scroff tavis: goo evening from los anges, i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation wit a music legends, carlos santana. yesterda the rock 'n' ll hall ofamer announced a two-year, 72-show residency at the hard roam hotel, where else, las gas, that kick off in may. the show is called "pernatural saana." a trip tough the hits. tonig in his first convertion since that announcements,e'll find out about e plans he's making, including his dese to become an ordained minister. wee gla tremendous cd called elixer. we arglad that you are joining us now.

>> the arso many things walmart binokyonining atto ch th address community concerns. >> nationwide insunceroudly supports tavis smiley. vis and natioide insurance. working t irove financial litecy and the economic empowerment that ces with it. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and byontributions to your pbs station from vwers like you. thank you. [captioning ma possible by kc public television] tavis: pased to welcome carlos santanback to this program. the multiple grammy-nner and hall of famer made major announcement yesterday regarng

two-year residency at the hard rock hot in las vegas starting may 27. he'll christen the nly renoved athleter there for more than 70 shows. thehow is cald "supernatural santana, a trip throughhe hits." what else would y call it? the showill feature so many of s classic songs, including this one --smooth." ♪ ♪ n- ♪

tavis: you were grving to that, re you liking what you hear >> oh, totally. it's a sge. ittill feels like when you're a child and they let you ride that water slide. on we're going up insad of down. [laughter] tavis: no matt how many times you play a classicike "smooth," you find sething different, the presention is different every tim you play it? >> yes, becausee found a way to underand why marvin gaye or coaltrain o bob marley, ty enter place of eternity when they go into this -- for basketball players, it's th zonend the grove. we have a beautiful sing that says when eteity nears, time disappears. and when you catch that groe, then you enter into that place where, like i said, marvin gaye or miles or coaltrain, they're here, you know, they're reay, really here. and so when i hear music and i go knit, that's whe i bng my

band and myself, into that place where time disappears, gravity disappears, illusions dispear, and youo right into the center ofour light. and that's the only place to rlly hang out. tavis: i like that. maybe i'll g there one day. >> you're there already. can tell by the light in your es you're therelready. tavis: sound like a nice place to hang out. you mentioned marvin a couple of times already. yesterda of course, 25th anniversar of marvin's death. y mentioned his name a couple of times what do you make of marvin's stuff 25 years aft his death? >> he'sore relevant tha ever. him and coaltrain and bob marley. if it was mandatoryo listen to marvin gaye's "wat he's going on" morni, noon and night, that's what barack obam needs to hear right n. bring the boys home from vietnam. worry is not -- war is not the answer. legalize marijua. givell that money t teachers

and sools. you know, there's so much marvin gaye'susic from begning to an end just in that c.d alone, that it helpss reach an insight intoow we can ginto the future with more clarity. instead of disruptive fear, with re clarity. because every time listen to his usic -- and i do it all the time. henew that there was a better way f us asuman beings, y ow? and so there'so secret that barry gordy tried tolock it or e was trying to tellim, hey man, this is too deep whatever. it's a caree suicide i've beenccused of doing ceer suicidesany times. aughter] >> but it' likearter saido people. you know, ronald reagan is teing you what you want to ear. i'm teing you what you need to hear. and marvin gaywas telling us

what we nded to hear with "what's going on. the new album should be called "what really happening," instead o"what's going on." what's reallyappening today. and i wou invite my brother, barack obama, to liste to marvin gaye "what's gng on" an john coaltran and he can follow hisdvice instead of constantly ing in fear of trying to please peopleho live in fea cause we trust in him. that'sour love for him. when you love someone, you trust, you kw? and werust, we lov him, we trust him because we believe that he is anoined to take us to the place where martin luer king used t say the prosed land. obama and the promised land, you know. the only wayo get there is to goith the oy reality. the only rlity that exis in this planet isod's love. everything else is an illusion. yocan see it 24 hours on every

channe cable or sellite. it's fear. and for me,here i am today, it's like this is w i'm doing -- my new year's resolion was like to do evything that i said that i would never do. and irobably said it because i was in fear, you know. i played wh kenny g or michael lton or elvis costello, you know. [laughter] t there's nothing wrong wit the brothers, because we're all children of god. but i'm the one that needs t go there,nd if i am invited with elton john or a those incredible brothers, know that i can bng a certain light and thgs that i learnedrom b.b. king or miles to complement what's inront of me and not come inith superiority and inferiority. to bable to look at kenny g, michael bolton, all he brothers with the same y i look at deond tutu and mothe teresa, th you're reallyll right, becauseou're looking at th same light. and for m this is where i made myew year's resolution, where

i said i have to changeheay i'veeen perceing things. beuse i think the things that i learned from the 1960's,ou know, from doi benefits for the black panthers to working th desmond tutu,as really allod me to seehat the ason i love coaltrain so much, and bob marley, "one love," is because i really have to live it, i can't just sing about it or talk about it. and to live it is to see the same light, to see chrt and everybod of thist's chaenging, only because we have split minds. when we don have a split mind, whatod sees when youhare with other people. tais: i hear everything you're saying, d it's the hardest thing in the wld to do. is so difficult to love

people. and because you le people, doesn'tean you have to like people. but that love thi is hard to get over of the talk about it all the time, si know exactly what you'r talking about. i didn't wanto interrupt while you were aying it, carlos, you were in at ze. yowere channeling and i didn' want to interru. but i want toask now, what brought that about. for you to s thaty new year's resolution s to do those things that said i would not do, those things iaid i wouldn't do because i felt surior, or those things i said i wouldn't do because i felt inrior, i'm going to move yond that and do tse things i said wouldn't do. th's what you just told me. i want to know wha the backstory is tohat. what broht that on? >> when y saw martin luther king and michaelidn't see eye to eye, he was calling the brotherll kinds of names. and whehe dropped the fr, the illusio and he reay went to mecca and saw what allah w all about -- by the way, aah, buddha a christ jesus, most of the brothers went, befe they

are who ey are now, they wt to the 40 days and 40 nights of like the darkest night ofhe soul. an so they went ove there t drop the luggage, y know what i mean? and when y drop theuggage, you reaze that you claimed your inheritance. heaven is not aestination or condition it's not something you can larn orarn. itwas already given to you. and the onlyay you can taket -- like i love the quote curtis mayfield. all you have to dos get onboard, man. you don't need aicket. so in orr to claim hven, you have to sre it. if you d't share it, you're notlaiming it. and so that's why for me,o be in this place where i aspire and i longo doomething with all those brothers thatefore i said iould never do or whatever, there wasothing wrong with the it was me tha had to chang my perception about can i complemt -- like mart luthe king, can theyake pea and

bring sothing that the whole of humanity can benefit. tavis: i want t get bac to the hardock and the musichat you'll playbout. but you've openedp so many doors. i'm tryi to figure out which door i'm going t go intoext. d this may be a bit uncomfortable anif it is, you tell me and i'll back off o it. i'm raing it because the las time you were here you we going through it, and because you were going through it would not k you about it on television. >> very gracious,hank you. tav: we talked aut it off camera sin then i'vesked you about it and y've responded. if y don't want to respond tonig, you don't have t you went through a divorce. married fo many, many ars. you went throu a divorce. that was very painf for y. i read in one place and i want to make se i got this right, whether you saido one interviewer, tt you actually thought about suiciden that process. is that a true stry? >> yes however,od sat me down and he says, you know, i'm nto you. and i made y the way you are

bere, during and after h. an i'm sitting nt to you. isn't that enough? this is the only lady who hn't llen apart on m y know? because ladies tend t hav emotionaleltdowns, m. sometimeyou can be of service and setimes you've just got to let them bsh because it's a planet of free will. iove debra. she's my soumate. what keeps me tether now is everyime i see light, shining light in the streets, theound light ainst windows and water and everything, i that light, it's in my heart and she's the, along with my children. so, therere, in that light, time, distance andeparation is an illusion. and so she's right here with me you know? and i allow for her, because i want to honor her, for her to go into her journey. because that's what she said the ole time.

i'm on spiritual jouey to finds out about myself, bause she didn't want to be iny shadow. thjourney is from the mind t e heart. its only about like maybe 18 inches long. tavis: and, yet, it's long way toravel. so close, and yet, so f away. >> it's h choice, man. i miss evething about h, drivinground, listening t coaltrain,er skin, her eyes, u know, her voice a everhing. but at thsame time, i also kn that she needs to find out what is her modus operai. i knew as a child wt i came here to do, and nothing distracted me. so she deserves -- like my daughters andll my sisters and my mom, every woman deserves to find herwn stevie wonder, "place in the sun." i don't want to bea shad d i don't want my thing to be a shadown somebody else. so that'shere i am today.

and i fee betr. because what iearned since, i learned that my lifeas meaning. and so i have to stick around, because thers a lot of people who do need me. you know, to close this thing -- wht i have learned from a is is that the highest sensation that i've known, frk the 1960's, with dgs and sex d everything, nothing makes me feel more better i my whole being than dng what dmond tutu does or mother teresa ds or andre agass does, to utilize money, energy, passion, ideas, hel other children. a lot of latinos graate from high school, high grades. they don't haveoney to go to college. bam. that's where it goes to. the more arnold tes money away from calornia, bam, younow? and now that inow how this feelg feels of doing what moer teresa does or dmond tutu or dalai lama, they're not

the only os that can dohis. we allan do it anywhere the city, with smile in the elevator or,ou know. so, in other words,'m still in love wh life. life and god wl never leave me. tavis: wow, i again, trying to choose where i wt to go, given all tt you've said. i think where i want to go next is to ask you to your point about always being clear and focuse on what your calng was, what your vocation is, your purpose, it's to sprd love through your musc that you share witus. when you wer a kid you started playing violin. as talented as you are, you coul have been y zac perlman you turned outo be carlo santana on a guitar. hy didn't you stay with the violin? >> you kw, the violin is a very demanding instrument to play. i didn't like the way it

smeed. [laughter] i didn't like the way it ft and i didn' like the wayt sounds. so it had three strikes. the guitar is jus -- it's like the body of a woman. ou just grab it and you- and it justorks. tavis: ose watching thi program now and f that matter, whenever you see carlos santana, because it is part of whoou are, it's notn act, you are such a spiritual being. you id that when you get to be somewhereround 67,ou've got a few years t go. but somewhe around 67, you're thinking of retiring and going full-time in the ministry. do y still feel that way? >> yes. you know, i d learn from steffi gff. she knew whe to bail out and sa that part ofy life is coplete. 22 gnd slams. shs like the tiger woods of -- tavis: women'sennis. >> yeah, yeah. an so i want to be ableo not erstay my welcome, you know. whenever my finrs do not kee

up with the feelings and the vision inside, i will say i'm stutteng,one. cause i know if i don't play music, i stillave the gift of being anoind. and being anointed is that i'm awaref my light and i are how to invite other people to clm their own light, so that pele don't have this dimenon of bei victims or villains. because when you have a split mind and you invest morin you darkness -- well, there's suicidesvery day on tv,ou know? every day. and to me it's like my calli is that if can convince people to changehe music ishopping malls, elevators, you know, everywhe like that, if you put "what a wonrful world, "what's

goi on," "image," if you put ceain songs in shopping malls, people will stop suiciding and killing andurting people. vis: do you think music is that powerful? >> oh, i know it is. becauseusic goes beyon your molecular structure. it goes all the wayo your light. sic makes you cry, and you don't ev know why you're crying. andou're cryin because something reminds you that you can gonto a place wher you alwayhave been, you nev not ha been there. 's the iusion. and th light that we create, the thing that we're not wthy, we're sinners, it's the wte n's fault, whatever. i love sing, hey, barack obama is in the house,an. noore excuses, brother. you know wht i'm saying? so as a minister, as musician, i know tt it's not tt diffult for me to be a ministe because i do feel that god gave me, since i was a child, the gift of bng like a

crystal. when light hs me, allhe color shows up. so we just disouth america. it was like the cirque du soleil without the acrobats. ildren all over the place. ve never seen so many children come to ouroncerts. so i havepiritual confince that if lose my fingers or can't play amore, i still have the light in my heart and i have a different w of reasoning with my brain to invite people, not impose on people tavis: at 60 yea of age, now, carlos, do you feel anything physical? do you feel at 6 since you play so much, doou feel anything different in you hands at 60 tn you did? >> no,f anything, you know, for right now ts is theeak of my exience. because it's notow fast, it's how deep. albert king andimmy hendrix

will tell you that. people who played really fast, it'like bullets that don't penetrate paper but whenou go slow and deep, man, people say y touched me in alace i've never been toched before and theytart crng, and you say, i wish i knew what that was. because you hano idea. you're chneling it. so, no, i'm not there yet. but i will know wn it's ime for me to pass the gtar to other brother vis: tell me abou this show at the hard rock. my first thoug was -- first of l, i'm glad you chose this sh to talk about it. a lot o folk are looking forward to i i'm sure ticks will sellut like crazy. no doubtbout that. but what got my attention thought r a g that moves lie the speed of light, or tter yet, in your case, t speed of sound- for a guyhat moves lik the speed of snd, w are they going t hold carlos santa down for two ars in the same ven? i changed my pception. tavis:ight.

>> i learned from alvn jones, play "black magic woman" like 's the first time a the last time, like it's your fir french kiss. so y're totally inhe moment. you know, wn you do the first french kiss -- tavis: oh, iemember, yes >> you're in the ment. youe right here,ight here. >> tavis: right her yes. >> and tt's what it requires for mic to be fre and new with pity and innocence. you have to be in he moment, notoing this and being somewhere els d so to be in aarking lot or odstock or hard roc hotel or the joint, to m it's the same place now. is is what keepst -- this is what keepshe music into that place that i mentioned to you. when eterny nears,ime disappears. tavis: have you given any thout as to what the show is going to be lik >> thenly thing that i require

-- tavis: i a guitar. just give me guitar. i can do this by mysf. >> in the mdlef the concert, i' require to take a bacards ip into the unknown. ieed 20 minutes to half an hour where nobody knows, including myse, whate're gointo do. t the light man or e sounds man. so you can dip into what's not written, beyond the mhanics, the intangibl. tavis: let me understd this. this happens in the middle of th show? >> yeah. tavis: ok, got it. they've got to stt somewhere, carlos. >> i know if i seeames brown when he was here o sting or prince, ere's certain things that you want to hea, because you grew up wi it. they're part of -- tavis: par of your d.n.a. >> yeah, you know. t at the same te, i need also to go intthat space wrilt's new for eveybody, you ow. >> is it unfair? you menoned prince. i saw prie the other nht, and iove him. he knows love him, and every

time i get a chance to see him, iee him. t you're right. there are thing that fans want t hear. i sometimes sense that en among your fan bas they're waiting for you to get to the uff that they want to hear. almost scenes uair to an artist wn your audnce won't let you go there,ecause they insist on hearing whathey want to hea is that unfai to an artis that peoe won't let you goo that spa for 20inutes? you're ok, though? >> see i'm the dirtor, the scenwriter, the producer, the cameraman, i'mn my own movie. so i don't let anybody dictate. especially n that i'm not married. i don't answer to nobody. tavis:arlos, yea [laughter] >> if ion't like my moie, i change it. tavis: yh, i got y. >> so i'm aware that i'm of service to people and i owe them a certain kinof thing but that doe't ge tm the right to tell me wh i need too or what i need to be. tavis: with respect tohem,

he's goi to be in vegas at the hard rock starting may 27. he goes to the hard rock. getour tickets now. i nd some tickets for opening nit, carlos. >> you g it. any time. tavis: whew! >> bng your cam bore arena. tavi i'll bring whatever y need m to bring. i love you, carlos, glad to have you here. that's our show for don. catch on theeekends, pri, public radio internationalnd throughodcasts and i'll see you next time here on pbs. unt then, good night from l.a. thanks for watching, a as always, ep the faith. ♪

♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tav smiley tremendous cd called elixer. we are glad that you are joining us now. >> there are so many things monf itimaon more information c be fou at wal-maracts.com. >> natnwide insurance pudly

supports tavis smiley. tav and nationwide insurance. working to irove financial literac and the economic empowerment that comes with . >> nationwide i on your side. >> and by contributions to ur pbs tation from viewersike you. thank you. captioned by the national captioning institut captioned by the national captioning institut --www.ncicap.org