pictures
Scenes from the Santana European Promotional Tour, 2005:
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| Tommy and Raul sitting in our rather dreary room waiting to perform on Rockpolitik in Milan, Italy. | An equally dreary hallway leading to other holding cells at Rockpolitik. | Karl at the entrance to our "suite". |
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| Karl and Dennis on set at Rockpolitik, gazing at the studio audience. | A view of a part of the studio audience. |
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| Another view, this time of the area where the house orchestra plays. | Chester on set at Rockpolitik. | Now to Paris - and a view of the studio audience of Star Academy. |
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| More onstage chaos. | This is Pascal Mono, who sang "Just Feel Better" as a duet with Walt Lafty. So they actually were in stereo! | Raoul onstage enjoying the antics of French reality TV. |
My
Living Room gig, 10-30-05:
(photos
courtesy Leo Heile)
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| From L to R, Manu, me, Gintas, Bill, Jeff, Wes and Maria. The core group plus the Santana horn section. | Andy Vargas came up and made up a song and a rap on the spot while we played a Billy Cobham song called "Red Baron". | Me playing my 1999 MTD 5 string. |
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| Bill and Jeff in a light moment. | Lisa Cariddi sings"If Love Were A Red Dress" as part of our Tarantino tribute. | The brilliant horn section: a somber-looking Bill Ortiz, a scary-looking Jeff Cressman, and a diminutive-looking (but huge-sounding) Maria Eisen. |
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| Sandy Cressman sings Elis Regina's haunting ballad "Romaria". | Me and Bill engaging in some Halloween theatrics. It was, after all, October 30th. | Wes Mingus and Maria Eisen play their hearts out for a very appreciative audience. |
a few East Coast and Southwest Tour, 2005 photos:
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| Lovely Edmonton | Bus finally stopped on the way to Corpus Christi | Dennis, Karl, Jeff & I at Havana Club bar in Corpus Christi, watching the Panthers vs. the Packers game. |
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| Behind the stage at Red Rocks. It was quite cold for Stubby, Tommy, and Skip. | Looking out at the crowd before showtime at Red Rocks. | Cool scene behind stage as Karl does some of his solo at Red Rocks. |
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| Karl goes for it at Red Rocks! |
NFL Opening Game 2005, Foxboro, MA:
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| First night rehearsal chaos on stage. We played to a track, but Carlos' guitar was live. | Me with Steve Young, who needs no hyperlink. | Tommy Anthony representing. Or is it reprazentin'? |
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| Backstage on the day of the show. Lots of National Guardsmen give Ed a ride on a huge riser as they push it out to the field for the second run through. | Stubby, with Jeff and Tommy on the back, gets a ride to the filed for the rehearsal. There were many golf cart rides that day. | Here's Dennis (with Karl and Andy in the background) waiting at our appointed place on the sidelines. We're watching in amazement at all the coordinated activity. |
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| Here come the extras! | Another view from the stage at the daytime rehearsal, just about to do our songs. It was amazing how pumped up and excited everyone involved was. The exuberance was definitely contagious. | After the day rehearsal it was on to a fun tailgate party with some friends. From L to R, Jeff Norton, Pete Peterson, me, Tim Gage (the host of the party), and Brian Mone (in the background on the phone). |
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| From L to R, Nicole, me, and Kristen. They took me and Skip around to the tailgate party and back. All the Production Assistants really did a fantastic job of making sure everyone was taken care of. | On our way to the "holding area" in the tunnel of Foxboro, we ran into some friendly representatives of the New England Patriots. | This is the little "holding room" we were kept in for a couple of minutes before waiting on the sidelines. |
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| Bill looks on as Karl, Jeff and an unnamed assistant all fiddle with cameras and cel phones. Like I was doing. | I looked behind me as we were standing one the sidelines waiting to go on. It was a great crowd, they were excited and ready for Patriots football! | Extras, cheerleaders, getting into position before we play. We're already on stage and Green Day is just finishing up their segment. |
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The scene from the stage right before we play. It's a bit hard to tell from this photo, but many of the extras are in exactly the same positions as the day rehearsal. There's a lot of staging art that goes into this kind of thing. |
The craziness as we are herded off right after our show. From L to R, Jessica Harp, unnamed stagehand, Michelle Branch, and Brian Montgomery. | Our big reward - free tickets in a skybox! Woo-hoo, free Buffalo Wings and Macallan! |
World Music Awards 2005, Los Angeles, CA:
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| Mike Kiefer, Tommy Anthony, and Bill Ortiz enjoy the comforts of a cold, grey room. | Raul gets the samurai treatment from the hair and makeup people. We were that bored. | There was a constant stream of interviews backstage with guests and presenters as they were going on or coming off the stage. I have no idea who this is, but others around me seemed very impressed. |
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| There was also a steady flow of exotic models and people who looked like models. So no, it wasn't all THAT bad. | Me and the very glamorous Sheila E backstage. I hardly ever get to see her anymore, so it's another reason to go to these things. | I had to put this picture in just for the kitsch value. Me and Miss January Penthouse, we go way back... |
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| Besides the usual dignitaries in their seats politely applauding, they did the "instant concert setting" (my terminology) that is so popular these days. That's the people standing in the front. I guess it's their job to stand close to the stage and give the performers a "live concert" atmosphere. It also looks good from certain camera angles, like they do the Super Bowl Halftime shows, where it looks like there are a whole bunch of adoring fans cheering and carrying on. | Raul and Karl have a good laugh while we're backstage about to to go on after six hours of waiting around. That's Jeff and the ever-warming-up Bill in the background. | Karl adjusts his monitor earpiece amidst the confusion onstage just before playing. |
World Music Awards 2005 (rehearsal), Los Angeles, CA:
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| The big statues poised at the loading dock, ready to assume a place of honor! | They remind me of the Apple Bonkers from the movie "Yellow Submarine" | Jeff and Stubby discuss Jeff's hat. Or maybe it was his hair... |
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| And this is how they just spontaneously find all those celebrities. | This is the glamorous part called "standing around". It's so glamorous and cool that we all do it quite often! | They're naked, yet have no genitalia. Crazy... They look kinda like Emmys™, don't they? |
Target show in Minneapolis:
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| Dennis and John Paris, drummer for Earth, Wind & Fire. | Jeff Cressman watches a bit of the Gloria Estefan set from backstage. | Me and the great Verdine White. |
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| My friend Jess, lighting director for Earth, Wind & Fire. | Before we played, there was a motivational speech for hundreds of red-clad people... | ...and this was part of the speech. We've come quite a long way from cue cards and teleprompters. |
My gig at The Living Room, NYC, Aug 19, 2005:
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| Me and one of the sax players, Allen Won, whom I have known since high school. That's a long time, for those of you who are counting. (photo courtesy Arkady Kofman) |
Santana/Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter Japan Peace Tour 2005:
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| Herbie Hancock demos his new keyboard for Chester. | Dennis checks out some new drums (relax, Pearl Co., I asked him to do it). |
The I-had-to-do-it shot of Herbie, Wayne, me and Carlos. |
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It was interesting (as a New York resident) to see another country's "ground zero", this one in Hiroshima. |
And this is "ground zero" in Nagasaki. |
Our "welcoming committee" at Osaka Airport. |
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| Lionell Louecki , Herbie's guitar player, checking email backstage. | Jeff riding the tram in Nagasaki. |
Me and my boss in Nagasaki (courtesy Hal Miller). |
Video shoot for "I'm Feeling You" in San Francisco:
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| Dennis shows Andy his breakfast burrito. | Andy, Karl and Dennis watch the extras arrive. | The very nice and as-yet-unnamed catering lady. |
East Coast tour 2005:
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| Bill
clowning around backstage during the show in Indianapolis. |
Jeff and Bill look on in amusement in Indianapolis. | Kenny Garrett on stage in New Jersey. |
Central American tour 2005:
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| Ed tries to tune Tommy's guitar while I'm pestering him to tune my bass. | Brian about to hit me with a microphone in Guadalajara, Mexico. | View from the stage of the bullring in Guadalajara before the show. |