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.
The Priyanka Chopra rare pics as the actress turns 39 on July 18 capture her life journey – from a baby girl to daddy's little girl to a budding model to Miss India to Miss World crown
Agencies MUMBAI: We begin with one of Priyanka's rare, unseen pictures when she was 18-19. She posted it just recently.Before you see more Priyanka Chopra rare pictures below, please read two interesting events in her life. If she had not returned to India after three years of schooling in the US, there would be no Priyanka Chopra today. Priyanka, who stayed with her aunt in the US for three years and did her 10th grade from a Boston school, admitted that bullying in school left her broken. Speaking to Glamour magazine, Priyanka Chopra recalled facing racial slurs:"Brownie, go home!" and "Curry's walking!" while in America. One day, she said, she was cornered by a group of girls outside her high school in Newton, Massachusetts. Two of the girls jumped her. Priyanka fought back before school counsellors intervened. Speaking about that incident, Priyanka said, "It broke my spirit. It made me question who I was. Why was it so uncool being Indian?" That was the first turning point in Priyanka’s life. Had she stayed in the US, we would have never heard about her. Back in Bareilly, where her army physician parents were posted, Priyanka restarted schooling to finish her studies. When she was in the 12th grade, then one day her mother Madhu Chopra sent her daughter’s photos surreptitiously to enter the Miss India contest in 2000. That’s the second twist in Priyanka’s life! If her mom had not sent her pictures to the Miss India beauty pageant, there would no Priyanka Chopra today. Speaking on the TV show "Rendezvous with Simi Garewa" in 2006, Priyanka admitted that her mother sent her `ugly' pictures to the Miss India contest without telling her. "Yeah! I just come back from America to do my 12th in India. So, my mom I don’t know randomly just for the heck of it sent my pictures in and pictures that are taken at home, you know. And they sent it in. I was actually in middle of tuition and I was watching ‘Mera Naam Joker’. And I got a phone call and just picked it up and was like ‘Hello’, and she’s like ‘Oh! Hi I’m calling from Femina, this is Ila, your preliminary contest is in four days and this is the hotel and you’ll have to come there. There are about 500 girls chosen so we’ll see you there, no makeup bring high heels and I’ll see you there. Okay, bye’." Priyanka said she was stumped by the sudden call. "I was just like, wait how could Femina know I live in Bareilly and she knew my name. So, I was really excited and I was like mom they must have done like a random search or something and found me. Then she very sheepishly came and told me you know I sent those pictures and I was like how could you send those pictures, they are so ugly and she’s like you got a call. So, yeah I just started from there." She went on to win the Miss India title with a classic reply to judge Shah Rukh Khan’s rather twisted question. Shah Rukh Khan asked her, "I am as nervous as you are, I go meek in the presence of beauty: And then, he posed the long question, ‘Hypothetically, if you were to marry one of the following, who will it be? An Indian sportsman, like Azhar bhai — who would take you all around the world, make your country proud and make you swell with pride. Or an artistic businessman with a difficult name to pronounce like Swarovski, who would bedeck you with jewels and fine necklaces and you would never have to buy a chandelier for your house ever again. Or a Hindi film star like me, who has nothing better to do than to give you a complicated multiple –choice question about a hypothetical wedding like this. And before you answer, let me tell you, whatever your answer is, none of it will prejudice my marks for you. I am sure Azhar Bhai and Swarovski won’t mind.” Priyanka coolly replied, "If I was to choose one of these three very difficult choices, I think I would go to a great Indian sportsman. Because when I come back home, or when he comes back home, I know I will be there to be his support to tell him I am proud of him, just as India is. To be able to tell him, ‘Hey look, you did your best and you are the best,’ and I will take immense pride in my husband who will be a man of strong character if he can bring so much pride to my country. Thank you very much.” The Femina Miss India title was hers. Priyanka Chopra went to win the Miss World crown, enter Bollywood and cross over into Hollywood and marry Nick Jonas. She is India’s truly global star today. Here are some Priyanka Chopra rare pictures from her life:View this post on Instagram
Baby Priyanka Chopra with parents.
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Priyanka as a little girl.[/caption]
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Little Priyanka Chopra with her mom.[/caption]
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Dad's little girl.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra with her dad and brother.[/caption]
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Little Priyanka Chopra with her grandmother and dad.[/caption]
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Little Priyanka Chopra with family on holiday.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra playing with dad.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra as young school girl.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra with school mates.[/caption]
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Priyanka school photo.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra with cousin Parineeti Chopra.[/caption]
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Young girl.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra with her brother.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra with her friends.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra with ehr besties.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra as young girl.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra – raring to go.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra – young model.[/caption]
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Young Priyanka Chopra poses with mom.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra with her father on becoming Miss India.[/caption]
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Priyanka Chopra poses with her family after becoming Miss World.[/caption]
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