Santana, Scalpers and Jail Bait at the Beacon Theater

We had wanted to see Carlos Santana in person after hearing his
ground-breaking "Abraxis" LP - a great fusion of Latin, blues and hard-core
San Francisco rock. So a bunch of us bought $8.50 tickets to hear him at
the Beacon Theatre on Broadway and 74th Street in 1976 - his "Amigos" Tour.

"Amigos" was probably Santana's weakest work. The fiery rocker had fallen
under the influence of a well-known guru, and Amigos sounded like something
that could have been put together by Los Hermanos Osmund. As one writer for
Stereo Review put it, "Gurus may be good for Santana's head, but not for
his guitar playing." Still, we were going to hear Santana!

As is almost inevitable when kids buy tickets for concerts, one of our pals
couldn't make it, and I was stuck with an extra ticket. When we arrived at
the Beacon there were plenty of people seeking seats for the sold-out show.
All of us regarded scalpers as sub-human vermin, so we agreed to sell the
ticket for exactly what we paid for it. An Asian girl of about 13 with big
eyes approached me. "Can I come to the show?" I asked her if she had $8.50,
and she replied "All I have is a buck. I was hoping you would turn me on to
it." Of course, this could mean only one of two things:

1.  She was going to turn around and re-sell the ticket for much more
money.
2.  She thought I was into pre-high school girls.

Dismissing Miss Big Eyes, we soon found a fellow who paid us the $8.50.
Alas, when we got inside the person who would have been sitting in that
seat was not the guy who bought the ticket from us.

Santana's stage was decorated with fake palm trees, and he came out wearing
a jungle helmet that made him look like a character in a cheap "Stanley and
Livingston" film. he volume was low, and his guitar playing uninspired.
Needless to say, his set consisted heavily of tunes from "Amigos," even
while the audience clamored for "Black Magic Woman" and "Soul Sacrifice."
What a letdown.