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"My greatest education at Mission High School was when a teacher called me on it. Mr. Newsome. He had enough passion to separate me from the path I was going. He took me aside and he said, "You know, I noticed since you've been in this country, I've checked all your records, and you're pretty bad at everything. You get D's. A C is pretty high for you. But I noticed that you get A's in art, painting, drawings and all kinds of stuff. I also hear that you play music."
He says, "The world is getting so crowded that there's no room for anyone being 50 percent. You have to be 150 percent artist, painter or sculptor or whatever or you have to be 150 percent musician."
He took me on this field trip to the Art Institute in back of Tower Records and I knew what I was up against. I said to myself, "I can't be an artist, because these guys will kill me." So I started hanging out at the Panhandle with Jerry Garcia and Michael Bloomfield. I could find my voice there, by the way Carlos first Misson High School band was �The Dynamics� info on the New Malo box set celebration (& Santanaworld site). I was not afraid to fit in there. I know I had something that was just as valid as them. That's what a teacher can do. He can look you in the eye and say, "I see this potential in you." Those teachers need to be rewarded. Those teachers exist on a day-to-day basis.
Teaching is a noble profession. I think that we have to start changing the salaries. Teachers need to make more than garbage collectors. They need to make just as much as Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson or myself, because they're dealing with the psyche for the lifetime of a person.(I truely second those noble sentiments).
They're not just like, "I'm playing you a nice song. I hope you like it." No, they're reshaping your life. That's a supremely important role. We need to restructure the system to reward those people.
There is a way to convince the kids, but convince you can make a difference in the world in a positive way. Put your gun away, put your fear away. It can be contagious... This is what people need to know. You are in the presence of the infinite light. That really turns me on. Then you have a different perspective about how you walk, how you perceive a love supreme, one love.
So I feel really, really excited. I feel really, really grateful because I'll get to see, before I leave this planet, a new consciousness.
we have angelic energy that we're not utilizing yet. It's not fairies and goody-goody. No. This is a force, just like there is a law of gravity; there is a law of grace. Put it to use.
FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH FRED DODSWORTH OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER 'SANTANA ON SHARING THE LIGHT'APPEARED ON THURDAY MAY 4TH 2001

EARLY LIFE

In 1955 The family moves to Tijuana, Mexico.
Soon after his dad Jose Santana an accomplished musician(featured on the cover of Brothers in yellow tint, violin in his hand)gave Carlos his first instrument the violin and taught him classical stuff and Mariachi numbers at a very early age. Carlos says he didn't like the smell of the & feel of the instrument. It had no frets, he was never really happy with it. It is also said that he played the clarinet as well.
At the age of 8 he moves to Tijuana..."Let's see. It was the last part of July, and it was extremely hot and very dusty.There were eight of us in Colonia Libertad, a very funky part of Tijuana. They didn't have running water or electricity then. "It got better; we moved to the center of town. The smell of tacos, the colors, the tourists, Roy Rogers, Sugar Ray Robinson, (the music of) Bo Diddley, Little Richard - all of that was Tijuana for me. Tijuana is like the "Star Wars" cantina. Especially now, with people coming not just from Mexico, but from all over Latin America, to cross the border. Tijuana is a whole other world with a lot of innocence, with all the children, and (also there is) crime, with drugs and all of that." : "What I treasure the most is going to the bullfights, and - on Sundays - to Avenida Revolucion, with all the colors and the sound of marimbas. It was really lovely. I have a lot of great admiration and respect for the people and the spirit of Tijuana, because it's not easy to live in that town. A woman in Tijuana has to be gifted with a lot of faith, because you don't know from day to day how you'll put food on your table." He didn't like to be a mariachi like his dad.
I remember my dad cracked a box of Spearmint gum in half and he also gave my brother a shoeshine box. My mother never realized this, but my father pulled us aside, and said, basically: 'Don't come back until you sell this gum, because we need help with the rent.'
"He had his violin, and he had four brothers and two sisters to feed, plus me, my brother and my mother. In retrospect, I can see why he was so stern about it. He needed help. It was a cold slap in the face for me, but a good lesson. Because, ever since, I'm not afraid of the streets, not at all."
Once his dad moves to San Francisco USA in '61, Carlos drops the violin. His mother Josefina takes her son to see the T.J.'s in Palacio Municipal, Tijuana.
Once he heard Javier Batiz (a very accomplished Mexican electric guitarist who still plays today and is still great friends with Carlso) Carlos is captivated, mesmerised by the music and its effect on the dancing crowd. He fell in love with the music of Mr.BB King and guitar right on the spot. He was sure that this was the instrument he would play and this was the music that he really loved to play. The violin stood no chance. (I always wonder, if it had been possible for Carlos to hear someone on electric violin like Jean Luc Ponty which instrument would he have chosen then?).He follows the band regularly, till he gets a guitar from his dad. He starts off on bass but Javier notices the talent in this 'young kid' who has a 'perfect musical ear' and who switches chords automatically without any further promptings. Carlos eventually joins the band and ends up playing in the local strip joints/nightclubs on Avenida Revolucion . In fact I belive he plays with two different bands so that he can make money to keep his large family going. :My taste for music at that point was Little Richard and John Lee Hooker, and I hoped to go another direction than mariachi, (though) I loved my dad, and his feeling for music, and the way people loved him."
when did he start to develop his sustained notes?
"Way before I cut the first album. As soon as I heard"Supernatural" by Peter Green. Then there was Jimi Hendrix with "Foxy Lady" and Jeff Beck's Truth album, I said "Oh!" Plus it came easy for me because I used to play the violin. Instead of using a bow, I just marked the floor where there is an umbilical chord happening between the guitar and amplifier". (So the violin lessons came in handy after all!!).