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 Canadian Bazaar
TORONTO: At least 21 Indo-Canadian realtors are among 34 whose registration has been terminated by for examination fraud.
The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), the industry regulator in Ontario, terminated their registration for “deliberate and organized misconduct” during the real estate exam conducted by Humber College.
Humber College, which runs the Real Estate Education Programme, found these people guilty of exam misconduct and reported the matter to the industry regulator RECO for action.
In a statement, RECO said, “Humber College has notified us of learner misconduct in the Real Estate Education Program. We have voided the registrations of the learners whose program completion status was rescinded by Humber.”
RECO said it will continue to work with Humber to maintain the integrity of the real estate education programme and exams.
For its part, Humber College said its “Real Estate Education Program is aware of learner misconduct regarding completion of program examinations. We have been investigating the matter. Our investigation to date has identified deliberate and organized misconduct.”
The college said, “Learners who have been found responsible for misconduct to date have been notified and have been sanctioned and suspended by the program. Those who, on the balance of probabilities, have been found guilty of misconduct and who have completed the pre-registration phase, will have their Humber completion status rescinded as they no longer satisfy the requirements for the program. We have also notified the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) of these cases of learner misconduct where a learner’s program completion status is rescinded. RECO will apply disciplinary action to these individuals as well, as required.”
Here are the names of realtors released by RECO whose registration has been terminated from October 29, 2021, by :
1: Harjot Singh Bhangu
2: Rajbir Josan
3: Hardip Lota
4: Harmandhir Singh Kahlon
5: Baljinder Singh Sara
6: Surinderpal Singh
7: Prabhiqbal Singh
8: Rajanbir Singh
9: Seema Rani
10: Jaswinder Kaur Bal
11: Amarjit Singh Rana
12: Randeep Singh Johal
13: Rajwinder Kaur Thind
14: Malkeet Marva Singh
15: Ravinder S Panag
16: Bali Singh Sidhu
17: Gagandeep Sandhu
18: Navkaran Singh Gill
19: Mandeep Singh Toor
20: Shubham Handa
21: Raghav Jain
22: Banuka Kanagalingam
23: Wasif Ali Awan
24: Labib Ula
25: Amin Ullah
26: Syed Rizvi
27: Jahangir Parvez
28: Nadeem Masood Malik
29: Joann Patrianakos
30: Rashika David
31: Melissa Rose Fidani
32: Bobby Babak Doaei
33: Amber Jabeen
34: Ciona Hovsepian
READ NEXT: Why this rush in Ontario's Punjabi community to become multimillionaires overnight
N. Burke: Back in May I reached out to an agent on this list by the name of Joann Patrianakos to request her help in finding me some rental listings so she could book some viewings for me. I was out of the country and would be returning in little over two weeks. After collecting personal information from me, telling me everything looked great and sending me listings to choose from, suddenly I could not get a response back from Joann.
When I did finally get hold of her the day I returned, I was told that of the 16 properties I selected she had not booked any showings even though she had told me that she would have several booked for that day. She made a bunch of excuses and lied saying that the properties were already all rented out- which I later found out was not true.
Since then I have looked into Joann and found this article regarding real estate agents that had committed exam fraud. Imagine my surprise when her name appeared on the list of agents whose licenses had been obtained fraudulently.
Now she is all over Craigslist wholesaling rentals because she no longer has a license. Stay away from her. God only knows what she is doing with your personal information once she has it.
What she did to me was unfair and really put me in a financial bind at the time. I ended up having to pay for a hotel for several weeks while trying to find myself a place to live. I had to start my search all over again because she had not done any work during the two week period that I had given her before returning to Canada.
JJ: There's nothing racist about a truthful statement. 21 Indo-Canadian Realtors cheated---this should be a wake-up call for the Punjabi community (and I'm Punjabi-Sikh).
If they can't finish their courses with integrity, why should anyone trust them with the biggest purchase of their life?
Stop playing victim and wake up.
Harmeek singh: RECO should make all those give re-exam who passed their real estate exam from Orea. 95% of realtor will fail because they all cheated.
Sabrina: What a racist title! Why is ethnicity important in this situation? Im disgusted. Gore real journalist/ bloggers. #Racist
Sing: Indian go another country doing all bad things same as India.They don't want to work
Sing need every Indian in ?? get $2000 doller CRB all life
Very soon all ?? Indian come to Canada.
Ajaz Kakvi: Agree
Sam Rattan: Finally …. Steps are being taken to save professionalism in this industry ..
VR Gardiner: Please don't generalize all Indian are same, Indians have done very well in various sectors with their hard work. Every society have few such elements and criminals. Please grow-up from childish argument.
Monika: Read this original List..there are not from India but the other country too..we all should respect Law of Canada
https://www.reco.on.ca/complaints-enforcement/regulatory-activities-decisions/recent-enforcement-decisions/
Dr. M. Shakeel: Misconduct of any kind is not acceptable in any our society. those who are involved in any wrong doings regardless of their origin, their acts surely have impact on our society in general.
we need to highlights these issues. We need to stop everyone to bring their habitual urge to practice bad in Canadian society.
Laws need to be more strict to stop people from practicing such things to achieve licenses and any other form of certification.
Great article!
Aliah: This article needs to get more publicity. Good job! Weed out the unethical ones they are too many dishonest ones in this industry.
Ritesh Kumar: I think we should report this and get the racist reporter the heat
Jas: I think your media news company needs to be investigated. You will find out why very soon! You certainly seem to have more information than Humber College seems to be letting out.
Akbar: I think the title of this article sounds racist. Why should you say that they are Indo-Canadian when they are here in Canada and are appearing exam like any other immigrant?
As someone said don’t judge a whole country by few bad apples.
Ritesh Kumar: Most realtors make zero as they are part-time non-serious people...more than 80% as per official stats...it's not easy money...
Ritesh Kumar: I don't agree with you.Dont judge whole country with the misconduct of small sample size...such people exist everywhere..
Which country from Google ceo belong to?
Microsoft CEO belong to?
Adobe ceo and many other same country you are mentioning to!
Sangita: No doubt easy money. Everybody wants to jump in this business. Zero tax and all government benefits nice business. 80% are cheaters and 20 % honest.
Gary Singh: Good Job !
We need to respect the law First
Wachucha Mamoucha: This is a problem Canadian urban society is facing lately. Immigrants from South Asia, especially India have been bringing their practices which go against the Canadian ethics. Cheating in exams, falsifying information to get immigration, misrepresentation of facts to get free government money just to name a few. 
