Happy New year to everyone. I am not one to go out on New
Year’s Eve. I believe too many people drink and drive and can cause accidents. Therefore, I play it safe and stay at home enjoying myself and having fun. I flipped on the TV to watch a little of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2012. What?? The great Carlos Santana is going to play with Justin Bieber? I had to quickly turn it off. I respect Carlos and wanted to remember him pre-Bieber but it got me thinking…

A friend sent me the link to the show and told me to watch Carlos play with Beiber. Listening to Carlos reminds me that when he is up front on stage, nothing else matters. You do not hear anything else but the guitar that this magical musician plays and I really understood the performance was all about Carlos.

Still, many young people might have woken up the next day saying, “who the heck is Carlos Santana?”  For people who need to ask that, I am here to tell you that Carlos is a great guitar player, not some musician who backs the
Beiber.  Maybe it was on his bucket list to play with a teen Idol. Maybe it was part of his goal to back up anyone and everyone since Carlos has played with anyone and everyone.  What is important is this Hall of Famer has earned the right to do what he wants and play with whom he wants after over 40 years in the music business and selling over 90 million records.

Carlos started a band in the late 60s called Santana and it was a different kind of sound that people weren’t familiar with. He played rock music and infused salsa and jazz and created a series of hits that landed him 10 Grammy Awards.

Santana got their big break in 1969 when they played at Woodstock. They performed a style of music that tilted the rock and roll scale. Their eclectic style of music has produced such hits as Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va.

Carlos was more than just a musician. He began to help through music by performing benefits such as San Francisco Earthquake Relief, Doctors Without Borders, Indigenous People Fund, Hispanic Media & Education
Group, Amnesty International, LA Museum of Tolerance, the Aids project and more than I have room to write. Still, this humble humanitarian didn’t stop there. He and his wife started the Milagro Foundation, which contributed almost 2 million dollars to help underprivileged youths.

If you have not heard of Santana or at least Carlos Santana, I invite you to go to Yotube  and take a look at what a real musician is. Santana is the type of music that moves you to the core of your soul and wanting more.

By the way what was your favorie Santana album? Mine is Abraxas.