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.
By Balwant Sanghera VANCOUVER: Recently, I had an opportunity to attend my nephew’s wedding in France. My cousin and his family have lived in a suburb of Paris for more than thirty years. It was my second visit to Paris which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is not only one of the leading tourist destinations but also a business and cultural centre. This capital city of France is a global hub of fashion and an international capital of style. It is one of the world’s topmost tourist attractions. There is so much to see and do. Paris is home to some of the world famous tourist attractions. These include the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris, Arc de Triomphe and Champs –Elysees etc… Each of these attractions is unique. Paris is also known as the City of Light. The view of Paris and its surroundings from atop the Eiffel Tower is mind blowing. The Napoleonic era architecture is also very impressive. Like the rest of Europe, France is also becoming multicultural at a fast pace. On the streets, market places and the parks, cultural diversity is very evident. Though issues like the religious head coverings are still lingering on, yet the changing demographics are visible everywhere. As a matter of fact, not only France, but all of Europe seems to be undergoing a major shift in demographics. The disappearing national boundaries in Europe have made movement of people from one country to the other very easy. As a matter fact, the whole world, including Europe, is becoming more like a global village now. More than a hundred years ago, Punjabi pioneers ventured out to countries like Canada, the USA, Panama, Singapore/Malaysia and Australia, etc. However, since the 1970s a lot of them have been choosing Europe. Consequently, there are now mini Punjabs almost in every European country. At my nephew’s wedding in Paris there were friends and relatives from almost every European country ranging from Greece to Germany to Italy to Spain to Holland to England. Nearly all of them have gone through very difficult times. However, they never gave up. Due to their hard work, perseverance and resilience, most of them are fairly well settled in the countries of their choice. Wherever Punjabis, especially Sikhs, have gone, one of their top priorities has been to come to-gather and build a gurdwara. Like their fellow Sikhs around the globe, the Sikh community in Europe has also built very spacious gurdwaras in their neighborhoods. I understand in and around Paris alone there are a number of very impressive gurdwaras. This is a credit to the pioneering spirit of Punjabis. They have not only retained but also promoted the Punjabi language and their culture wherever they have settled. It was very encouraging to see the young people, most of them second generation, speak very good Punjabi in addition to the language of the European countries in which they were born and grew up. Some of them are also fairly fluent in English as well. Thus, most of our European youth is fluent in at least three and in some cases four languages. Furthermore, they are proud of their Punjabi heritage. Young people like them are the future leaders and ambassadors of Punjabi language and culture at the international level. This is something that all of us, no matter where we live, can be rightly proud of. (Honoured with the Order of British Columbia, Balwant Sanghera is a known community activist based in Richmond, BC)
