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: 2013 has been the year of a miraculous career turnaround for the talented Amit Sadh who was deserted by his live-in girlfriend Neeru Bajwa in 2010.
After years of struggle, including a disastrous movie debut in 2010 on Ram Gopal Varma’s Phoonk 2, Amit suddenly came into his own with Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che.
Now he has just completed a rom-com Runningshaadi.com with Tapsee Pannu where he plays a boy who runs away from Patna to Punjab at age 15. Amit now moves to Subhash Kapoor’s Guddu Rangeela where he plays an oddball Haryanvi character.
Says the belatedly feted actor, “From a Bihari to a Haryanvi. I have to now do a Haryanvi accent for Subhash Kapoor’s film. I also have to stand up to an actor of Arshad Warsi’s calibre. I play an absolutely wacked-out character. We start shooting in January.”
Offers, there were galore after Kai Po Che. But Amit played it safe.
“I waited so long for good things to happen to my career. I didn’t want to mess it up now when I was finally noticed. I am not greedy. I am not into acting for money. I still live in a rented house and drive around in a second-hand car. What Kai Po Che did to my career is beyond expression. I owe the director Abhishek Kapoor this new lease of life.”
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LOVERS: Amit Sadh and his then girlfriend Neeru Bajwa.[/caption]
Even now after success Amit consults Abhishek on all career decisions. “He is a friend for life. People ask why he isn’t doing another film with me.I say, that is such a frivolous way of defining friendship. Kaam do toh dost varna nahin? No way. I’d rather have Gattu (Abhishek) as a friend than someone I look towards for work.”
READ ALSO: Neeru Bajwa ex-boyfriend set to make comeback
Tell him that Sushant Singh Rajput reaped all the benefits of the Kai Po Che success, and Amit protests, “I don’t look at my success in Kai Po Che in comparison with the other actors in the film. I look at it from the perspective of what I was going through before Kai Po Che. I was completely lost, personally and professionally. I even did Bigg Boss in 2010”
People saw Amit crying constantly.
``Yes, I was a crybaby on Bigg Boss 2010 because I was only 22 and therefore just a baby. Inside Bigg Boss emotions are constantly heightened. It’s not a normal place to be in. On top of that ,I was told my girlfriend Neeru Bajwa had left me. Can you imagine, she was my life!. And to be told inside there where I had no way of ascertaining the truth that she (Neeru) had left me...it shattered me.”
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Neeru Bajwa and her then boyfriend Amit Sadh.[/caption]
Amit says Neeru Bajwa’s decision to leave him left him bereft. “All of a sudden my life fell apart. She was the only family that I had. She transformed me from a boy into a man. When Neeru left me, my life fell apart. I had to start from scratch.I used the money I got from Bigg Boss to go to the Lee Strasberg acting school in New York where I learnt to be single again. I moved in with four American friends, roughed it out.”
Neeru Bajwa and Amit were first seen together in TV show “Guns and Roses” and later on dance reality show “Nach Baliye” in 2005. They had a live-in relationship, and also got engaged. But Neeru decided to walk out of the relationship in 2010.
Amit says he is still single. “And I like it that way. Of course, there are rumours the minute I am seen with a girl. While I was shooting in Punjab with Tapsee Pannu I went out for dinner with her. The next day we were a couple in the papers. But the truth is, I am not seeing anyone.”
HOT PICTURES: Neeru Bajwa
Birender: Tune liya tha kya uska lund madarchod jo tujhe pta hai
Shivreet Kaur Grewal: Dear Neeru bajwa...
I am your big fan but I don't like your this thing that you left Amit. He was handsome and rich and he also loves you so much. So why do you left him? I don't know the reason for this, but I am 100% sure that you will realize your mistake and consider Amit in your life again... but this is your personal matter but what I like to say I did...
Your one of millions fans,
Shivreet
Bokhoven: My lover left me after 4 years of relationship, my life fell apart. But when i came across dr_mack, he restored my relationship and my lover came back.
Monika: I don't know whether I should comment or not. It's something private. But you both were in love. And should marry to your beloved.
AMRITPAL SINGH: Dear Neeru bajwa. ...
I don't know u did a great or bad job after leaving Amit. ....but if u left him without any particular reason, then this is not a gud deal... .he deserved your love and company if u were in relationship with him. ...in your one life u will meet on judgement day then what will be your answer? Moving on is right thing, but the man who loves you and u also then you should marry with him not anybody else. Furthermore, it's your personal matter but what I like to Say I did. .........
Yours one of millions fans
Amrit
MJ: Phir wo saala randwa bhi kyu na ho, am I right
don: dekh beta amit neeru bajwa ne tujhe chhoda uska reason ye hai ki tu koi bada superstar nahi hai and secondly u are not as much rich what neeru bajwa demands.ladkiya rich logo se hi patnaa chahti hai
Rishi Gujral: Neeru is great
Anonymous: Neeru is set to marry Harry Jawanda of vancouver.
m.k.choudhry: Dear Amit,
Neeru kyon chhod gayi? Iss ki reason yeh hai ke ya toh tera lund chhota aur patla hai, ya tairay lund main taqt nahin hai,tu uss ko satisfy nahin kar saka.
Aurat taj mangti ha na BKhat,
Sirf danddaa magti ha sakhhat. 
