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.
Here are some great actresses who ended up becoming famous Bollywood second wives by marrying already married men Web Desk MUMBAI: Some top Bollywood actresses got involved with already married actors and filmmakers and became their second wives. So who are these famous Bollywood second wives?
SRIDEVI: The late actress Sridevi became the second wife of filmmaker Boney Kapoor.
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Sridevi wedding Boney Kapoor.[/caption]
When Sridevi came to Mumbai from Chennai, she became friends with Boney Kapoor’s wife Mona Kapoor and started living with the couple. Sridevi used to call Boney Kapoor her brother and once even tied rakhi on him.
But then secret romance developed between Sridevi and Boney Kapoor.
Sridevi became pregnant. When Mona Kapoor came to know about it, she was furious.
The news of Sridevi’s pregnancy spread life wildfire. Boney Kapoor had to leave his wife and two children – Arjun and Anshula – to marry Sridevi in 1996.
The home guest became the home-breaker. But Sridevi and Boney Kapoor had a blissful married life. They went on to have two daughters Jhanvi and Khushi and became one of the power couples of Bollywood.
Sridevi died on February 24, 2018.
SMITA PATIL: The late actress Smita Patil became actor Raj Babbar’s second wife when he was already married to Nadira Babbar.
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Raj Babbar with his two wives: Smita Patil (left) and Nadira Babbar (right).[/caption]
Actually, in her 1982 film Arth, Smita Patil had played the role of `other woman,’ not knowing that this would happen in her real-life also.
Raj Babbar met his first wife Nadira Zaheer at the National School of Drama in Delhi where they were students. They married in 1975. In 1976, their daughter Juhi Babbar was born. The couple struggled financially. To improve his prospects, Raj Babbar sold his scooter for Rs 6,000 and moved to Mumbai.
Nadira, who was into theatre, followed her husband to Mumbai after couple of years when Raj Babbar’s career took off.
Nadira set up a theatre group called Ekjute and the couple welcomed their second child Arya Babbar in 1981.
Their family life looked great when the sultry Smita Patil walked into Raj Babbar’s life.
He met her when the two went to Rourkela for the shooting of the film Bheegu Palken. “I was impressed by her (Smita) from the word go,” Raj Babbar later said in an interview.
The dusky beauty too got besotted with Raj Babbar. When Nadira got to know about the affair, she was devastated.
“My relationship with Smita was not the result of problems with Nadira – it just happened,” Raj Babbar would later say.
Raj Babbar and Smita finally got married in 1985. But she died in 1986 at the age of 31 due to complications arising from the birth of her son Prateik.
After Smita’s death, Raj Babbar went back to his first wife who forgave him and accepted him.
SHABANA AZMI: Daughter of the great poet Kaifi Azmi, Shabana Azmi had affairs with filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor and Benjamin Gilani as she was getting known for her work in films such as Ankur and Masoom.
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Javed Akhtar with his two wives: Honey Irani (left) Shabana Aazmi (right).[/caption]
On the other hand, Javed Akhtar was already a known name in Bollywood after penning Sholay and other films. He was married to Honey Irani and had two children. Farhan and Zoya.
But then the love bug bit Javed when he met Shabana at her father’s home. Javed had gone to meet Kaifi for literary advice.
His frequent visits to Kaifi led to his closeness with Shabana, though she initially ignored him as he was already married. But then they became lovers.
When Javed’s wife Honey Irani came to know of the affair, she was furious and the two had fights.
Finally, Javed separated from Honey Irani in 1978.
Shabana and Javed dated for six years and even at point decided to split for the sake of Javed’s children.
“We met for that last meeting and we talked and talked We got so busy talking, we forgot to break up," Shabana once said in an interview.
Finally, the two married in 1984 and Javed’s two children developed a warm relationship with Shabana.
Shabana and Honey irani also didn’t become bitter enemies as happens in such cases.
As Honey Irani who once said in an interview, “I never spoke a word against Shabana or Javed. I didn’t want the children to develop feelings of hate or anger. They’d go over and meet them. Javed would come over. Touchwood! Their relationship never went wrong. I have no rapport as such with her. I go to Javed’s house on his birthday. Shabana and I greet each other. It’s cordial. There’s a lot of respect. That’s it. But it’s not as if we are sahelis. Not at all.”
HEMA MALINI: He-Man Dharmendra was the super star of Bollywood in the 1970s when Dream Girl Hema Malini came into his life.
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Hema-Dharmendra wedding picture.[/caption]
He was already married to Prakash Kair and had four children. But the gorgeous Tamil actress from Chennai (then Madras) entered the life of the sturdy Jat actor from Punjab who was 13 years her senior.
Hema and Dharmendra developed fellings for each other during the filming of Tum Haseen Main Jawan in 1970. But the two became really intimate during the shooting of the all-time Bollywood blockbuster Sholay in 1975.
Even as she was being pursued by actors Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra, Hema Malini was madly in love with Dharmendra. Despite all the problems their romance faced, she had made up her mind that if she was going to marry someone it would be Dharmendra.
The two married in 1980 by converting to Islam because Dharmendra’s wife Prakash refused to divorce him.
KIRAN RAO: Actor Aamir Khan was married to Reena Dutta and the couple had two children.
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Aamir Khan with his two wives: Reena Dutta (left) and Kiran rao (right).[/caption]
But then in 2001, Aamir fell in love with Kiran Rao who was working as one of the assistant directors on the film Lagaan.
As Aamir said in an interview, “I met Kiran when I was doing Lagaan (2001). She was one of the ADs (assistant directors) on that but at that time, we didn’t have any relationship, we were not even great friends. She was one of the people on the unit.”
In 2002, his and his wife separated and their two children – son Junaid and daughter Ira– went to live with their mother. “It was after my separation and divorce after some time that I met her again. In that moment of trauma, her phone came and I talked to her on the phone for half an hour. And when I put the phone down, I said, ‘My God! I feel so happy when I talk to her.’ It struck me in that instant that when I am talking to her I am so happy,” said Aamir in the interview.
Aamir tied the knot with Kiran Rao in 2005. But he is still friends with the first wife as they both run the Panni Foundation.
Bollywood is strewn with not-so-famous such romances which ended not a knot. READ NEXT: Bollywood actresses who married cricketers
