Speaker 1: I'm also kind of afraid of your answer, but I'm
Speaker 1: just going to ask you the question because I love
Speaker 1: you unconditionally.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about like hippies?
Speaker 3: Well, if it isn't my good friend the loaded ask a.
Speaker 2: Question, I swear it's not loaded at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, like when you were growing up, like what
Speaker 1: was your perception of hippies? And I asked that because like,
Speaker 1: as Latinos, that is a very like Americana word, especially
Speaker 1: growing up, like I didn't know, No, my deals weren't hippies.
Speaker 2: My mom wasn't a hippie.
Speaker 3: I was going to say the same thing, like.
Speaker 1: Hustlers yes, hard workers yes, but like what we think
Speaker 1: of as like kind of like a nineteen seventies would
Speaker 1: stock attending, peace love, flower power, hippie.
Speaker 2: Right, That's what I mean.
Speaker 3: You know I had seen hippies, I guess when I
Speaker 3: was more in high school because things from the sixties
Speaker 3: and seventies, the hippies. I mean it was my family
Speaker 3: that were kind of dressed like solos.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: They were like like like my grandpa was like like
Speaker 3: a zoot shooter, so he was more like gangster looking
Speaker 3: more like a cholo with like the gray and black
Speaker 3: stripe cholo shirt than like hippie. So I mean I
Speaker 3: remember probably hippie as being maybe in middle school.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think for me, the association with hippies came from
Speaker 1: my mom and my dad because my parents are on
Speaker 1: the younger side.
Speaker 2: They had me super young.
Speaker 1: They had me at like twenty and so my parents
Speaker 1: were like disco queens, right.
Speaker 2: Like they they weren't hippies.
Speaker 1: They were like living love de loca in like the discotheca.
Speaker 2: Not like at Woods peace and love not peace.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, they're peaceful and they're loving, but they
Speaker 1: were not like peace love, flower power, like a lot
Speaker 1: of pot kind of people Like that's just not there.
Speaker 1: So my association with hippies was exactly that, right, It
Speaker 1: was that very much kind of like what you saw
Speaker 1: in like documentaries or in the movies, very like almost
Speaker 1: famous is like the definition of hippie for me, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's what she was. Okay, So now that we're
Speaker 1: kind of like in this era, do you catch where
Speaker 1: I'm going with this?
Speaker 3: Mm hmm kind of okay. So now that you've brought
Speaker 3: me into the Volkswagen Van, where are you actually trying
Speaker 3: to take us here?
Speaker 1: I am taking you on a road trip from southwestern
Speaker 1: Mexico up across the border to San Francisco and far
Speaker 1: far beyond to follow the life of none other than
Speaker 1: Carlos Santana.
Speaker 3: Dang Leana.
Speaker 1: That transition was smooth, just like the ocean under the moon.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, let's keep it moving.
Speaker 1: Okay, I didn't do his lyrics justice at all. Delete
Speaker 1: that part please, all right. So here's the thing. Carlos
Speaker 1: Santana's life and career is the very definite of a
Speaker 1: sixties seventies rock star, from.
Speaker 3: His chance performance at a certain generation defining music festival,
Speaker 3: to the blown up egos that quickly blew up.
Speaker 1: His band, to the stints with guru's failed comebacks, and
Speaker 1: a later in life renaissance that introduced him to a
Speaker 1: new generation.
Speaker 3: As a guitarist. Santana's iconic sound sent him soaring until
Speaker 3: the pressures of fame and the music industry sent him tumbling,
Speaker 3: but his spiritual yearning sent him on a constant search
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 1: He's an artist who follows his heart, leading to some
Speaker 1: very unforgettable places.
Speaker 3: And along the way, he fused Latin sounds in rhythms
Speaker 3: with rock music of his day the man opened doors, Hanny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he even opened doors to the spirit realm.
Speaker 3: Sorry what I said?
Speaker 2: What I said.
Speaker 1: We'll get there, Patience, Joseph, patience.
Speaker 3: This spirit grewstes looks a little too.
Speaker 2: Good on you, I know, right, thank you?
Speaker 1: All right, you guys, Let's get into the fantastic journey
Speaker 1: of Carlos Santana.
Speaker 2: I'm your host Lilianavoscaz.
Speaker 3: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1: A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
Speaker 1: how today's most famous LATINV stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 3: And given the world some.
Speaker 2: Extra level Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 3: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 3: with buenass.
Speaker 2: Him, Buenasriesas, and a lot of opinions.
Speaker 1: As we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to
Speaker 1: find out what makes them so iconic. Carlos Santana was
Speaker 1: born on July twentieth, nineteen forty seven.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm, hold on, let me see. As a cancering son,
Speaker 3: Santana is a sensitive person, easily influenced by his environment
Speaker 3: and protective of his feelings. As a Leo Moon, He's generous, warm,
Speaker 3: hearted and loyal to those he loves, a friends for
Speaker 3: life to those who win his trust.
Speaker 1: His birthplace of Atlanta Nevado, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico,
Speaker 1: is a small city with under one hundred thousand citizens.
Speaker 2: Humble, hot and dry.
Speaker 3: Sounds like Alpaca.
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 3: It's the birthplace of Gasmito Castillo, a Mexican revolutionary from
Speaker 3: whom the nearby city of Gazmito gets its name, as
Speaker 3: well as revolutionary general Paulino Navaki.
Speaker 1: It's also home to composer Ermo Hernandez, winner of the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three Premio Jalisco, and the poet Rogaciano Arias.
Speaker 3: And that's about all there is to say about outline. Really,
Speaker 3: it's a small robote city and it's here where Carlo
Speaker 3: Santana grew up with six siblings.
Speaker 1: As the middle child, Carlos says he often got away
Speaker 1: with things that other kids didn't. In a Rolling Stone
Speaker 1: interview conducted in two thousand, Carlos surmises that it may
Speaker 1: have been because his father knew his son would be
Speaker 1: a musician.
Speaker 3: Carlos's father, Jose Santana, was a Mariacci violinist.
Speaker 1: Carlos would say that his first memory of him was
Speaker 1: quote watching him play music and watching what it did
Speaker 1: to people. He was the darling of our town. I
Speaker 1: wanted that that charisma that.
Speaker 3: He had, so would teach his son to play the violin,
Speaker 3: who would also tell him stories. Carlos's favorites were the
Speaker 3: stories about tigers. These stories, Carlos says, taught him how
Speaker 3: to create tension as a musician.
Speaker 1: But Carlos would miss jose when he was away playing music,
Speaker 1: remembering his hugs on the way he smelled.
Speaker 2: In his words, your dad becomes your first god.
Speaker 3: He also recalls the rhythm of his mother, flos Fina
Speaker 3: scolding him, which inspired him of his early guitar solos.
Speaker 1: Note to future teenage Sandi buddy, First of you shouldn't
Speaker 1: be listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2: You're too little, but you're welcome.
Speaker 3: While learning the violin gave carlos a strong set of
Speaker 3: musical fundamentals. He quote hated the way it smelled, the
Speaker 3: way it sounded, and the way it looked. Three strikes.
Speaker 2: I feel like those are your three strikes on any guy.
Speaker 1: No, Well, if Joseph does not like the way you
Speaker 1: smell or the way you sound, like you're out listen.
Speaker 3: I was just quoting Santana.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, sorry, I thought those were just your dating
Speaker 1: deal breakers.
Speaker 3: Okay, you know perfectly well that's my three strikes, okay.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Well, Luckily for Carlos Santana, he wouldn't stick with the
Speaker 1: violin for very long. He would discover the guitar as
Speaker 1: well as the music of Richie Vallins, best known for
Speaker 1: his nineteen fifty eight hit but.
Speaker 3: La La La la Bamba?
Speaker 2: Did you just ab li? Did you just go? Butta
Speaker 2: but alma?
Speaker 3: My parents would be very, very sad.
Speaker 2: I'm sad for them.
Speaker 1: A Mexican American guitarist from California's San Fernando Valley, Valence
Speaker 1: had scored a hit on both sides of the border,
Speaker 1: taking a folk song from Vera Cruz, Mexico and injecting
Speaker 1: it with a rock and roll rhythm.
Speaker 3: An approach that Carlo Centena himself would use to great
Speaker 3: success early in his recording career.
Speaker 1: Richie Vallens was an early pioneer in Chicano rock music
Speaker 1: aka the term we used to describe Mexican and Mexican
Speaker 1: American rock artists in the fifties and sixties.
Speaker 3: Chicano rocks roots run through border towns where cultures clashed
Speaker 3: and mixed.
Speaker 1: Remember back in our Celia Cruz episode, we talked about
Speaker 1: radio's power as a star making vehicle. Well, radio also
Speaker 1: brought new sounds to new audiences, and in border towns,
Speaker 1: radio often turned Mexicans onto the sounds of American blues,
Speaker 1: R and B and of course rock and roll.
Speaker 3: Well, wait, isn't Carlo Santana's hometown like far as Hell
Speaker 3: from the border?
Speaker 1: Yes, I wouldn't call it a ordered down, But when
Speaker 1: Carlos was seven years old, his family packed up and
Speaker 1: moved to the Juana in Baja California, Mexico, which as
Speaker 1: far back as the fifties has been a hotspot for
Speaker 1: tourists from across the border aka San Diegans and especially
Speaker 1: military men stationed in any number of Southern California's military bases.
Speaker 3: As a tourist town, Tijuana was where the money was
Speaker 3: for musicians like Carlos's father, and.
Speaker 1: Apart from shining shoes and selling gum on the street,
Speaker 1: Carlos would play music along with his dad to earn
Speaker 1: money for his family.
Speaker 3: This line of work would bring Jose and Carlos to
Speaker 3: the seedier corners of Tijuana.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, Dijuana was a completely different world from Autlan
Speaker 1: in Outland. Carlos had played the violin in church.
Speaker 3: In Tijuana, his father brought him to play music in brothels.
Speaker 3: Carlos describes these spaces as having no floor, just dirked tables,
Speaker 3: black some cigarettes because there were no ash trays.
Speaker 2: Damn.
Speaker 1: Carlos was a exposed to a lot during his time
Speaker 1: in Tijuana, some of which he would spend his whole
Speaker 1: life recovering from.
Speaker 3: Eventually it would all be too much for him.
Speaker 1: At fourteen years old, Carlos was playing another ceed joined
Speaker 1: with his dad.
Speaker 2: Sick to his stomach.
Speaker 1: He took a stand and told his father he didn't
Speaker 1: want to play at places like this anymore.
Speaker 3: It was the first time he had ever tuk back
Speaker 3: to his father his quote unquote first God. His father
Speaker 3: told him he was just like his mother and told
Speaker 3: him to leave.
Speaker 2: And Carlos did.
Speaker 1: Going his own way, he would find a nightly gig
Speaker 1: playing a local strip club from four in the afternoon
Speaker 1: till six in the morning. I mean it's an upgrade,
Speaker 1: but like not a big upgrade.
Speaker 3: No really really, He worked there for two or three
Speaker 3: years and gave the money to his mother.
Speaker 1: And, noting her son's passion for playing the guitar, Carlos's
Speaker 1: mom decided to take him to see a local band
Speaker 1: at a bar.
Speaker 3: So many cool moms this season. Celia's mom support her
Speaker 3: night club ambitions. Selena's mom supports her. Looks now, here's
Speaker 3: Antenna's mom taking her kid to see a cool band.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you it is the mom's.
Speaker 1: You're going to be a cool mom. I'm sorry going
Speaker 1: you are present tense now. That band that he went
Speaker 1: to see was the one as a very first rock
Speaker 1: and roll group, Los Tiyas, led by the young man
Speaker 1: who would become Carlos's guitar teacher and musical mentor, Javier Battis.
Speaker 3: But These would eventually come to be known as the
Speaker 3: father of Mexican rock music, not because he would blow
Speaker 3: up the charts or tour across the world, but because
Speaker 3: he would teach hundreds of aspiring roquatos to shred, including
Speaker 3: Carlos Nan.
Speaker 2: But at this point in his career, But These was
Speaker 2: just a kid.
Speaker 1: With a band that played locally and every so often
Speaker 1: would cross the border to San Diego for battle of
Speaker 1: the bands. Remember how he talked about the importance of
Speaker 1: radio well yours earlier, But these had stumbled across the
Speaker 1: station x E a h one when his mother had
Speaker 1: asked him to shut off the radio one night.
Speaker 3: Just before his hand reached the volume nob he heard
Speaker 3: the opening licks of the station's blues block, and his
Speaker 3: life forever.
Speaker 1: Changed that night at the bar, but these and Carlos
Speaker 1: Santana became fast friends. Carlos started taking lessons from Buthis,
Speaker 1: who taught him everything he knew and eventually invited Carlos
Speaker 1: to join the DIA's band as a bassist.
Speaker 3: Decades later, Santana would say abouttis, he looked like little
Speaker 3: Richard and played guitar like BB King. There were a
Speaker 3: lot of guitar slingers from Tijuana with that sound. But
Speaker 3: when I heard him, I knew I would be a
Speaker 3: musician for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2: Hearing this quote without being told who said it.
Speaker 1: But these would laugh and exclaim, that's my little brother,
Speaker 1: that's Carlos.
Speaker 3: Even though they are time together in the band was
Speaker 3: short lived. Carlos had found a lifelong friend and a
Speaker 3: new confident musical direction.
Speaker 1: Javiet Bethi's would move to Mexico City and keep spreading
Speaker 1: the gospel of rock, while Carlos and his family would
Speaker 1: move again, this time to San Francisco.
Speaker 3: And though Carlos was understandably upset at yet another upheople,
Speaker 3: it was in San Francisco that he would meet several
Speaker 3: more idols and mentors and discover his own sound. So basically,
Speaker 3: if it wasn't for Javier Abatis, we wouldn't have Carlos.
Speaker 1: Santana exactly, which I think is why so many of
Speaker 1: our icons have mentors, and even just people that aren't icons,
Speaker 1: like mentors, I think are a really important part of
Speaker 1: how we develop professionally and personally.
Speaker 3: Do you have a mentor or do you have a
Speaker 3: mentor from your past?
Speaker 1: That is a great question, and the answer is yes
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean, I think I have many mentors,
Speaker 1: But the one that really comes to mind right off
Speaker 1: the top of my head is probably the person responsible
Speaker 1: for like getting me on the Today Show. And that
Speaker 1: was my old executive producer at a show called New
Speaker 1: York Live. And her name is Amy Rosenbloom, and she
Speaker 1: literally grabbed me by the hand, walked me across the
Speaker 1: plaza into the Today Show offices to one of their
Speaker 1: seniors and said, you need to put this girl on
Speaker 1: your show.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: Actually, it's funny. I never call her my mentor.
Speaker 1: I always she always said that she was my rabbi
Speaker 1: because like she was my lead, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like she was like, rabbis do so much more. And
Speaker 1: she was like, I'm so much more than a mentor.
Speaker 1: I'm like your rabbi.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: I know what about.
Speaker 3: You I have. I have different mentors. I mean, one
Speaker 3: of you are a mentor to me because I mean
Speaker 3: I look up to you so much. You have reinvented
Speaker 3: yourself so many times. I mean you have worked the
Speaker 3: Oscars and have Emmy's and all of this really cool stuff.
Speaker 3: You have up and moved and have a kid, and
Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, you are a mentor. And I don't
Speaker 3: think ours is going to run its course because it's
Speaker 3: gonna last forever. But I do remember having to saving
Speaker 3: goodbye to one of my mentors. I've worked with a
Speaker 3: makeup artist named Pat McGrath for.
Speaker 2: A while the past, m Agrath, Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I would do the backstage shows with her, And
Speaker 3: I remember working my last show and just being like
Speaker 3: this is it, Like I don't want to I don't
Speaker 3: want to go to Paris. I don't want to do this.
Speaker 3: And I remember her she had a feeling I was leaving,
Speaker 3: and I remember we gave each other a hug and
Speaker 3: she looked at me and she goes Joseph the biggest
Speaker 3: Stars go with me to Paris. And I never spoke
Speaker 3: to her again, not bad, not nothing. Yes, that was
Speaker 3: our last interaction. And I learned so much, Like I
Speaker 3: became this like skin guru, like if you wanted covers
Speaker 3: or you wanted something with like the most beautiful, flawless skin,
Speaker 3: it's like And I learned so much from being backstage
Speaker 3: with her.
Speaker 1: And I think any good mentor mentee relationship eventually runs
Speaker 1: its course because you learn what you need to learn
Speaker 1: from them, right, And I always think it's interesting when
Speaker 1: like the mentee then is able to become a mentor
Speaker 1: to somebody else. And I think that's the natural progression
Speaker 1: of those relationships, Like they teach you what they can
Speaker 1: teach you, and then you find another mentor because ultimately,
Speaker 1: like you should be having many mentors in your professional
Speaker 1: career that kind of touch on different aspects in different
Speaker 1: phases of where you are in your career at the time.
Speaker 1: But yeah, for sure, I really believe in the power
Speaker 1: of having a mentor, and the mentee becomes the mentor.
Speaker 1: M Carlos Santana had left the Wana with a budding superpower.
Speaker 1: His guitar playing have you Bet These had shown him
Speaker 1: everything he knew, But Carlos Santana had yet to discover
Speaker 1: his signature sound.
Speaker 3: He would discover that sound during his early years in
Speaker 3: the city he would come to call home San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Now today, many people think of San Francisco as like
Speaker 1: tech central, right, It's like where all of like the
Speaker 1: apps that you use every day on your phone were invented.
Speaker 1: You think of Silicon Valley. But for generations, it's reputation
Speaker 1: was more the.
Speaker 3: Grateful Dead, Harvey Milk, anti war protests, civil rights protests,
Speaker 3: environmental protests, hippies, the summer of love.
Speaker 1: Writing for sf Gate, David Koran called San Francisco in
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties ground zero for those looking to tune in,
Speaker 1: turn on, drop out. In other words, it was the
Speaker 1: epicenter for the counterculture that we associate with the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 3: And it was in the epicenter of the San Francisco
Speaker 3: Latino community, the Mission District, where Carlos and his family
Speaker 3: found themselves living.
Speaker 1: Carlos reluctantly enrolled in the local middle school, where he
Speaker 1: would learn English and find it difficult to connect with
Speaker 1: kids around him.
Speaker 3: Well. Carlos liked to talk to older folks about the
Speaker 3: Blues Master as he worshiped. He says, his teenage peers
Speaker 3: would talk about quote, playing hooky and stealing cars and
Speaker 3: doing some pimple beach boys stuff that didn't make any
Speaker 3: sense to him.
Speaker 1: But he stayed focused on the musical dream he had
Speaker 1: nurtured in Tijuana. Upon graduating high school, he decided not
Speaker 1: to go to college, instead taking a job washing dishes
Speaker 1: for a restaurant to save up money for a Gibson.
Speaker 3: Les Paul Junior think of the hours he spent at
Speaker 3: that scene, scrubbing dishes and imagining himself playing like all
Speaker 3: of his favorites on the radio.
Speaker 2: I know right.
Speaker 1: And after scrimping and saving and dreaming, and night after
Speaker 1: night of dry, pruney fingers over that dishwasher, he finally
Speaker 1: buys his dream guitar.
Speaker 2: Yes, And then his brother's friend comes to his house.
Speaker 2: And sits on it.
Speaker 1: No, I know, right, I mean enough, I hate that, like, oh, you.
Speaker 2: Work so hard.
Speaker 3: Understandably, Carlos and his brother fought for weeks, but ultimately
Speaker 3: his brother bought him a replacement and an amplifier.
Speaker 2: I have a feeling Mom had something to do with
Speaker 2: that move.
Speaker 3: You better teach Fante to be nice like that. Hi?
Speaker 2: Is this the non parent giving the parent advice?
Speaker 1: Anyway, Carlos continued washing dishes and bussing tables. Then one
Speaker 1: night a particular group of customers walked into the restaurant.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't just any group, it was The Grateful Dead.
Speaker 3: There Carlos was in his dirty apron and his hapuni
Speaker 3: it definitely guitar callis fingers, bussing tables. He thought to himself,
Speaker 3: if they can be musicians, I can be a musician.
Speaker 1: Cut to Carlo's quitting, pushing past the front door of
Speaker 1: the restaurant, bawling up his apron and tossing it in
Speaker 1: the trash.
Speaker 3: With the Grateful Dead playing on the soundtrack.
Speaker 1: Totally, I feel like I only know one Grateful Dead song,
Speaker 1: and I can't think of it right now.
Speaker 3: Anyway, We're not doing a bit as he tells it,
Speaker 3: Carlos really did quit his job that night. From then on,
Speaker 3: he threw himself into San Francisco's music scene.
Speaker 1: Carlos started busking in hate Ashbury, the neighborhood that would
Speaker 1: soon become associated with the Summer of Love. He would
Speaker 1: play covers of popular songs and collect money in a half.
Speaker 3: His hall is modest enough for wine and pizza. Outside
Speaker 3: of busking, he would spend his time at a now
Speaker 3: historic music venue, the Fillmore. And it's here where he
Speaker 3: finds a musical community and meets his future band.
Speaker 1: Meets at the Fillmore, he gets to see his heroes
Speaker 1: on stage, Baby King, A Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, Jimmy Hendricks,
Speaker 1: the Doors, Jesus Christ, even British bands like Pink Floyd
Speaker 1: and the Who.
Speaker 3: Listen, it was a groovy scene. Man.
Speaker 2: I think you're just reading the script.
Speaker 3: I am just reading the script, okay, but I wanted
Speaker 3: to do it very seventies.
Speaker 1: All right, well, it's really good. It was a great effort.
Speaker 1: I allawed you, but listen. It's true. The Filmore is
Speaker 1: a big deal. Andy Warhol put up an installation there.
Speaker 3: Hunter S.
Speaker 1: Thompson references it in fear and loathing in Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: and more than just seeing them on stage, Carlos was
Speaker 1: bumping elbows with heroes like BB King.
Speaker 3: Then, through a stroke of luck, Carlos Santana's schoolboy dreams
Speaker 3: of going on stage at the film Wore finally became
Speaker 3: a reality.
Speaker 1: Blues musician Paul Butterfield was scheduled to perform a de
Speaker 1: matinee with his band. But Butterfield, according to Santana's telling
Speaker 1: of the story, was too stoned to play.
Speaker 3: Been there, Done that? But that is some sixties shit
Speaker 3: for a real If.
Speaker 1: You told me this was taken from the screenplay of
Speaker 1: Almost Famous, I would one thousand percent believe it.
Speaker 2: Right, Okay, So here's what happened.
Speaker 1: The owner of the Filmore, Bill Graham, cobbles together this
Speaker 1: like ad hoc band. He contacts the Filmore's heavy hitting
Speaker 1: regulars like the Dead and Jefferson Airplane, desperate to fill
Speaker 1: the slot, and somebody just recommends Carlos. By the way,
Speaker 1: the power of someone mentioning your name when you are
Speaker 1: not in the.
Speaker 3: Root totally true. And this is the moment Carlos has
Speaker 3: been waiting for. The crowd is stunned by his plane.
Speaker 1: And so is Bill Graham, who would go on to
Speaker 1: become the manager for the band that would bear Santana's name.
Speaker 3: Carlos formed the Santana Blues Band along with four fellow
Speaker 3: Street musicians, bassist David Brown, drummer Marcus Malone, and singer
Speaker 3: organist Greg Rawley.
Speaker 1: Now, are you like Carlos in the sense that were
Speaker 1: you working a quote unquote day.
Speaker 2: Job to make sure that you could still do your
Speaker 2: side hustle.
Speaker 3: You know, I didn't know my day job was my
Speaker 3: side hustle because I didn't know until a light switch
Speaker 3: turned on that I could really be a makeup artist,
Speaker 3: see like I could really do it, or like I
Speaker 3: could really be a facialist and like not like feel
Speaker 3: like it's work. It's like where I am making a difference. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What I love about our icons is they are so
Speaker 1: solid in their conviction that like they are going to
Speaker 1: be famous musicians. Like there wasn't a backup plan, There
Speaker 1: wasn't a plan B. They weren't like you know what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna you know, like I'm gonna be a dentist
Speaker 1: if this doesn't work, if this music thing doesn't work
Speaker 1: out for me. Carlos Santana will be doctor Santana, Like
Speaker 1: that wasn't happening.
Speaker 2: He was like, I will be a musician.
Speaker 1: And obviously it's a little bit of like right place,
Speaker 1: right time, because he was at the center of it all.
Speaker 1: And listen, we can't travel back in time to the
Speaker 1: Filmore in the nineteen sixties, as much as we all
Speaker 1: want to, but those early days of the Santana Blues
Speaker 1: Band were captured over four nights of live recordings in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 2: In case you do want to travel back.
Speaker 3: And I just might, I might take some advice from
Speaker 3: the Stoner of Top. But anyways, in Live at the
Speaker 3: Fillmore nineteen sixty eight, you can hear the blues rock
Speaker 3: sound that dominated the venue and which the Santana Blues
Speaker 3: Band cut its teeth on. But you can also hear
Speaker 3: the beginnings of the Santana sound.
Speaker 1: The very first track, Jingo, would be the first single
Speaker 1: off the group's debut album. The song's heartbeat is its
Speaker 1: conga drum, over which Santana's guitar soars in an intro solo.
Speaker 1: Then later in the song there's a rhythm section breakdown.
Speaker 1: Everything goes silent, but the bass the Kunga and the Shaker.
Speaker 3: Carlos Sentthana brought Latin rhythms to the hippies and rockers
Speaker 3: of the film Moore, and would soon do the same
Speaker 3: for young listeners all across the country, just like his
Speaker 3: childhood idol Richie Allens brought La Bomba to the masses
Speaker 3: in the fifties.
Speaker 1: The Santana Blues Band quickly became simply Santana, and Carlos's
Speaker 1: name was.
Speaker 2: About to become known to millions.
Speaker 1: Next time on Becoming an Icon Santana and as Rockstar, Dreams,
Speaker 1: Nightmares and Realities. Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo
Speaker 1: and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an
Speaker 1: Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.