Far, far, freakin' out

You know what gets me in the beginning of this? How Carlos has to stand just right so the snarling beast of a guitar won't go off into mad feedback. Then a little after he whirls into that location, you see his hand shooting down to the guitar knobs to make the sustain on individual notes last just a little longer. Then he turns the knob back down quickly and accurately so the louder sound of the pick doesn't explode Woodstock into a sonic crater. Then he does it all over again with the next sustained note that follows.

He's turning in a monstrous performance in front of a huge crowd all while laced on psychedelics and walking on a high wire of sustain versus chaos.

It's a metaphor for the entire 60s: Venture out there as far as possible and hope your toes will dig in when you get to the rim of the abyss.

It is this film that inspired me to buy a Hammond B3 and a Leslie 122. True story. Wish I still had them. I was in hock up to my ears for it, the guys in the band HATED schlepping the thing at gigs, and I had a kid on the way. I wonder where she is now. Nothing with keys sounds or feels like an original tonewheel Hammond.

This number pretty much defines "groove." When you break Santana's music down, there isn't a lot there. But when you just let it all go, it can really take you places.

This has got to be one of the 10 greatest live rock performances ever. The guy on the drum kit should be in the Hall of Fame.

The drummer is Michael Shrieve. He was 19 or 20 yrs. old at the time. He's done some jazz and film collabrotive work since and now lives in Seattle.

amazing! thanks

...where did it all go?

Can we do that again? I was stuck in Boston that weekend.

I was just listening to the audio of this performance, and it turns out that several minutes of "Soul Sacrifice" was edited out of the film. Too bad; it was all good.