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.
___________________
Patrick Moore is a freehand drawing artist and freelance music writer.
WINNIPEG: Before moving to Canada, international students face a lot of questions related to study, job and permanent residence.
1. Which universities to go to?
2. Which province has better universities?
3. Should I apply for Express Entry or Provincial Nominees Programme
(PNP)
4. What will be the cost of living?
5. What is the job market in that province?
Therefore, it’s always better to do some research about different universities, the immigration system of each province and the pros and cons of living there.
When students from India think of moving to Canada, the first place they think of going to is Toronto, Ontario, as it has the largest Indian population. But they ignore the fact that western Canada provinces such as Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia offer many more opportunities and benefits to live in. Western Canada has many renowned universities like the University of Calgary, the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, etc. which offer a great variety of courses and future opportunities.
The second most important step after completing the study is to get a job and to plan for applying for permanent residence. There’s no doubt eastern Canada has more job opportunities, but due to a greater number of universities and higher population, it creates more difficulties to enter the job market as the competition is high.
Therefore, it gets tough for a fresh university graduate in eastern Canada to enter the job market with a few years of experience. As most companies look for experienced professional(s), with limited time on work-permit status and no job in hand most of the students don’t qualify for immigration requirements in eastern Canada.
Many of the students in Ontario and Quebec depend on Express Entry programme for getting PR. But to qualify for Express Entry, you need to have an average cut-off score of 450 CRS and a job of minimum NOC code B. Jobs with NOC code ‘C’ are not accepted in Express Entry.
Hence, only option left for them is to move to western provinces to qualify for PNP or to get field-related jobs. But the problem is that since these students are switching province for PR purpose, the rules and requirements change.
Take the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP). If you’re a primary resident of Manitoba, you will qualify for Provincial Nominee Programme (PNP) in six months of full-time experience after completing your studies. But for students coming out of the province, they need to work for one full year to get eligible.
So, instead of wasting time and money in eastern Canada and then following the same path, why not plan ahead of time and move to western provinces and have an easy and better living.
In many western Canada provinces, students with NOC ‘C’ or those who get field job or are living and working in that province in any job stream can apply for MPNP-based PR, which will help them get extra points towards Express Entry PR Profile. Most western Canada provinces have at least 1-2 PNP draws each month unlike eastern Canada provinces.
Western Canada provinces have much to offer in terms of studies, living and immigration. In the last three years, we have seen hundreds of our students moving to these provinces after years of struggle in Ontario and Quebec as they were not able to secure proper jobs that can help them file for their PR application, plus high cost of living and limited time left on work permit/study permit.
Therefore, it’s better to plan properly before moving to Canada instead of following the crowd. Once you’re a PR and know better about Canada and its job market, you’re free to move wherever you like.
READ NEXT: 10 reasons to immigrate to Canada
READ NEXT: Why Air Canada must start flights to Mumbai immediately
