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.
WASHINGTON DC: Volunteers of EcoSikh from all over the Washington area cleaned the Kingman Island’s trash and harmful waste on March 30.
The clean-up effort was part of Sikh Environment Day and celebrations of the 550th birth-anniversary of Sikh founder Guru Nanak. They collected over 50 bags of trash which included plastic bags, bottles, lids, covers, cups, cooking utensils, and glass waste. People even found syringes. Plastic and all kinds of trash which enters in the river and ends up in the ocean. The event started with a Sikh prayer on the environment.
Dr. Gunpreet Kaur, EcoSikh Washington Team coordinator, said, “The plastic trash we create is a major threat to the marine life and it is killing so many birds in the pacific region. It also impacts the environment of the Capital area.”
EcoSikh had organized this cleaning service in partnership with Alliance for the Chesapeake and Living Classroom.
Inder Singh Rekhi, EcoSikh Special project coordinator who organized this event, said, “Everyone enthusiastically did this service while implementing ‘Pavan Guru, Pani Pita Mata Dearth’ the wonderful concept of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, that one should have a harmonious relationship with air, water and land.
He added, “We are thankful to all the Washington area local gurdwaras for helping to get the word out to the community. The turnout was great.”
Dr. Rajwant Singh, EcoSikh Founder, said, “We were shocked to see so much plastic waste in the river system immediately outside of Washington, America’s capital. This is not a good example we are setting for rest of the nation and the world.
He added, “It is important for us as a faith community to do our part to help clean the environment.
Kate Fritz, Executive Director of the Alliance of the Chesapeake, welcoming Sikhs for this kind act and said, “We are extremely thankful this partnership with EcoSikh and we were touched by the community service that the Sikh community has offered for rest of us and the wider community. We look forward to this working relationship.”
Laura Todd from Alliance of the Chesapeake, said, “I was impressed by the dedication of the Sikhs to the environment and learned so much about your faith.”
Simranjit Singh Sachar, Youth Coordinator, said, “We felt inspired that our positive action can hopefully change our own self and we will now be more conscious about our actions. This has opened our eyes that how much trash we create on a daily basis and how it is causing so much havoc around the world. As Sikhs, we are reminded that one must live such a life that the surroundings and living beings are not harmed by our actions.”
Jasraj Singh, college student from University of Maryland, said, “This is the responsibility of all of us.”
Dr. Sahil Sekhon, said, “This kind of positive action should be taken more periodically.”
Gagan Kaur Narang, Outreach Committee Member at Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, said, " Guru Nanak gave us the message to care for nature and this is the best way to connect to our Guru."
Age group of volunteers were from age four to people in their 70s.
In addition, EcoSikh will also be planning the plantation of 550 trees this year in celebration of Guru Nanak’s 550th Birthday in Washington.
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