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.
News East West
MUMBAI: Rape accused former tonga driver-turned-godman Asaram Bapu is worth over Rs 10,000 crore, according to police.
The 73-year-old godman, who was arrested on September 1 for allegedly raping a minor girl at his ashram, has since been accused by another woman from Surat who worked at his ashram of sexually assaulting her over a period of time.
Police, who have already filed a charge-sheet against the godman and his four associates, said on Thursday that their investigations have concluded that Asaram Bapu runs a multi-million empire, apart from owing huge tracts of land in various cities in the country.
The Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Income Tax Department have been informed about the investigations into the godman’s business empire, police said.
Revealing this, Surat city police commissioner Rakesh Asthana told a press conference, “The scrutiny of documents recovered during the raid has established that wealth of Asaram’s ashrams in the form of bank accounts and other investments including shares, debentures and government bonds is valued at Rs 9,000-Rs 10,000 crore.’’
The police chief said, “The value of land has not been included in the assessment of Rs 10,000 crore.’’
He said, “The CBDT, the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate have been informed about the transactions. They will assist us in investigation.’’
According to police, Asaram Bapu owns 45 properties in 10 districts of Gujarat, and 33 properties in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
The godman’s empire crumbled when he allegedly sexually molested a 16-year-girl who was the daughter of one of his disciples and student at the godman’s school in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The girl, who had fallen ill, was reportedly told by the keepers of the school that she is under the influence of spirits and needs to go to Asaram Bapu in Jodhpur where he would perform a special ritual for her health in an isolated place. When her family took the girl to Asaram Bapu out of reverence for the godman, he allegedly raped her on the night of August 15. The parents of the girl filed an FIR against him when she told them what the godman has done to her inside his cottage. After evading police for a few days, the godman was finally arrested in Indore on September 2.
Emboldened by the godman’s exposure, two married sisters from Surat in Gujarat also registered cases of rape against the godman and his son Narayan Sai on October 5.
[caption id="attachment_86743" align="alignnone" width="645"]
Godman Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai, who has admitted to sexual relations with eight female disciples, is seen playing Dandia Raas with a female devotee at his ashram[/caption]
In their FIR, the elder sister said she was sexually exploited by Asaram Bapu between 1997 and 2006 at his Ahmedabad ashram. The younger sister said she was sexually exploited by the godman’s son Narayan Sai between 2002 and 2005 at their Surat ashram.
Narayan Sai, 40, who absconded after the FIR, was arrested in December. He has admitted to sexual relations with as many as eight female disciples. The godman and his son could be locked up for life if found guilty.
Born in Pakistan, Asaram Bapu came to Gujarat with his family as a seven-year-old boy. In 1963, his family moved to Ajmer where Asaram used to ply his tonga (pony cart) for ferrying passengers between the city railway station and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah. He used to be known by the name of Asumal in those days. After a couple of years as a tonga man, Asaram left for Ahmedabad to become a godman.
