Welcome happy readers. Thanks for being here.
Normally I spend my Friday Blog espousing some science theme or discussing humanities connection with peace . . . but today I’m all about music. You see, tonight I’m going to a concert to see my favorite musician, Carlos Santana.
I heard him when I was seventeen and he and his band totally blew my mind. This was even before they appeared on the stage at Woodstock. I grew up in Lake Tahoe California in the sixties. The music scene in Tahoe then was totally Rat Pack. I saw a lot of those guys live in the show room of Harrah’s Casino. The local radio stations played Rat Pack music and quit playing the Beatles after John Lennon’s “More popular than Jesus” comment, despite a protest by local high school students. I just wasn’t exposed to very much new music. I played sax in the HS Jazz band. I listened to Dizzy Gillespie, Don Ellis, Miles Davis, Buddy Rich and other jazz greats. I heard some of the pop groups on the Ed Sullivan show and was not very impressed.
Then Santana played at a place called the Fun House. It was the old Safeway store that had been converted to a concert hall. It was closed every couple of weeks due to pot smoking. Then they raised the age limit to eighteen. I couldn’t go in but I could hear the music from the outside.
There was rock. There was jazz. There was blues. There was latin. There was an awesome lead guitarist, a great keyboard player and excellent percussion. I was blown away.
Then several years later Santana blew me away again with the Caravansari album. It was jazzier with some of the jazz I grew up with only brought into the rock arena. I loved it. For a long time I went to sleep listening to this album.
Carlos blew my mind again when he released his “White Album” which is what I call the first album he did with John McLaughlin. It’s not an easy listen. It is very complicated and technical but it totally blew my mind. I never knew you could do that with a guitar.
Carlos Santana hasn’t blown my mind since but I am a huge fan. I play Santana songs almost every night on my guitar. AND most of the songs I play every night are on the set list for this concert I’m going to tonight.
This is certainly a “bucket list” concert. I’ve seen Santana a couple of times but in large out door arenas where I was so far away it was hard to tell which person on stage was Carlos Santana. Tonight I have box seats near the stage. It is a smallish venue and I expect a good sound.
Of course I’ll have a review here this weekend.
Never mix red wine with Oodo, but cider is fine.
Earth Year 2014
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