<BR>>PPS. ?, speaking of Abraxas, do you <BR>>think Carlos is pushing the boundaries <BR>>or falling into category 3 with <BR>>his last LP? <BR>>"I draw a crowd like an architect"-Rakim <P>the formula for santana is a weird one......<P>firstly he has the 5th element. smoove is all over the radio and video.<P>then there's different chapters to fall under in the 8 steps to success.<P>under the the 3rd one (although i don't think parents will dig his ok for the creative use of ex) but after you can survive the "basic training" of the 8 steps.....you can have the badge of the 9th step...........THE LEDGENDARY status. because of his veteran status (survived using the 8th card) he's untouchable. former a&r (now arista president clive davis) signed carlos to columbia in the late 60's.......so thus he knows the magic that comes from carlos. i'm sure they were expecting to do modest sales but they forgot (and milked) the most important factor..........<P>NEPETISM......(the 0 factor, right before hardcore) this is the best position to be in. means you will get the same perks that said person who puts you on gets......or at least half the audience. in this case carlos has been the siamese twin to dave matthews (3,4,5,6,8) which means that every night carlos gets exposed to a new audience (stadium full) who will then grab his shit......shieeet it worked for us those two weeks.......and dave knew it. someone asked if l boogie would sing "you got me" with us......at first i was like 'pleeeeeeeeeeease "headliners" don't do that nowadays' no one is that "nice" (even i decided against going out onstage to play with macy simply because i didn't want her drop dead gorgeous percussionist melana to show me up!lol) but dave knew that in the world of music sometimes you gotta fill your tank up with more gas. everynight he went out and told people (or empty stadium) to "give us a shot" and "we are cool". he knows his power......and if he says something is dope, then his audience will want to be included in on the fun too. i must say, out of all the "out of place" shows we've done (they might be giants, beck, 311, 10,000 maniacs, eyrkah, chico) dave was the smoothest. cause there's two reasons why a headliner gets an opening act 1. to make him look good (if they are wack) 2. to make 'em look good (if they have prestige). dave benifits the most from this because a) he becomes a hero for associating himself with a ledgend and giving him a hand (see bonnie raitt, and prince, and mtv award era kid rock.....) b) by having a prestige artist open for him (us) it just makes his taste seem that much better (see beastie boys who gave great exposure to: lushious jackson, jon spencer blues explosion, company flow, butter 08, and cibo matto) see the cycle?......now mixed with the most powerful hand in the industry (davis), a pop song (smooth) sung by an established artist (that guy rob is in matchbox 20 right?).....it was a no brainer.....not to mention the rest of his record does the same thing again and again.......so there's the formula.....of course he's not cutting edge like the early 70's, but carlos is a beautiful cat, and he still can give a hell of a show, and solo his ass off......so there it is...<P><BR>"....start your own company??!? your parents don't have enough money to buy you a company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"