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.
Sept 20, 2013 JAIPUR: Days after Indian godman Asaram Bapu was sent to judicial custody on September 2, 2013, by a Jodhpur court for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl, she (the young victim) has relived the horror she suffered at the hands of the godman in his ‘dhyan ki kutiya’ (place of meditation). Following is the statement the young girl gave against the godman before a magistrate in September 2013 under Section 164: “I fell ill on August 6 (in 2013). I was feeling acute stomach ache. Shilpi (co-accused the sexual assault case) took me to Sharatchandra Rahi (an official of the godman’s hostel in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh). Shilpi told me that I was possessed by some evil soul. On August 7, my parents were informed on my brother’s cell phone about my ailments. Shilpi asked my parents to come to Chhindwara. “My parents came to Chhindwara on August 8. They were not allowed to meet me on August 8. On August 9, Shilpi advised my parents to take me to Asaram to ‘ward off evil souls’. On August 10, my father spoke to Shiva (Asaram’s close aide who is presently in the custody of the Jodhpur police). Shiva informed my father that Bapu (Asaram) is available in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) from August 11 to August 15. He asked my father to come to Jodhpur from Chhindwara by train. Shiva gave my father the address of Asaram’s Manai Ashram in Jodhpur. We boarded Mandore Express on August 13 and reached Jodhpur on the morning of August 14. We reached the ashram, which was in fact a farmhouse. “There were several people standing on the main gate of the ashram and the man who was deployed at the gate did not allow us to enter the ashram. We called Shiva and he asked the man to allow us to enter the ashram premises. “As we entered the ashram, we saw Bapu sitting under a tree. He was preaching to 150 people who were sitting before him. Shiva introduced me and my parents to Bapu. Bapu asked Shiva whether I am the same girl who is under the influence of some evil spirit. “Bapu asked us to take rest as he will perform a ritual to ward off evil souls. We were given a room in the farmhouse. Bapu called me in the evening. He was walking at that time. While walking he asked me in which class do I study and what my future plan is. I told Bapu that I want to become a chartered accountant (CA). He asked me what I will do after becoming CA. He suggested me to become a teacher and he will get me appointed as principle in his gurukul (school). He again told me that I am under the influence of some evil spirits and asked me to meet him in the evening so that he can ward off the evil souls. “In the evening, I, along with my parents, went to Bapu’s ‘dhyan ki kutiya’ (meditation hut). He was sitting on a terrace. He went inside his kutiya, switched off the light and bolted the door from inside. He opened the rare gate of the kutiya and asked me to come inside. He told my parents to wait outside. As I entered the kutiya, it was completely dark. With the help of AC’s indicator and some light permeating from outside, I saw Bapu sitting on a bed in the room. He was keeping his body covered in white shawl. “He asked me to see where my parents are sitting. I saw my mother sitting outside the kutiya and did not find my father there. Bapu asked me to sit close to him. As I sat close to him, he started rubbing my hand. He took off my clothes. Then, he also removed all his clothes and turned naked. He asked me to submit myself completely before him. (The next three sentences are too graphic and edited out). “The whole episode continued for around one and a half hours. When I found myself helpless, I started crying and shouting. He threatened me that he will get my parents killed if I don’t stop shouting. I somehow managed to escape from there. As I came outside, my mother asked what happened. I was so scared that I did not tell anything. “We left the ashram next morning and returned to our native place at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. There, I briefed my parents about what happened with me in Asaram’s kutiya in Jodhpur. We then came to Delhi and tried to meet Asaram. When he refused to meet us, we got a complaint registered in Kamla Nagar police station in the national capital.” (Courtesy Daily Bhaskar) READ ALSO: Godman Asaram Bapu used to read Kamasutra, says former disciple
