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RatDog’s guitarist back in harmony

JOSEPH HUDAK For The Times Leader

The inspired, fluid guitar playing of RatDog’s Mark Karan may send chills up the spines of the jam-rock band’s fans, but these days so can the simple sound of the guitarist’s hearty — and healthy — laugh. In the spring, Karan overcame a temporarily voice-robbing battle with throat cancer to rejoin RatDog for its spring tour.

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Members of Ratdog, from left: Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Bob Weir, Robin Sylvester, Kenny Brooks and Mark Karan.

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The band, led by Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir, performs at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night.

Getting back on stage after his illness was surprisingly effortless, Karan said.

“Truthfully, I wish I could say something more interesting. But it was a lot like falling off a log or getting back on a horse. Any of those good old trite sayings,” he explained with his rich, enveloping laugh. “I had a little nervousness coming back, but as soon as I started playing, it just felt really natural. It felt like coming home.”

The 53-year-old got his diagnosis in 2007 and was forced to take leave from RatDog while he underwent an array of treatments. Lehigh Valley native Steve Kimock handled lead guitar duties in his absence. The road to wellness, Karan says, was made less rocky by the outpouring of support from the Deadhead community, a group known for its generosity and positive attitude.

“To this day I can’t believe the amount of support I was given,” an awestruck Karan, who recalls a particularly moving performance early in his return, said. “It was the third or fourth show (into the tour) that it really hit me. I don’t know what song we were playing, but about a third of the way into the tune, I spotted all the kids and all the beaming faces smiling back at us, and I just busted up. Right there on stage, the waterworks went.”

Now, however, the tears have dried, and the cancer fight is behind him, leaving Karan to focus on touring and making music, both with RatDog and with his own band, Jemimah Puddleduck. “My treatments ended last November. All went remarkably well,” he says. “I just set my sights on coming back to work. That’s what I am. It’s who I am. I don’t really do anything else.”

A member of RatDog since 1998, Karan has played many of the originals and Grateful Dead warhorses that make up a typical RatDog concert again and again, from “Odessa” and “Two Djinn” to “Truckin’” and “Shakedown Street.” Yet he stresses that he never consciously tries to reinvent the songs or keep them fresh, instead opting to let the music work through him.

“I think there’s a lot of brilliant stuff floating around in the universe, and occasionally we’re fortunate enough to tap into it,” he explains. “Musicians, painters and people who make art are blessed with the gift of being able to be a conduit for some of that beauty that’s out there. So I find myself willing to make a lot of mistakes … in the hope that the good stuff will come through me.”

Those who’ve seen the nimble-fingered Karan play live know the “good stuff” materializes pretty often, despite Karan’s humility. “I pray for frequency, and I don’t mind when it doesn’t happen, because it’s always going to be hit or miss. That was one of the things about the Dead, too. You never knew what you were going to get,” he says. “You could get anything from absolute brilliance to worst show ever, to worst show ever with five minutes of the most brilliant music you’ve ever heard in your life stuck in the middle of it. I’ve always been cool with that.”

As have the devoted masses of old hippies, college kids and free spirits who follow the band, networking with one another on Web sites such as jambase.com to find out who’ll be attending each gig and making plans to meet up beforehand.

While no two RatDog shows are ever alike, fans can expect a familiar dose of Weir’s Dead material at the Kirby. “You get a lot of Grateful Dead songs, a lot of RatDog originals, a lot of Bobby’s back pages from his solo efforts,” Karan said, before boiling down the convivial essence of a RatDog show.

“It’s just a real good opportunity to have an experience we all love to have.”

IF YOU GO

What: Bob Weir and Ratdog

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: F.M. Kirby Center, Public Square, Wilkes-Barre

Tickets: $38

Call: 826-1100