Listen to the Music Play

Way back in September 1988 there was some wild energy in the air, and simple twists of fate produced tickets for back to back nights of music to see, on September 2nd, the Grateful Dead at the Landover, Maryland Capital Center (where the Dire Wolf in the first set and the Drums=> Wheel=> Watchtower=> Stella Blue run were pure magic), and then the very next night on 3 September, Carlos Santana played at the Columbia, Maryland Merriweather Post Pavilion... a fine place to see a show. That afternoon, as we had some time to kill before the concert, we went over to the Merriweather to look around, and got there just as Carlos and company were getting there to do a sound check. As the gates were wide open, we strolled in and sat down in front row seats, and literally lapped up about 45 minutes of Carlos jamming away free form, and I was able to take a number of photos before finally some Security folks politely asked us if we had Press passes, and then asked us to leave when they realized we were just fans who had wandered in. It was two nights in a row of high heaven.

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Like the photo posted below here somewhere of Jerry Garcia in halftone black and white, this photo of Carlos really pleased my amateur eye, I love the way he leans into every note he plays, it is eminently plain that he is totally immersed in his music as he plays it... few musicians convey such raging intensity. The show later that night was burning hot from start to finish... as quoted below, "If you get confused, listen to the music play" ! I will try to remember to post soon another photo or two from that unforgettable day.