Carlos' Cosmic Bummer

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On a recent sunny morning, Carlos Santana steps out of a shiny black Mercedes at his headquarters in an industrial part of San Rafael, California. He looks pretty much like he's always looked, sort of gnarly, sort of groovy and not all that far removed from the soulful snaggletoothed 22-year-old Mexican man-boy who tore it up at Woodstock before he'd released a single album. He's timeless like that. His personal circumstances might change — most recently and painfully, Deborah, his wife of 34 years, filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences — but how he appears to the outside world never really does. The beautiful, far-out Carlos of his two great first albums, Santana (1969) and Abraxas (1970), is basically the beautiful, far-out Carlos of his great comeback album, Supernatural (1999), is basically the beautiful, far-out Carlos of today, about to release his 38th album, Multi Dimensional Warrior, which is half instrumentals, half vocal tracks, all of them little-known songs taken from previous releases.

From his base of operations in San Rafael, Santana oversees his various business ventures: the Milagro Foundation, which has donated nearly $3 million to help disadvantaged youth; his women's shoe line, Carlos by Carlos Santana, which has racked up $100 million in sales; his signature brand of sparkling white wine; his partnership in Maria Maria, a chain of high-end Mexican cantinas; and his upcoming documentary called Architects of a New Dawn, which advocates global change through the power of positive thinking. Today, a week before embarking on an international tour, he settles into his rehearsal studio — a compact room, four white walls, no posters, functional and to the point — and straps on his guitar. He has a few words he wants to say to his 10-member band.

"As you know," Santana begins, "the theme of this tour is 'live your light.' I want the audience to be reminded that before they had all this stuff, this DNA and flesh and bones, they were made out of light. And that fighting and doubting and all that shit separates you from your light. And that the real light comes when you forgive and forget. And so what we want to do is not blind people but illuminate people. We want our music to make people's hair stand on end, and tears start coming down, and they don't even know why. That's our goal, man, in each town, each venue, and with each note. We are the architects of a new dawn."