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.
Many trucking company owners are smuggling drugs from the USA and selling job letters for $70,000 to become rich overnight
BRAMPTON: Punjabis have a long history of migration to Canada – mostly to British Columbia – going back to the 19th century. However, it was only in the 1970s when they started migrating from Punjab to Ontario.
Their numbers in Ontario soared when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau opened the gates with liberal immigration policies. No wonder most Punjabis support Liberal Party and his son Justin Trudeau today.
After the first wave of early immigrants, the second wave was mostly through the refugee route post-1984 events in Punjab. Some of these were prosecuted by security forces, but many others feigned prosecution in India to get refugee status in Canada.
The third wave comprised educated professionals and family migrants. The current wave are mostly students.
Punjabis in Ontario are generally perceived as most hard working, progressive and entrepreneurial. They have done well in politics, established multiple religious places of worship, and own businesses and trucking companies. They mostly own big houses, live well, eat well and spend well. Some of their children are professionals educated at top universities.
But there is a flip side.
Punjabis have not progressed much culturally and lack social and cultural organizations to guide them. A culture of big fat weddings and showmanship is highly visible. They love high-end cars, loud music, and flashy dresses.
The Punjabi media, which could have helped the community, is dominated by non-professionals who prefer to talk about ills of Punjab/India, less about Canada.
More and more Punjabi youngsters are joining in drug smuggling and drug abuse. Many Punjabis owning trucking companies have became millionaires overnight by smuggling drugs hidden in their trucks from the US to Canada or vice versa.
Many trucking companies are also selling simple job letters – called LMIA – for a price up to $ 70, 000. It is broad daylight dacoity!
Religious places are also selling immigration visas and promoting many other ills.
There is a craze among Punjabis in Canada to become millionaires overnight. This desire to acquire easy money is giving rise to all types of crimes.
Many small business owners cheat by avoiding paying taxes and doing businesses in cash and exploiting new immigrants by not paying minimum wages. There is cheating all around – be it immigration fees, lawyers’ fees, financial advisors’ fees, or even consultation fees by paralegals.
Auto insurance fraud is rampant among Punjabis, resulting in higher premium for everybody living in their areas.. Overall, it looks like that in its race to earn more and more dollars, Punjabi society is degenerating.
One wonders why once pious, hardworking and God-fearing Punjabis have gone down this path!
There are a few reasons for this.
One, there is no fear of law and too much freedom in Canada – without checks which were there in Punjab.
Two, the pressure from peers and relatives to tread the right path goes the moment you step on Canadian soil.
Thirdly, teachings of the holy Guru Granth Sahib are not being practiced, but only verbally repeated. Most religious places are practising what is contrary to Guru Nanak's teachings. The day-to-day life of the Punjabi diaspora in Canada is devoid of practices of true dharma preached by our gurus.
Unless they get back to `Kirt Karo, Wand Shako and Naam Jappo,’ my fear is that this community is heading for a major moral crisis and may get dissolved in the next two generations. (Revised: This article was frst published here on September 16, 2021)
READ NEXT: Reason why new immigrants prefer trucking as profession
Not-fukra-punjabi: The get-rich-quick attitude among Punjabiscomes from the present-day Punjab. A place which has no role models in the current generation and the state is in an advanced stage of decay. To add to it, we have a deplorable wave of Punjabi pop music spoiling the impressionable minds of the youngsters. This dangerous cocktail of circumstances force them to look for work in other countries where they're tempted to opt for shortcuts to success.
The educated ones have more options and they don't need to resort to such practices but the ones with poor academic background may find it tough to make it big in Canada in short time.
Ciaran lowe: This article is very honest. Of course, there are upstanding Punjabi citizens here. But this article is about the many cheating corrupt Punjabis who ignore rules in business and building permits. I have experienced run by these people building inside structures, digging underground piping and never getting permits. Doing all deals in cash is rampant among them.
The big problem is they have no interest in Canada. These people take and NEVER give back. In the long run, Brampton will become one of the most disfunctional regions in Canada.
I’m an immigrant here from Ireland – now here 12 years. I abide by Canadian laws. This country is so trusting because Canadians are inherently very good trusting people. Unscrupulous immigrants find it easy to cheat the system and they are so short-sighted that they are killing Canada’s beautiful culture.
Unfortunately, not one person in positions of power will touch this topic because of votes. So you can see how Brampton will spiral out of control and will run like a third-world city.
Lucky: This writer is against Punjabi he should use Indian or some Punjabi. He went against everything. I’ll tell him about others who are doing more dangerous then Punjabi
Addy: You could also write on what some others are doing from motels, hotels and physio clinics.
DrSwarn: You are absolutely right . But one can comment only against their own. Otherwise it may sound biased
Om sadhana: You are very much right, sir.
We have lost our Panjabiat and rich Panjab heritage and forgotten Baba Nanak ji teachings.
Our motto:
Money, money, money.
May God save us.
admin: Why do you jump to the conclusion that the writer is against Punjabis? He is an honourable high-acheiver Punjabi himself and he is concernd about what is going on in his community. He is not blaming every Punjabi. And you cannot justify wrong-doing by pointing out that and this group is doing this or that. The Punjabi community has been well respected, but what is going on now is not something that is positive.
Sam: Seems like the writer is against punjabis. Some Punjabis may be doing wrong things but not every punjabi is the same. This gives a very bad name to the community.
There is others like Italians and Muslims as well who do all the wrong things but that always go un noticed.
There is always a small % of people in every community going the other way
Good cars and music is common practice among africans too.
I would appreciate not to target one community or India as a whole.
Every one has lots of problems and each one is doing their way tk get things done
Take a look at Mexico. Its one of the biggest drug dealer country. But they are treated better than Indian since no one says anything wrong about them ever.
Never heard about any wrong of Italians. Guess what. They are one of the biggest and strong community taking advantage if the canadian system since ages.
All the best
Parmjeet: Good eye opening article 
