Happy Holidays from the "Takin' A Walk" Podcast as we countdown the Top Five most downloaded episodes of 2024. Carlos Santana is one of the most iconic musicians in music history and we were proud to have him as our guest.
Thank you for your incredible support of our podcast.
Taking a Walk.
People started asking me, what kind of amplifier do you use? What kind of you talk?
Is that? The applifier do you talk? Is me? I'm the cell.
You know, I have an act accumulation of a lot of things that I think in field.
Welcome to our Top five Taking a Walk podcast countdown, the top five most downloaded episodes for Taking a Walk in twenty twenty four. I'm Buzznight's your host, and it's my pleasure of this holiday season to share with you the gift of this select group of special musicians that joined us this year and joining us to get the big reveal for the countdown from the Taking a Walk Music History desk is Harry Jacobs, Hello Harry, happy.
To be here. Buzz is part of this. I'm excited, all right.
So number five, Oh my god, this was such a thrill talking to this Hall of famer kind of came out of left field. It had been something that was being bandied around that I might get to talk to him, and then suddenly on a Friday afternoon, there I was looking at Carlos Santana on a zoom, the one and only Carlos Santana.
Number five.
Amazing it's a huge get when I look at all the episodes that you've done, hundreds of episodes, and I look at the names Santana. To me, if I were in charge, I don't know if Santana would be five.
Santana might be might be like one or two.
I think, you know, as a guy who's a huge guitar playing kind of guy, I pay attention to all your guitar playing guests more than anything. He to me, is a huge guest and a huge get for you. And I couldn't agree more that he's certainly in the top five.
Yeah, he was really forthcoming. I told him that the first time that I actually saw him play and the band play was at a free concert in Central Park with.
The Jefferson Airplane.
I tried to get him to sort of give a memory of that particular occasion. He didn't really talk specifically about the show, but he told a really funny story about first coming to New York City and how he took New York City on in his own currently Santana way. But oh, I absolutely dug talking with him, and.
To me, what's interesting about him is there was always just a band around him. All he was was the guitar player. We never got to hear him sing. He was always quiet. He never really did a lot of talking, was never in the forefront. But when you think Santana, it just that sound that they created and different variations over the band. I've just I've always loved Santana and that rhythmic sound, and I love that rock radio embraced that kind of Mexicana. You know, I don't even know what the right phrase would be, but that that Latin kind of sound that they created.
And I love how he's always reimagining things as well to this very moment, he's just always kind of reinventing, reimagining things. So here it is number five for twenty twenty four in terms of the most downloads for the Taking a Walk podcast. Carlos Santana on Taking a Walk. Carlos, it's an honor to have you on the Taken a Walk podcast.
Think it was a joe to be a witch you, So.
It's amazing You're never ending in your work. Congratulations on let the Guitar Play. The collaboration with run DMC. How did that collaboration come about?
You know, it's like the same answer for sin at the beginning, I found out because I was bored. Even before I was bored, sell it is orchestrating behind the scene for each individual to have a glorious existence.
My path was.
Said with my mom and dad, and even before the later on when I got to San Francisco, because of Bill ram and Clyde Davis and BB King and TiO Pointe, because all of the saw something in me, and they kind of like adapted me, and they invested emotionally and financially and believing in me, and and they encouragemla. So where I am today, it's still an extension of what I learned from Ramming, CLYG. Davis, just show up in compliment whatever.
Get so proud of you.
Excited about the Oneness tour with the Counting Crows that's going to be hitting twenty nine cities across North America.
I am very excited because, you know, once I made a decision in nineteen seventy two not to be a victim mentality rock star, you know, because what I said, I already really seeing the rock stars. You know, they kind of smell rancid, and they look they look like they were not having a good time. And I said, you know, everybody wants to be like a rock star, but when you hit around rock stars, they really will. They're really miserable people, you know. And I say, uh, I want to do something different instead of doing this shooting up or slowing or drinking, I'm going to bot it this. I'm gonna visit my light, my own dividity away from religion, and I want to do something different. And as soon as I did it, you know, it was like West Point discipline. It was like we're greens because it was a discipline. My tone jit chain. People started asking me what.
Kind of apple fire do you use? What kind of guitar? Is that?
The applifier the guitar is me. I'm the cell. You know, I'm an accumulation of a lot of things that I think in field. So here's the thing. I made a conscious decision to become a significant musician person than a rock star. You know, if you want to sell stuff, you can say you don't have to be a rock star to be radiant, and so you have the attire that.
Makes you look like a rock star or shoes or whatever, you know.
But as I said, hanging around with rock stars, I founded out to be really really depressing and frustrating because they're always complaining, you know, they're always everything's.
Not enough, you know.
And I said, man, this stuff is boring.
You know, it's gonna be another way.
So hanging run Jeram maclauckle and we found a guru, a spiritual teacher from India, and he had a different perception, which is what it is on life. And so that helped me change words like it's not a job, it's a gift, it's not.
Work, it's wondering.
Man, there's why I change words, and it stimulates me. I have more energy than what I eat.
I have more.
Inspiration than money in the bank. I found that there's another form of energy that I can bring out of myself. I never received a lot of compliments, you know, from Miles Davis to Steamy Ray, to Jocko to Eric Clapton African musicians, and like one of the best compliments I ever got was from a gentleman, a gentleman named Morrikanta De and he said to me, he says, uh, your belly is full, but you're hungry to feed the people.
And I would like, ah, that's who.
Thank you so much, you know, so It means that no matter how, no matter what the world gives me, I feel better when I'm sharing it. Like when we bradon wood stop. Everybody got fed, you know, up planning to do because Bill Graham and Michael Nan, they're on the other side out they left the body.
So I want to.
Create a global woodstock Friday, Saturday Saturday. You didn't do you harm any oneness with elective artists, elective songs. It's just China, Russia and Korea. They're talking about nuclear war in the Middle East against the United States, you know. And remember in the fifties where people say, you know, just you know, we're having a drill, go get under your desk, you know, just in case they dropped the bomb, Like that's a healthy you know. And I used to go, this is fucking stupid man, you know, they dropped the bomb going after the desk. That ain't gonna help me, you know. So that's stuff. Just kept striving to come back again because people try to selling you fear, which is what the media does.
Fear fear fear.
I enjoy watching scary movies out Fridays. When I was young, Dracula, practice diet, you know, all that. But after a while they got boring. You know, I got bored very really quick with The Exorcist. I got bored with that frequency. I get excited more with the positive possibilities of knowing that I can make a different I can show up in a room with a lot of people and I had to make jagger about daling. People would look at me because they know that I'm bringing something to the table that is uplifting and encouraging.
You know.
Santiaga is a language of light and joy and love. And you know, there's not that many bands you can go to Ireland or Africa or Japan and still be like this with the family, you know. So after all these years, I learned that I am significant, meaning pole, precious and priceless.
This is not my ego speaking, This.
Is my soul affirming that if God created the constellation, the universe, the galaxy, the Milky Way says he created all day, and he created you and me, we must be pretty good, you know, because God doesn't create garbage.
You know, we create garbage.
I think trash, you know, And so vt a musician is more than just playing the guitar. You know, people say, well, why did you learn from Jerry Garcia. Where did you learn from Michael Brulefield? Why did you learn from this? And what did you learn from that? You know, I'd say I learned it's just compliment, just compliment, compliment, not be asking the complimenting? Is that that makes me? I'm seventy something. I think I might be seventy seven already, but I'm still relevant, you know. I could. I could walk around the streets of Amsterdam at night and here a car covered around, you know, with the windows all and they're playing white music.
I'm like that, you know.
So it makes me feel grateful that I'm living a life where I can make my mother and my father proud.
That to me is everything. Amen to that. Yeah.
August tenth, nineteen sixty nine, and I was privileged to be able to see Santana open for the Jefferson Airplane and a free concert in Central Park, which blew my mind.
What do you remember about that experience?
I remember constantly winning a battle over fear, you know, being from California, you country, New York, you know, it's a different energy, you know, and sometimes people give me very very edgy in New York, you know. And then I realized if I just walk like I owned a fucking place, you know, from the village all the way to Central Park, then they can't intimidate. And then now I'm one of it, you know, because people can read body.
Let me.
If I'm walking around like I'm nervous nelly, you know, then they want to come after me. But if I walk around like you don't show me shit man, you know, like I've been on here. You know, it's something that need people need to be topped. Like someone may teach you how to body syrp. You know, someone can teach you how to navigate or expeact the language coming to you New Europe. There should be like a procedure that teaches you before you get out of the play a conduct how to carry yourself. So I haven't been my mind and in my heart a lot of things that I want to do and bring our curriculum to schools, you know, teach people compassion, kindness, mercy, forgiveness. Just I can teach history or work do three or ABC. Teach people of co passion, kindness, marsty, forgiveness. You know, those are the main ingredients elements owing nutrients for world peace, you know, and It's something that if your parents don't teach it. A lot of church churches they self fear, you know, they they I don't deal so much with the Bible because a lot of it has got Mozilla. And I don't buy what godsil I buy with God. God is unconditional, loud, I follow out that is Jesus. I'm conditional love forgiveness.
Anything to do with you screw up and you know you got to go to check mood, Charlie, and you're not make.
Suring that because you miss you know, you screw up with the tank commandment, tank commandos. You know you're gonna go to help forever and let you know, I'm gonna speak with your adult. You don't need to scare me to heaven. And by the way, we jove it to heaven. Don't scare me to heaven, you know, because.
I didn't want to work.
And so as a musician, I find that other decicious whatever being around with me because they can see it when I walk in. But I ringing something than cocaine or hair on or this or that or lick it. You know, I'm bringing it then a different energy. It has nothing to do with making the drug dealer more. You know, if they depend on me, they want to start to death. You know, something do with the casinos. You know, I don't gamble. I believe in grace. I don't believe a lot fortune or any of that, you know. So just the way that I will build it shows up in my play. And I'm happy. I'm very very happy that I have become consistent with specificity of showing up and bringing light and loud, reminding people. And I'm going to let you at the level you're worthy. You're precureless, price list, your significant and meaningful, carry yourself like you know, And that to me is I mean, anybody can play. You can trade people to play music, just like keep trade you for dow shovel cards. But the kind of music that I play is the kind of music that ignites your chromosomes and you're will look at the structure to believe one more time, believe it old and own it. I am a spiritual being. I could create blessings and miracles. It's not just tree Jesus or Chris Ada or Buddha or the Pope. I could create blessed and Miracus two. Because I've been in viewing before I was born with that guilt. And the more you revite people of this, you know, it spreads. My consciousness spreads, and this is the best.
Way to put it. To go Kille, this conversation, what.
A positive thought creates billions of positive vibration. That was John Coltrane who said that, can.
You explain to somebody what it feels like when you're on stage performing in front of a large group of people and you're hitting that note so brilliantly? Is what is that feeling like from your perspective?
It's a spiritual or gaso. You know, we have a spiritual or gaso. It's more than emotion, because emotion, you know, like the roller coaster, you could go up and you come down. You know, one minute you feel good. They think you feel miserable because you feel guilty. But when you play BUSSI uh, you have a what we call a spiritual orgasm. For me, I'm looking at the people as I always see people, where they get off their seat and it's like a spiritual revival. They start crying and laughing and dancing, and they're actually crying and laughed in the dancing at the same time. It's like the Holy girls took over it in their bodies, just like a revival at church, you know. And when I see that, I look at the band and I go, hey, we're doing it.
You know there's a proof right there. They say, proof is that the plutable.
Look look at her, look at her, and look at him.
And I'm looking at the way they're dancing. They're like, and.
That's what music does, whether it's from Beethoven or the Rolling Stones or whoever music supposed. I'll lift you to a place. I call it supreme wondering myth.
I love that.
Can you share three quintessential albums that to this day have still impacted you?
I love Supreme, Thegil Cultrip Uh Miles, They Musketch It Suspain, the first three albums from Jimmy Hedrits, probably all of the albums by Bob Dylan, Allowed everything by Motel, Marvin Gay. Uh, but I especially Love One Child.
Oh you mean is love? Floyd in the Wind.
I grab taking those songs that I called them today's elists, because when you play those songs back to back to back. When I wandered up for a world Louis southstart over the Rainbow, you know you've played these songs there aside, they decide to don't worry about a thing, you know, Bob Marty, you know, treating little birds. Uh, there's music to play on the radio, shopping malls and parking lots to make people not be suicidal or hobicide. We can rescue people from feeling like they've got a suicide. Yeah, music will do that. Music will will pull you out of the mistery ditch. And so that's what I focus every day. You know, I do read a book. It's called a Course in Miracles. Every day there's a lesson, you know, and it's it's the book that shows you what all respect and a lot of the stuff in the Bible it's upside down.
And a lot of people get upset with.
That because a lot of people become If you don't believe what they believe, they just send you to healthy medias.
You know.
It's like it's like it's like being over to the top. Patriotic, you know, Patriotic to me is like a monkey if it peas out of tree, it said, this is my tree, I pete out of it. That's what it's called patriotic to me. You know, just because you pee at it no, you know. I patriotic to me is pretty star, you know, because I make it beat. So I look at the whole world like it's a wound and we're all the baby complicated, you know, and so therefore I'm able to play and use it that when we show up at London, we show up, where we show up, people are like, heymn Satanna's got something differently, I mean, he got everybody elated going out and we celebrate people. What do you celebrate? We celebrate our light, and we celebrate our spirit and our dibility. That's when we celebrate.
Carlos.
Thank you so much for all you continue to give us. Thanks for being on Taking a Walk, good luck.
On the tour. Thank you, and I'm so grateful that we got to talk.
Stay precious, and thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Take a Walk podcast.
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