scroff tavis: good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with a music legends, carlos santana. yesterday the rock 'n' roll hall of famer announced a two-year, 72-show residency at the hard roam hotel, where else, las vegas, that kick off in may. the show is called "supernatural santana." a trip through the hits. tonight in his first conversation since that announcements, we'll find out about the plans he's making, including his desire to become an ordained minister. we're gla tremendous cd called elixer. we arglad that you are joining us now. >> there are so many things

walmart is lookin by donating t that address community concerns. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance. working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: pleased to welcome carlos santana backo this program. the multiple grammy-winner and hall of famer made a major announcement yesterday regarding a two-year residency at the hard rock hotel in las vegas starting may 27.

he'll christen the newly renovated athleter there for more than 70 shows. the show is called "supernatural santana, a trip through the hits." what else would you call it? the show will feature so many of his classic songs, including this one -- "smooth." ♪ ♪ n- ♪ tavis: you were grooving to that, were you liking what you

heard? >> oh, totally. it's a surge. it still feels like when you're a child and they let you ride that water slide. only we're going up instead of down. [laughter] tavis: no matter how many times you play a classic like "smooth," you find something different, the presentation is different every time you play it? >> yes, because we found a way to understand why marvin gaye or coaltrain or bob marley, they enter a place of eternity when they go into this -- for basketball players, it's the zone and the grove. we have a beautiful saying that says when eternity nears, time disappears. and when you catch that groove, then you enter into that place where, like i said, marvin gaye or miles or coaltrain, they're here, you know, they're really, really here. and so when i hear music and i go knit, that's where i bring my band and myself, into that place where time disappears, gravity

disappears, illusions disappear, and you go right into the center of your light. and that's the only place to really hang out. tavis: i like that. maybe i'll get there one day. >> you're there already. i can tell by the light in your eyes you're there already. tavis: sounds like a nice place to hang out. you mentioned marvin a couple of times already. yesterday, of course, 25th anniversary of marvin's death. you mentioned his name a couple of times. what do you make of marvin's stuff 25 years after his death? >> he's more relevant than ever. him and coaltrain and bob marley. if it was mandatory to listen to marvin gaye's "what he's going on" morning, noon and night, that's what barack obama needs to hear right now. bring the boys home from vietnam. worry is not -- war is not the answer. legalize marijuana. give all that money to teachers and schools. you know, there's so much of marvin gaye's music from beginning to an end just in that

c.d. alone, that it helps us reach an insight into how we can go into the future with more clarity. instead of disruptive fear, with more clarity. because every time i listen to his music -- and i do it all the time. he knew that there was a better way for us as human beings, you know? and so there's no secret that barry gordy tried to block it or he was trying to tell him, hey, man, this is too deep or whatever. it's a career suicide. i've been accused of doing career suicides many times. [laughter] >> but it's like carter said to people. you know, ronald reagan is telling you what you want to hear. i'm telling you what you need to hear. and marvin gaye was telling us what we needed to hear with "what's going on." the new album should be called

"what's really happening," instead of "what's going on." what's really happening today. and i would invite my brother, barack obama, to listen to marvin gaye "what's going on" and john coaltrain and he can follow his advice instead of constantly being in fear of trying to please people who live in fear. because we trust in him. that's our love for him. when you love someone, you trust, you know? and we trust, we love him, we trust him because we believe that he is anointed to take us to the place where martin luther king used to say, the promised land. obama and the promised land, you know. the only way to get there is to go with the only reality. the only reality that exists in this planet is god's love. everything else is an illusion. you can see it 24 hours on every channel, cable or satellite. it's fear. and for me, where i am today,

it's like this is why i'm doing -- my new year's resolution was like to do everything that i said that i would never do. and i probably said it because i was in fear, you know. i played with kenny g or michael bolton or elvis costello, you know. [laughter] but there's nothing wrong with the brothers, because we're all children of god. but i'm the one that needs to go there, and if i am invited with elton john or all those incredible brothers, know that i can bring a certain light and things that i learned from b.b. king or miles to complement what's in front of me and not come in with superiority and inferiority. to be able to look at kenny g, michael bolton, all the brothers with the same way i look at desmond tutu and mother teresa, then you're really all right, because you're looking at the same light. and for me, this is where i made my new year's resolution, where i said i have to change the way i've been perceiving things.

because i think the things that i learned from the 1960's, you know, from doing benefits for the black panthers to working with desmond tutu, has really allowed me to see that the reason 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 christ and everybody of thist's challenging, only because we have a split minds. when we don't have a split mind, what god sees when you share with other people. tavis: i hear everything you're saying, and it's the hardest thing in the world to do. it is so difficult to love people. and because you love people, doesn't mean you have to like people. but that love thing is hard to get over of the i talk about it

all the time, so i know exactly what you're talking about. i didn't want to interrupt while you were saying it, carlos, you were in that zone. you were channeling and i didn't want to interrupt. but i want to ask now, what brought that about. for you to say that my new year's resolution was to do those things that i said i would not do, those things i said i wouldn't do because i felt superior, or those things i said i wouldn't do because i felt inferior, i'm going to move beyond that and do those things i said i wouldn't do. that's what you just told me. i want to know what the backstory is to that. what brought that on? >> when you saw martin luther king and michael didn't see eye to eye, he was calling the brother all kinds of names. and when he dropped the fear, the illusion, and he really went to mecca and saw what allah was all about -- by the way, allah, buddha and christ jesus, most of the brothers went, before they are who they are now, they went to the 40 days and 40 nights of like the darkest night of the

soul. and so they went over there to drop the luggage, you know what i mean? and when you drop the luggage, you realize that you claimed your inheritance. heaven is not a destination or a condition, it's not something you can learn or earn. it was already given to you. and the only way you can take it -- like i love the quote curtis mayfield. all you have to do is get onboard, man. you don't need a ticket. so in order to claim heaven, you have to share it. if you don't share it, you're not claiming it. and so that's why for me, to be in this place where i aspire and i long to do something with all those brothers that before i said i would never do or whatever, there was nothing wrong with them. it was me that had to change my perception about can i complement -- like martin luther king, can they make peace and bring something that the whole of humanity can benefit. tavis: i want to get back to the

hard rock and the music that you'll play about. but you've opened up so many doors. i'm trying to figure out which door i'm going to go into next. and this may be a bit uncomfortable and if it is, you tell me and i'll back off of it. i'm raising it because the last time you were here you were going through it, and because you were going through it i would not ask you about it on television. >> very gracious, thank you. tavis: we talked about it off camera since then i've asked you about it and you've responded. if you don't want to respond tonight, you don't have to. you went through a divorce. married for many, many years. you went through a divorce. that was very painful for you. i read in one place and i want to make sure i got this right, whether you said to one interviewer, that you actually thought about suicide in that process. is that a true story? >> yes. however, god sat me down and he says, you know, i'm next to you. and i made you the way you are before, during and after her. and i'm sitting next to you. isn't that enough?

this is the only lady who hasn't fallen apart on me, you know? because ladies tend to have emotional meltdowns, man. sometimes you can be of service and sometimes you've just got to let them bsh because it's a planet of free will. i love debra. she's my soul mate. what keeps me together now is every time i see light, shining light in the streets, the sound light against windows and water and everything, in that light, it's in my heart and she's there, along with my children. so, therefore, in that light, time, distance and separation 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 whole time. i'm on a spiritual journey to finds out about myself, because she didn't want to be in my shadow. the journey is from the mind to

the heart. it's only about like maybe 18 inches long. tavis: and, yet, it's a long way to travel. so close, and yet, so far away. >> it's her choice, man. i miss everything about her, driving around, listening to coaltrain, her skin, her eyes, you know, her voice and everything. but at the same time, i also know that she needs to find out what is her modus operandi. i knew as a child what i came here to do, and nothing distracted me. so she deserves -- like my daughters and all my sisters and my mom, every woman deserves to find her own stevie wonder, "place in the sun." i don't want to be a shad do. i don't want my thing to be a shadow on somebody else. so that's where i am today. and i feel better. because what i learned since, i learned that my life has

meaning. and so i have to stick around, because there's a lot of people who do need me. you know, to close this thing -- what i have learned from all this is that the highest sensation that i've known, frk the 1960's, with drugs and sex and everything, nothing makes me feel more better in my whole being than doing what desmond tutu does or mother teresa does or andre agassi does, to utilize money, energy, passion, ideas, to help other children. a lot of latinos graduate from high school, high grades. they don't have money to go to college. bam. that's where it goes to. the more arnold takes money away from california, bam, you know? and so now that i know how this feeling feels of doing what mother teresa does or desmond tutu or dalai lama, they're not the only ones that can do this. we all can do it anywhere in the city, with a smile in the

elevator or, you know. so, in other words, i'm still in love with life. life and god will never leave me. tavis: wow, i'm again, trying to choose where i want to go, given all that you've said. i think where i want to go next is to ask you, to your point about always being clear and focused on what your calling was, what your vocation is, your purpose, it's to spread love through your mustic that you share with us. when you were a kid you started playing violin. as talented as you are, you could have been yid zac perlman. you turned out to be carlos santana on a guitar. why didn't you stay with the violin? >> you know, the violin is a very demanding instrument to play. i didn't like the way it smelled. [laughter] i didn't like the way it felt and i didn't like the way it sounds. so it had three strikes.

the guitar is just -- it's like the body of a woman. you just grab it and you -- and it just works. tavis: those watching this program now and for that matter, whenever you see carlos santana, because it is part of who you are, it's not an act, you are such a spiritual being. you said that when you get to be somewhere around 67, you've got a few years to go. but somewhere around 67, you're thinking of retiring and going full-time into the ministry. do you still feel that way? >> yes. you know, i did learn from steffi graff. she knew when to bail out and said that part of my life is complete. 22 grand slams. she's like the tiger woods of -- tavis: women's tennis. >> yeah, yeah. and so i want to be able to not overstay my welcome, you know. whenever my fingers do not keep up with the feelings and the vision inside, i will say i'm

stuttering, done. because i know if i don't play music, i still have the gift of being anointed. and being anointed is that i'm aware of my light and i'm aware how to invite other people to claim their own light, so that people don't have this dimension of being victims or villains. because when you have a split mind and you invest more in your darkness -- well, there's suicides every day on tv, you know? every day. and to me it's like my calling is that if i can convince people to change the music in shopping malls, elevators, you know, everywhere like that, if you put "what a wonderful world, "what's going on," "imagine," if you put

certain songs in shopping malls, people will stop suiciding and killing and hurting people. tavis: do you think music is that powerful? >> oh, i know it is. because music goes beyond your molecular structure. it goes all the way to your light. music makes you cry, and you don't even know why you're crying. and you're crying because something reminds you that you can go into a place where you always have been, you never not have been there. it's the illusion. and the light that we create, the thing that we're not worthy, we're sinners, it's the white man's fault, whatever. i love saying, hey, barack obama is in the house, man. no more excuses, brother. you know what i'm saying? so as a minister, as a musician, i know that it's not that difficult for me to be a minister, because i do feel that god gave me, since i was a child, the gift of being like a crystal. when light hits me, all the color shows up.

so we just did south america. it was like the cirque du soleil without the acrobats. children all over the place. i've never seen so many children come to our concerts. so i have spiritual confidence that if i lose my fingers or i can't play anymore, i still have the light in my heart and i have a different way of reasoning with my brain to invite people, not impose on people. tavis: at 60 years of age, now, carlos, do you feel anything physical? do you feel at 60, since you play so much, do you feel anything different in your hands at 60 than you did? >> no, if anything, you know, for right now this is the peak of my existence. because it's not how fast, it's how deep. albert king and jimmy hendrix will tell you that. people who played really fast, it's like bullets that don't

penetrate paper. but when you go slow and deep, man, people say you touched me in a place i've never been touched before and they start crying, and you say, i wish i knew what that was. because you had no idea. you're channeling it. so, no, i'm not there yet. but i will know when it's time for me to pass the guitar to other brothers. tavis: tell me about this show at the hard rock. my first thought was -- first of all, i'm glad you chose this show to talk about it. a lot of folk are looking forward to it. i'm sure tickets will sell out like crazy. no doubt about that. but what got my attention i thought for a guy that moves like the speed of light, or better yet, in your case, the speed of sound -- for a guy that moves like the speed of sound, how are they going to hold carlos santana down for two years in the same venue? >> i changed my perception. tavis: right. >> i learned from alvin jones, play "black magic woman" like it's the first time and the last

time, like it's your first french kiss. so you're totally in the moment. you know, when you do the first french kiss -- tavis: oh, i remember, yes. >> you're in the moment. you're right here, right here. >> tavis: right here, yes. >> and that's what it requires for music to be fresh and new, with purity and innocence. you have to be in the moment, not doing this and being somewhere else. and so to be in a parking lot or woodstock or hard rock hotel or the joint, to me it's the same place now. this is what keeps it -- this is what keeps the music into that place that i mentioned to you. when eternity nears, time disappears. tavis: have you given any thought as to what the show is going to be like? >> the only thing that i require -- tavis: is a guitar. just give me a guitar. i can do this by myself.

>> in the middle of the concert, i'm required to take a backwards flip into the unknown. i need 20 minutes to half an hour where nobody knows, including myself, what we're going to do. not the light man or the sounds man. so you can dip into what's not written, beyond the mechanics, the intangibles. tavis: let me understand this. this happens in the middle of the show? >> yeah. tavis: ok, got it. they've got to start somewhere, carlos. >> i know if i see james brown when he was here or sting or prince, there's certain things that you want to hear, because you grew up with it. they're part of -- tavis: part of your d.n.a. >> yeah, you know. but at the same time, i need also to go into that space wrilt's new for everybody, you know. >> is it unfair? you mentioned prince. i saw prince the other night, and i love him. he knows i love him, and every time i get a chance to see him, i see him. but you're right. there are things that fans want to hear.

i sometimes sense that even among your fan base, they're waiting for you to get to the stuff that they want to hear. it almost scenes unfair to an artist when your audience won't let you go there, because they insist on hearing what they want to hear. is that unfair to an artist? that people won't let you go to that space for 20 minutes? you're ok, though? >> see, i'm the director, the screenwriter, the producer, the cameraman, i'm in my own movie. so i don't let anybody dictate. especially now that i'm not married. i don't answer to nobody. tavis: carlos, yeah! [laughter] >> if i don't like my movie, i change it. tavis: yeah, i got you. >> so i'm aware that i'm of service to people and i owe them a certain kind of thing, but that doesn't give them the right to tell me what i need to do or what i need to be. tavis: with respect to them, he's going to be in vegas at the hard rock starting may 27. he goes to the hard rock.

get your tickets now. i need some tickets for opening night, carlos. >> you got it. any time. tavis: whew! >> bring your cam bore arena. tavis: i'll bring whatever you need me to bring. i love you, carlos, glad to have you here. that's our show for don't. catch me on the weekends, pri, public radio international and through podcasts and i'll see you next time here on pbs. until then, good night from l.a. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪

♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley tremendous cd called elixer. we are glad that you are joining us now. >> there are so many things walmart is look more information can be found at wal-martfacts.com. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance.

working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--