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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.
News Grille
XI. IV. XXIII
Fantasies, Dreams & Escapism
MIND-BOGGLING!
By Ravi V. Chhabra
“Fantasy is way more important than knowledge because knowledge is limited.”
― Albert Einstein
The debate about dreams, escapisms and fantasies is unceasing and an obvious one. It is perhaps, older than the modern civilizations that may never get to decipher the meaning, scope and even correlation. It has been one of the leading concerns of sages, thinkers, scientists and psychologists all around the globe since centuries. As is said and believed, one may forget the dreams sooner, however, the fantasy may linger for years or a lifetime, and for those who believe in rebirth, it may even pass on to the next life as much as desires!
Some people use lies and half truths to continue believing in the fantasies. It is a kind of escapism from a world they do not like in its present form, says a leading psycho-analyst on condition of anonymity.
It is worthwhile to note that fantasy art is a genre of art that showcases magical or other supernatural ideas, works in literature, creatures etc. While there is quite an overlap with science fiction, horror and other inquisitive fiction art, there are unique elements not generally found in other forms of speculative fiction art.
The standard dictionary meanings extol the words 'dream', daydream and 'fantasy' are interchangeable, but there is a distinct difference when it comes to pursuing them. A fantasy is a lopsided/warped perception. It is based on imagination and the obsession of feeling what may be impossible in real. Thus, it's half-truth. A dream in contrast is subconscious and is a balanced perception!
Therefore, an example of fantasy in psychology: A person who is attracted to a beautiful woman but who realizes that she is unattainable fantasizes about wooing/seducing her (or being seduced by her). This leads to happiness and a 'real' feeling! Fantasy is an illusion, a drug? Perhaps, yes.
Also, noteworthy is the fact that creative artists like the artists, sculptors, and musicians to name a few, switch off the self-censoring area of the brain, so they can generate unique ideas without restrictions. A free-flowing approach as they go into a calm mode. Interestingly, the improvising brain activates many of the same brain areas as language does, reinforcing the idea that the back and forth of improvisation between musicians is same for its own language
Dreams can be outlined as a series of successive and at times, recurring visions, images, and feelings experienced by a person during his/her sleep, while fantasy or fantasizing is imagining improbable things, which have no basis in reality but in both cases, the improbable may turn into reality by chance or as coincidence, so to say. Dreams can be good or bad. Fantasies are usually enjoyable, amusing and surreal in nature and lead to imaginary pleasures sensual, soulful and emotional.
Pertinent it is to mention that Sigmund Freud thought that dreams were the gateway to our unconscious mind. In the present times, many scientists think the opposite: that the dreaming brain is quite similar to our awake, conscious state. But dreaming is a very personal experience and one that we can’t share — making the phenomenon very difficult to study. We still don’t know for sure why we dream but surely some dreams are recurring, just as nightmares!
Dreams can be defined as a series of successive visions, images, and feelings experienced by a person during his/her sleep. Fantasy is imagining improbable things, which have no basis in reality.
Fantasy: Dreams are the sure-shot of a good night’s sleep. If a person is dreaming, then more often than not, he/she is experiencing a very sound sleep. Dreams rejuvenate our brain by de-cluttering it. Dreams and fantasies often help people experience the impossible in a subtle manner. Fantasy means the act of imaging things that are a departure from stark and existential reality.
Fantasies could be anything that is consciously or subconsciously deep-rooted in a person’s mind. They can range from being simple to being brutally complex or brilliantly inspiring. Fantasies often transcend the scientific barriers of sense and rationality, by involving themes like magic and supernaturalism. As an example, the Harry Potter series by the acclaimed author, J.K. Rowling, is a worthy example of fantasy.
"By the end of our lives, it is estimated that most of us will have spent 50,000 hours dreaming", says Chloe Nahum in one of her articles. That is six years spent amongst the night-time phantasms which disturb, delight and perplex us. Formed in our minds and yet alien to them, the dream's enduring mysteries have long captivated artists and writers.
Freud maintained that some part of escapist fantasy is a necessary element in the life of humans: "They cannot subsist on the scanty satisfaction they can extort from reality. "We simply cannot do without auxiliary constructions", Theodor Fontane, the German novelist and poet once said, "His followers saw rest and wish fulfilment (in small measures) as useful tools in adjusting to traumatic upset"; while later psychologists have highlighted the role of vicarious distractions in shifting unwanted moods, especially anger and sadness.
For many, as the inebriated of the unchecked imagination, the dream represents art's origins. To quote French philosopher Michel Foucault "every act of imagination points implicitly to the dream… the dream is the first condition of its possibility. No artists, perhaps, without dreamers". Thus, the debatable issue is: Can one enter the realm of fantasy in a dream and start living it forever?
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Ravi V. Chhabra is a Senior Journalist having worked with leading newspapers and magazines in print and online media in India and abroad. He runs his features and business magazine since over 20 years: fnbworld.com {News for Soul}.
Note: The author has used certain random research material from various sources.
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