RockOm

Mark Karan’s long anticipated debut album Walk Through the Fire is out today on Quacktone Records. Four years in the making, Walk Through the Fire is a testament to Mark Karan's dauntless musical spirit which shines through brilliantly on each track of this remarkable album.

Since 1998 Mark has been performing with the extended Grateful Dead family (The Other Ones, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum, and Bob Weir & RatDog). He has anchored the lead guitar slot in RatDog for the last eleven years, touring the US year round. Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar and vocal voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Paul Carrack, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young and Sophie B. Hawkins.

Mark is a musician's musician. In recent years, Mark has performed with The Allman Brothers, Trey Anastasio, Joan Baez, Dickey Betts, Delaney Bramlett, Larry Campbell, Clarence Clemons, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Galactic, Gov’t Mule, Jackie Greene, Sammy Hagar, Levon Helm, Bill Kirchen, Chuck Leavell, Little Feat, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Phil Lesh & Friends, John Popper, String Cheese Incident, Derek Trucks, Narada Michael Walden and others. Mark also tours with his band, “Jemimah Puddleduck”, with John Molo on drums, JT Thomas on keys, and Bob Gross on bass. Mark offers his soulful blues-based vocal styling and inspired guitar work with a remarkably tight rhythm section in a passionate delivery of the sounds of Americana.

RockOm caught up with Mark Karan recently to discuss Walk Through the Fire, as well as his time with RatDog and how he healed from throat cancer with the power of optimism and by "walking through the fire."

RockOm: Your new CD Walk Through the Fire is fantastic. You must be proud of it.

Mark Karan: I feel really lucky. I can say that I am.  You get so close to a record when you’re making it- you can hear every bleep, fart and wart. A lot of people that I know who have made records by the time they get to the end of it they’ve put a lot of work in it and they hate it. Everybody else loves it, but they hate their own record. I’m not having that experience at all. I feel really lucky.

RockOm: Tell us how Walk Through the Fire came about.

Mark Karan: This CD came into being at the end of my little stint with cancer. I just kinda had an internal directive to get some work done.  I’ve never made a solo record; I’ve been involved with a lot of record making through the years, but generally speaking it’s either been as a band concept or it was in support of a solo artist.

The song “Annie Don't Lie” is one of my favorite songs to sing it’s just a fun party song, a good chance for the audience to sing along.

“Love in Vain" features Delaney Bramlett. Delaney Bramlett and I go way back. He and I were pretty close friends.  I was selected to do a track on this soundtrack for a movie that's going to be coming out for Sundance next year called Guitar Man. The movie features everyone from Stevie Wonder to Lenny Kravitz to Sting to Neal Shon to Ronnie Montrose. The producer gave me a track and I saw that "Love In Vain" was one of the songs licensed and I said, “I’ll have that one please!” I actually produced the whole track with me singing it all the way through. Michael, the producer, brought Delaney up to interview for the movie, and I got this wild idea and thought why don’t we wipe half of my vocals of this track, and put Delaney on it and have him put some dobro on it and we’ll have it as a duet. It just kinda all fell together naturally.

RockOm: Tell us about your cancer and how did you go about the healing process?

Mark Karan: You got a few hours? It’s kind of a hard story to reign in. I was diagnosed in the summer of 2007. As far as what happened- I don’t know. The doctors don’t know what caused this cancer so I sure as heck don’t. I got diagnosed with throat cancer and had to go through about half a year’s worth of treatment and a bit of recovery time after that. I got the all clear in February of '08 and went back out on tour with RatDog.

I was really, really blessed in the way, for a lack of a better term, the universe sorta presented me the cancer and then allowed me to respond to it. I think it’s very natural for us to go into fear or anger or resentment around a diagnosis like that. I had a sense very immediately that the cancer was here to teach me something.

Walk Through the Fire is available in stores, on iTunes, Amazon.com, and his website, markkaran.com. The entire audio interview with Mark Karan will be featured on Thursday's RockOm.net podcast. You don't want to miss this podcast and the remarkable story of how Walk Through the Fire came into being.

A very special thanks to Dennis McNally for being such a friend to us here at RockOm.

by Mark Karan

Mark's Website

Mark Karan, of RatDog, celebrates his debut album Walk Through the Fire. The album features an outstanding cast of world-class musicians, including Delaney Bramlett in his first posthumous release.

It also introduces "Jemimah Puddleduck" (JP), Mark's collaboration over the last decade with John Molo (Phil Lesh & Friends) on drums, JT Thomas (Bruce Hornsby, Captain Beefheart) on keys, and Bob Gross (Albert King, Delaney Bramlett) on bass.

As an offering of gratitude for his own survival in his battle with cancer, Mark is donating all proceeds from the song "Walk Through the Fire" to the Oral Cancer Foundation.

Featured Track:
"Walk Through the Fire"

"I've spent my life playing with great musicians and helping many artists realize their musical visions. Post-cancer I felt it was time to make my own statement and make good on my promise to finish my record. I'm thrilled to say that, with a lot of love, hard work and the help of some amazing friends, that's finally happened. Thank you for listening."
[Mark Karan]

As the world mourns the loss of master entertainer Michael Jackson (1958-2009), RockOm takes a minute to invite you to reflect on one of the more lyrically moving songs in his extensive catalog:

I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs?

I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home, not a nickel to loan...

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

In honor and celebration of the influential career of Mr. Jackson - as well as for the sake of those within your personal influence sphere - take a few moments today and reflect upon these powerful lyrics.

How do you want the world to change?

In what ways do you desire things to be different?

Now, what are you going to do about it?

• Islam, Hope and Charity Inspire Dealer Turned Rapper - "Jason Perez ... found peace and answers in Islam, changing his first name to Hamza and dedicating himself to spirituality, music (Muslim-inspired hip-hop) and good work." (NYTimes.com)
• Rock band croons a spiritual tune - The multi-faith band says, "Our approach is not fundamentalist we are just blending music and religion." (DNAIndia.com)
• Ronnie Milsap Reveals Personal Journey on 'Then Sings My Soul' - "This stunning collection includes gospel greats including 'I'll Fly Away', 'Amazing Grace', 'Up To Zion' and secular treasures like 'Stand By Me', and 'People Get Ready.' (RodeoAttitude.com)
• Marilyn Manson Interviewed: The Dope Show - "Art and spirituality go hand in hand. But politics and religion are not spiritual - they take things out of the world. That's not to say that you can't believe in God. For me, God is the concept of making something." (TheQuietus.com)
• A litmus test for Christian music - "Many agreed that some music labeled Christian music simply is not Christian. So what defines Christian music?" (EverydayChristian.com)
• The Rewarding Aspects of Music Listening Involve the Dopaminergic Striatal Reward - A Canadian research group has found that pleasure centers in the brain that respond to drug craving are also active when we listen to emotionally powerful music that gives us "chills" or "shivers-down-the-spine".

We couldn’t let the week go by without briefly mentioning that it’s RockOm’s first anniversary. A year ago we set out with an intention to serve others through music and along the way we discovered something extraordinary - the music we were presenting began serving us, changing us for the better in ways far beyond our wildest expectations.

Our very first interview was with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs wherein he spoke about the power of music to change people. There is no other force like music that can reach out, create unity among different people and cultures, and heal souls as music does. In that way, music is quite literally prayer. Thousands of years ago prayers were sung so they would be remembered and passed along to future generations. The music we’ve been fortunate enough to present to you over the last year has found its way into our being and has become part of our prayer and our meditation.

We want to thank the many gifted musicians and artists we’ve worked with over the past year. To those artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Zakir Hussain, Abigail Washburn, Ram Dass, Krishna Das, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Steven Halpern, Futureman (Roy Wooten), Chuck Leavell of The Rolling Stones, Trevor Hall, Jai Uttal, David Newman (Durga Das), the late Ms. Odetta, The Wailers’ Aston "Family Man" Barrett and so many others who have opened their homes and their hearts to us we say thank you. To each of the "break-out" artists we've help introduce in our Featured Track of the Week spot, we say thank you. We also want to acknowledge the support and management as well as the PR people behind the artists who allow us to connect and bring each new feature and interview to you. Finally, we can’t leave out the many guest writers who have lent us their reviews, interviews and stories making for compelling reading on matters of music and spirituality each week. We want to thank our families as well for supporting our many long hours of work and believing in our love of the power of music.

Lastly, we want to thank you - you who are reading these words right now. We created RockOm for you and we hope, perhaps in some small way, you have been blessed and changed for the better through the power of music.

Thank you for being here now,

The RockOm team

It's a brand new podcast for the first week of what we affirm will be a groovin' summer filled with soulful new music and excitement. We're stoked to bring you an interview with the mutli-talented singer/songwriter Danielle Howle from Columbia, South Carolina. Danielle Howle has performed and opened for the likes of The Indigo Girls, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Ani DiFranco, Hootie and The Blowfish, and Bob Dylan. Her her catalog of work consists of eight albums of music, songs for film and screen, and more.

Danielle's songs are filled with wit, southern charm (with a twist) and a spirit that lifts listeners to a higher ground of being. Watch for a feature on Danielle Howle in an upcoming issue of Southern Living magazine and pick up a copy of her new solar-power recorded CD entitled Swamp Sessions at her website.

Special Thanks to Danielle and Awendaw Green for working with us on this feature and interview during a very busy time in her career.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 14 - "Cool Kids"


Click to Play (stream)

Click to download (right-click, "Save As...")

“Maybe you are the "cool" generation if coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.”
Kingman Brewster

So I went from thinking about reality TV and writing “Little Black Book” to penning this song for Paris Hilton and Brody Jenner and these so-called “celebrities” who have come to make their notoriety without offering too much to the world in terms of talent. Nothing is forthcoming from them in terms of creative solutions that address the issues and challenges facing their generation. Instead, they travel back and forth throughout the globe on private jets, whisked into swanky nightclub hot spots to party behind the velvet ropes of the VIP section, as oblivious to the outside world as most spoiled rich kids.

At the time I wrote “Cool Kids” I was working in Yaletown (the Vancouver “be-seen” equivalent of L.A) where men and women prance the storefront catwalks in their over-priced outfits, requisite tiny-dog accessories tucked deep in a designer purse or frantically scurrying at their heels, styled in an equally disturbing array of human-inspired fashions that, unbeknownst to their self-absorbed masters, serves no other apparent purpose than to suck the living spirit right out from beneath their carefully manicured paws.

It’s hard not to take it personally when you work to create and support different ways of thinking about the role of our species on this planet, only to be forced to “make a living” amidst the goals and ideals of an obliviously out-of-touch society. For all of the teachers, mentors, activists and entrepreneurs whose passionately creative endeavors I was so voraciously absorbing, arriving at this particular part of the city for a four to eight hour shift all but sucked the living spirit right out of me as well.

Oh! How I long for the day when it’s hip and cool to live without such ridiculously audacious accoutrement and when treating the Community of Life with respect and compassion is the true fashion of the day!

In the meantime, I suppose we must continue to ridicule the apathetic behaviours of our more wealthy cultural counterparts for they are not the trendsetters of the day but simply slaves to the fashion rhythms of a bygone era. The Green Revolution is underway but, wouldn’t you know it, they have missed the boat on this one too; only the impact of their sense of entitlement is so great that none of us can afford to leave them behind for very long.

Like the styles of the decades that have now thankfully passed before us, they are relics of an ancient time when mankind walked this earth, oblivious to the impact of his actions and living with blind ignorance beyond his means.

So I am calling for their removal. No longer do I wish to hear what they have to say. Do you know why, because they are saying absolutely nothing of consequence at all? I say down with the Cool Kids and their custom designed apathy! A new era is upon us!

Long Live the Bleeding Hearts!

From Here To There,
Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Singer-songwriter Danielle Howle has garnered much critical acclaim throughout her career and has emerged as one of the preeminent voices of the South. The New York Times calls her "an extraordinary mind, a southern storyteller with a gorgeous sense of melody that should be pouring out of stereos everywhere. She is one to be treasured."

RockOm is happy to have Danielle Howle's song "Foot of the Mountain" featured as this week's RockOm Featured Track.

Over the course of her six- album career Howle has evolved and reinvented herself not from an explicit desire to innovate but from tapping into an inexhaustible and dynamic force moving inside her that transpires with a grace, honesty and ease that is rarely seen  today.

Howle’s uncanny abilities were crafted from her days performing in Columbia, SC at various clubs and night-spots serving the students of the University of South Carolina. She was soon signed by Daemon Records (Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls) and began performing across the country opening and performing with the likes of The Indigo Girls, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Ani DiFranco, the late Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan and Hootie and The Blowfish.

Danielle's exceptional vision and sensibility are captured best to date on her new album, Thank You Mark, which was produced by musical peer Mark Bryan of Hootie and The Blowfish. Her expression is both classic and beautiful and the new record stays focused on her unique vocal ability. This album is a pure crystallization of Howle’s essence and personality. Skillfully accompanied by top-notch musicians Sam Bush, Byron House, Tim Vaill, John Young (Spottiswoode and His Enemies) and Les Hall of Howie Day, the music is a timeless blend of Americana, with the freedom of jazz, and a little modern swing.

When not touring Howle can be found as artist in residence at Awendaw Green, a new music venue located in Awendaw, SC. Founded by a group of music philanthropists, the vision of Awendaw Green is to network local artists and bands with each other and music enthusiasts and fans. Howle also composes for the screen.  "The Station Agent" (winner of three major awards at the Sundance Film festival) featured one of her songs and Howle has several other indie films under her belt as well.

Watch for a feature on Danielle Howle upcoming soon in Southern Living magazine.

by Danielle Howle

Daniellehowle.com
@ Myspace

Oft-compared to Nina Simone and Flannery O'Connor, Danielle Howle is a powerful frontwoman whose vivid yet off-kilter musical stories weave a sweet sensibility and bare honesty into her work. Her solo performances are breathtaking, with captivating vocals. A comedian between songs, her prattles are filled with insight, inquiry, and wonder that speak of true romanticism. Howle's polished yet spontaneous hilarity creates a singular experience on the music scene.

Featured Track:
"Foot of the Mountain"

[Lyrics Excerpt]
"...Cause I'm at the foot of the mountain,
and the time is coming soon when I must climb,
will you come with me and if you can't then don't forget
I will be right back but that might seem a long time."

"'Foot of the Mountain' is about the joy of the journey and finding autonomy and one's unique voice and being cool with it. I wrote this song to remind myself to continue this most excellent journey with joy and not fear." [Danielle Howle]

BONUS TRACK: "Freedom"

"If you practice for ten years, you may begin to please yourself, after 20 years you may become a performer and please the audience, after 30 years you may please even your guru, but you must practice for many more years before you finally become a true artist - then you may please even God." - Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

It’s difficult to imagine George Harrison never discovering classical Indian music. There would never have been sitar on The Beatles' “Norwegian Wood” or his songs “All Things Must Pass” and “My Sweet Lord” and as well as others. There might never have been A Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 which ushered in the era of the relief concert. All this and so much more might never have been if not for the presence of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan who passed on June 18 at the age of 87. It was Ali Akbar Khan’s many firsts as a Master Musician that paved the way for the introduction of Indian music to the rest of the world.

He was the first to record an LP of Indian classical music in the States in 1955 as well to give a recital on American network TV. The late American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who became one of his earliest champions in the West, said he considered Mr. Khan "an absolute genius, the greatest musician in the world." Khan was also the first Indian musician to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991. In 1997 Khan was chosen to receive the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was presented by Mrs. Hillary Clinton at a ceremony in the White House.

Ustad Khan was a virtuoso of the sarod, a 25-string instrument in the lute family. His chosen musical genre is based in part on the concept of the raga, which consists of improvised music based on a variety of scales. From these scales, or permutations of them, Indian musicians follow traditional forms but add their own inflections and feeling.

The son of a revered musician and teacher, Mr. Khan began intensive training as a child and partnered with sitar player Ravi Shankar - his future brother-in-law - performing duets throughout India. Khan and Shankar were the opening act at A Concert for Bangladesh.

Ali Akbar College of Music is the name of three schools founded by Ustad Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, California, but moved to its current location in San Rafael, California the next year. The third was founded in 1985 in Basel, Switzerland and is run by Khan's disciple Ken Zuckerman.

Derek Trucks was a student of the Ali Akbar College of Music and Trucks’ playing is heavily influenced by Ali Akbar Khan. Many revered musicians such as Ustad Zakir Hussain were heavily influenced under the direction of Ustad Khan. Khan was nominated for Grammy Awards five times between 1970 to 1998.

Survivors include his wife, Mary, and 11 children from several previous wives.

Ali Akbar Khan webpage