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: Accompanied by his wife Maanyata and Mahesh Bhatt, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt surrendered before the designated TADA court here at 4pm on Thursday. After the usual identification process, the court completed the surrender process to take him into custody. A big crowd at his residence Imperial Heights at Pali Hill gave the 53-year-old film star a warm send-off before he left for the court. The star waved to the crowd gathered at his residence. His supporters and photographers surrounded him when he reached the court even as police had made strong security arrangements. As he was taken into custody, special court judge GA Sanap told Sanjay Dutt that he can take his own mattress and pillow, toiletries, fan and mosquito repellent inside the jail. He was also allowed to carry copies of Hanuman Chalisa, the Gita and the Ramayana inside his jail room. "I am allowing your everything except cigarettes,'' the judge ordered. On March 21, the Supreme Court had upheld Sanjay's conviction by the TADA court in 2007 under the Arms Act, but reduced his sentence to five years. Since he has already spent one and a half years in jail in 1993-94, Sanjay Dutt will have to spend another three and a half years. The apex court had also rejected his review petition against the conviction, ordering him to surrender on May 16. However his lawyer told the TADA court where the film star surrendered, "We are planning to file a curative petition in the apex court soon.'' It was a somber Wednesday evening at Sanjay Dutt’s Pali Hill residence when the actor’s incarceration was just hours away. Sanjay Dutt decided to spend the evening with his wife Maanyata and his twins. And contrary to reports on Thursday morning there were no dramatic outbursts from Dutt. According to his friends, Dutt was remarkably calm and controlled on the evening before his impending incarceration. “In fact Baba was providing comfort to Maanyata Bhabha who was acutely tense and inconsolable.” Close friends dropped in to wish Dutt goodbye promising to be there for his family. Says a source, “There was not much conversation. No one seemed in the mood to talk. And Baba’s appointment with the prison the next morning was not mentioned at all. It was almost as if the impending catastrophe would somehow go away. Baba had dreaded going back in for 20 years now. He lived with that dread every single day.And now it was finally happening.” Says a close friend of the troubled star, “Baba’s main concern is Maanyata and the twins. Each time a close friend would drop in his brows would crease and his eyes would well up. He would look heavenwards helplessly.” Apparently both Ajay and Abhishek have promised to look after Dutt’s family in his absence. And Abhishek, we hear, has agreed to make a guest appearance in Sanjay Dutt Productions’ Hasmukh Pighal Gaya. Other close friends like Apoorva Lakhia and Bunty Walia decided to stay away from Dutt on his last day of freedom, so he could have some private time with his family. And for those who are wondering where Dutt’s devoted pal Suniel Shetty, known to stand by his friends through thick and thin, had disappeared, the sad truth is Dutt and Shetty had fall-out some time ago over a guest appearance that Shetty wanted Dutt to make in a film produced by Shetty. Sad, because at this time in his life Sanjay Dutt needs all the friends he can get. READ NEXT: Emotional scenes at Sanjay Dutt's last shooting before he heads to jail
