Local Oakland news station KRON 4 does a feature called “People Behaving Badly,” and one of their recent features was on illegal dumping in East Oakland. Little did they know that one of the people they interviewed would turn out to be an ex-bandmate of Carlos Santana. Marcus “The Magnificent” Malone was being interviewed and mentioned that he used to play with Santana. Upon further research, reporter Stanley Roberts discovered that the homeless man was, in fact, a member of the Santana band back in the 60′s.
Malone was a member of the band, then got into some trouble that landed him in jail, right before the big Woodstock performance that sent the band into the upper echelons. He has been living on the streets for many years, and prayed to one day be reunited with his former bandmate.
After the initial interview, Roberts set up a meeting between the two, surprising Malone and changing the course of his life from this point forward. Santana told CNN, “I want to offer him a place to stay in an apartment, get him some clothes, and just get him off the street….I want to offer my brother Marcus Malone an opportunity to record on the next album with the original band, with Greg Rolie.”
It’s a truly inspirational story, just in time for Christmas. Check out the following videos:
[via Gawker]