This isn’t black magic.
Legendary rock star Carlos Santana traded in his guitar for a couch — playing psychologist for Brooklyn Paper Radio hosts Gersh Kuntzman and Vince DiMiceli in an exclusive interview that also touched on the state of American politics, the beauty of music, the beauty of women in Santana’s life and, of course, how great Santana was at Woodstock.
Also on the show — which is downloadable on iTunes — Brooklyn folkie Feral Foster performed two songs during an exclusive in-studio visit to promote the upcoming Brooklyn Folk Festival.
Foster was impressive musically, but Santana rocked the very foundation of The Brooklyn Paper building in Downtown after Daily News Deputy Features Editor Kuntzman asked a simple question about the whereabouts of the comely woman on the cover of Santana’s 1970 album, “Abraxas.” (If you grew up in the 1970s and you were a heterosexual male, you know the woman about which this reporter speaks.)
“What happened to her? I married her!” Santana said.
Kuntzman and DiMiceli pronounced themselves impressed, but Santana was having nothing of it.
“You just need to change your attitudes,” he advised the boys. “You are the magnet that can attract any lady.”
Have you met Kuntzman, Santana was asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I can see his core and I know he is sweet. Besides, it’s all about the mindset. Walk like you have the charisma.”
Again, Santana was asked, have you met Kuntzman?
“Just be confident — not arrogant, but confident,” Santana said.
Kuntzman admitted that he often falls over the line from self-assurance to self-importance, and Santana agreed to continue working with the addled scribe in future calls (with a $51 co-pay by Kuntzman’s GHI insurance).
In other parts of the broad-ranging interview, Santana revealed:
• He’s backing Hillary Clinton for president and hopes she’ll pick Bernie Sanders for vice president. “We need politicians who bring the compassion, not a KKK rally,” Santana said. “Compassion is the opposite of excluding people who aren’t like you. I came from the generation of Woodstock so I can’t change my stripes and I can’t change my spots. I represent John Lennon and Marvin Gaye, who are on the other side. So I support Hillary.”
• He’s sick of a nation of fear. “I watch TV and the entire country is selling fear. ‘Legends,’ ‘Quantico’ and those shows present the CIA and the FBI as the bad guy — well, maybe they’re onto something. … America is Halloween every day, but no candy. Let’s change that to accentuate the beauty and grace instead of a KKK rally.”
• He thinks Santana was only the third best band at Woodstock. “It was Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix and Santana,” he said. Why third? “Because I was there. I never heard Sly Stone perform like he did at Woodstock.”
Santana was phoning in to promote his new album — “Santana IV” — which unites him with his former bandmates, which he hasn’t done in decades. Santana’s tour kicks off in Las Vegas on March 21, and comes to Gaphattan on April 13 at Madison Square Garden.
Also on the show was former Brooklyn Paper columnist Mike McLaughlin, whose “Search” will come to an end this week in Los Angeles, when he ties the knot with his old girlfriend, Emily, the woman who broke his heart originally, sending him on a month’s-long quest for an apartment and a new lover — all chronicled in The Brooklyn Paper.
The unmarried Foster stayed throughout, yet offered no advice to McLaughlin.
Brooklyn Paper Radio is webcast every Monday at 4:30 pm and can be downloaded and listened to anytime via iTunes and Stitcher.