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.
This morning I learnt that one of the great legends of rock and roll, whose music we would listen and dance to and still do, passed away from bone cancer at Tullahoma, Tennessee, at the age of 87.
Little Richard –just mention his name and just about every old-time rocker will go bonkers!
He was born Richard Wayne Penniman in Macon, Georgia, and is often described as the innovator, originator and architect of rock `n' roll. He was kicked out of his home because his dad thought he had gay tendencies which in those days was considered taboo.
So while working odd jobs to support himself, he started to record music, none of which made it to the big time initially.
Then came his big break in 1955 when he wrote a song called “Tutti Frutti” (‘all fruits’ in Italian) which became a big hit when it was recorded with altered lyrics. In the days before Google, we just had radio and music magazines to rely on and it was well known that the original lyrics, which can now be found on Google, went something like this :
“Tutti Frutti, good booty If it don't fit, don't force it You can grease it, make it easy”
It was meant to be an ode to gay folk but since songs suggesting homosexuality were a no-no, the lyrics were altered to:
“Tutti Frutti, aw rooty Tutti Frutti, aw rooty.”
Coupled with the opening rock and roll cry “Whop bop b-luma b-bob bam bom”, the song was a super-hit and set the stage for future hits such as “Good Golly Miss Molly”, Long Tall Sally” (The Beatles in their early days recorded their versions of these two songs) and "Rip It Up” (Elvis Presley, The King, also recorded this later as did many other great musicians).
Following these great hits, there was no stopping this piano-pounding champion who had this androgynous magic about him. In 1962, he toured Europe and none other than the Beatles opened up (yes, The Beatles were his supporting act) for him at various venues.
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The following year in 1963, Little Richard was asked to help prop up a sagging tour featuring Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers and, wait for this , The Rolling Stones! Imagine a tour with The Stones was turning out to be a flop and Little Richard saved the day!
Later on he signed guitar God Jimi Hendrix to join his band. There was no doubting his power!
Even Elton John confessed to having been inspired by this legend. Actually, many of the British Invasion bands have at one time or the other said they got their early influences from this wizard.
Later in the 60s, at The Atlantic City pop festival, this flamboyant artist with his spectacular performance actually buried the uber popular headliner Janis Joplin!
Many who attended the Toronto pop festival where John Lennon, post-Beatles, was the headliner also claim that Little Richard sidelined the great composer.
I also remember in the early 70s on my college campus, despite the onslaught of such greats as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and many more, whenever Little Richard came on everyone would claim he was the original maestro of rock and roll!
Much later when Prince came on the scene, many declared that he probably was influenced by the genius Little Richard who as lore has it once goaded Prince about how he, the guru Little Richard, first wore purple.
Little Richard was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it first started inducting in 1986. This artiste extraordinaire has won several awards in his lifetime and his first international hit “Tutti Frutti” was added to the US Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2010 stating that the hit, with its original a cappella introduction, heralded a new era in music.
Little Richard, you will forever be enshrined in the annals of rock and roll history.
(A financial and mortgage advisor, Lachman Balani lives in Mississauga)
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