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 Subhash K Jha MUMBAI: Ten facts about the just released film Khoobsurat: 1) It is a remake of one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s personal favourites. As Hrishida had told me before his death, Rekha was always his favourite actress and he wanted to do a film that revolved around her character. Khubsoorat was made specially for Hrishida’s favourite actress. Rekha once told me, “Hrishida was a fellow-Libran.He called me Chinnapunnu the Tamil term for ‘Little Daughter’. I did some of my best work with him. Hrishida was like a father-figure. He would give me dirty looks if I behaved loudly. Please remember, I was only 13 when I came into the industry. I remember him calling me to his home. ‘I see you in this role as a little daughter. You aren’t just a mischievous brat but you don’t want to be told what to do. But you’ve great values. So you do the right things.’ That’s how Hrishida conceived the character in Khoobsurat for me. Then later he made a kind of sequel Jhoothi. …I didn’t have to depend on dialogues or scenes. We shot Khoobsurat in his house, so I didn’t feel I was shooting a film. Did I imitate Mr Bachchan in Khubsoorat? When you’re working in ten films with Mr Bachchan you’re bound to absorb some of his mannerisms. But I didn’t do it consciously. In Khubsoorat I also imitated Shammi Kapoor in the song Iquilaab zindabad and also Gulzar Bhai wearing the kurta and chashma. Hrishida was such a fantastic editor . Before he reached the sets he had already completed the editing in his mind. That’s when I realized what a fantastic craftsman he was. That’s when I got interested in editing. Hrishida could concentrate on chess on the sets and still shoot the perfect shot . It didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention to the actors. I slowly understood and appreciated him.” 2) The new Khoobsurat is named after Jaya Bachchan: Jaya Bhaduri was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s other favourite actress. Sonam Kapoor plays a variation on Rekha in Hrishida’s Khubsoorat but is named Mili Chakravarty after Jaya Bhaduri in Hrishida’s Mili. 3): The Anil Kapoor factor: The last film that Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed Jhooth Bole Kauva Kaate starred Anil Kapoor. Now Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam has done the second official remake of Mukherjee film after his death. Remake rights of many Hrishida’s film including Satyakam, Chupke Chupke and Naram Garam have been bought. Only Rohit Shetty did a take on Hrishida’s GolMaal in Bol Bachchan and now it’s Hrishida’s Khoobsurat. 4) Rekha transforms into Kirron Kher: To update Hrishida’s Khoobsurat which was made 24 years ago, Sonam plays the daughter of the character Rekha played in the original Khoobsurat. Rekha’s character is played by Kirron Kher. 5) Ratna Pathak plays her mom: Dina Pathak had played the stern matriarch in Hrishida’s Khoobsurat who cannot bear to see her house rules broken by a chit of a girl who storms into her family. That role has been taken over by Dina Pathak’s daughter Ratna in the remake. 6) Royal High(ness): While Hrishida’s Khoobsurat was set in a upper middle class business family, the remake is situated in a royal family of Rajasthan. Pakistan’s Fawad Khan was chosen to play the family heir because no leading man in Bollywood seemed right for the part. 7): Stage Coach: The Khoobsurat remake marks the Bollywood debut of the theatre actor and acting guru Aamir Raza Husain. He plays the role of the docile in the matriarchal family originally played by Ashok Kumar . 8): Sonam’s not influenced by Rekha: Sonam has moved as far away from Rekha’s original rendition as possible. For one she plays a physio-therapist, a form of medical treatment that didn’t exist when Hrishida’s Khubsoorat came along in 1980. Also,Sonam desisted from singing in her own voice because Rekha has done so in the original. 9): Anand ban gaye Khoobsurat: If the secret be told Hrishikesh Mukherjee had taken the protagonist’s character in Anand and turned it into Manju in Khubsoorat. Sonam in the new Khubsoorat is actually an amiable amalgamation of all the get-happy characters in Hrishida’s films Anand, Mili, Bawarchi and Khubsoorat. 10) Ghosh of a chance: Why was the director of the sambhar-western Quick Gun Murugan Shashanka Ghosh chosen to direct producer Rhea Kapoor’s remake of Khoobsurat? Because they wanted someone irreverent who wouldn’t be awed by the original.Got that? READ NEXT: Hot Bollywood star daughters
