dancers were all Brazilians who are associated with SVCC. The “Amrita” presenatation, ideated and put together by the the SVCC director, ended with a massive applause from the crowd gathered on the street as well as hundreds of people watching it from their buildings on both sides of the street.
If there's one thing Bloco Bollywood has for certain, it's diversity. India is a country of various dances and songs. In addition to the most successful songs from Bollywood films, the bloco also played rhythms from various regions of India, such as Bhangra, from the state of Punjab, and Garba, from the state of Gujarat. As Bhangra is played by Brazilian drums, the creators of the block named this rhythm “sambra”, a mixture of samba and bhangra.
Around mid-day, the street party turned to its biggest attraction – Bollywood dances, led by Iara Ananda and Disha Malani. As the two dance instructors took turns to perform and guide the crowd from the top of the float, the level and tempo of the party was raised to a new level. Iara Ananda, a trained into Indian classical dances and a pioneer of Bollywood dancing in Brazil, made the party sway with her mesmerising performance on songs like “Jai Ho” and “Indian wale’”. Since the first year of the bloco in 2016, Iara has been called by the Indian community the “Bollywood Queen” for her dancing talent and involvement with the street carnival.
Between such popular numbers, Disha Malani, the creator of the brand Feels Like India who teaches Bollywood and Bhangra dances to Brazilians, led the crowd with some peppy numbers, especially Punjabi songs. Prior to the bloco, both Disha and Iara organised free workshops on Indian dance at the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center. It was a great warm-up for anyone wanting to dance at Rua Augusta, which turned into a huge gathering of Indians and lovers of Indian culture.
“Since the beginning of the bloco, the biggest attraction for the Brazilian public has been the Indian dance, which are so different and so attractive. The bloco is a great example of a cultural confluence of two emerging countries with vibrant and colorful cultures”, said MC Vijay Bavaskar, businessman and owner of an Indian restaurant in São Paulo who has been hosting the party since 2016.
Created in 2016 by an Indo-Brazilian couple, Shobhan Saxena and Florencia Costa, Bloco Bollywood has now become the biggest Indian event in Latin America. “We started this bloco to encourage the Indian community to participate in the street carnival in Brazil and to show the richness of our culture to Brazilian friends,” explained Shobhan Saxena. “But with the enthusiastic participation of Brazilians, the bloco has become a mixture of two cultures.”
Since 2017, the bloco has a group of Brazilian drummers, named Cherateria and formed by USP students. This year Cherateria participate with 25 members and played Indian rhythms with Brazilian instruments, in addition to a wonderful samba performance.
After more than three hours of non-stop music and dance, the party reached its point of dispersion, with music reaching a crescendo as MC Vijay Bavaskar and Cherataria held the the show together with their brilliant performances.
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