Search - Carlos Guitarlos :: Hell Can Wait

Throughout the 90's and into the new millennium, Carlos Guitarlos could be found playing guitar for pocket change on the streets of San Francisco?s Mission District. Oftentimes, Carlos slept on those same cold streets where he eventually became a street-corner legend (The SF Bay Guardian name him the city?s "Best Street Musician" in 1994). For the one-time musical leader of legendary Los Angeles roots-rockers Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs -- inspiration for the 1984 Van Halen song "Top Jimmy" -- it had been a long, slow downward spiral of divorce, diabetes, and drugs. In the wake of his hard-knock life, Carlos found himself in a San Francisco hospital, fighting for his life with congestive heart failure. That experience, combined with the alcohol-related death of his friend and former band-mate, Top Jimmy, proved to be the catalyst of his personal turnaround. Within a couple of weeks of his hospital stay, with the help of his family, Carlos finally found his way back into a recording studio, hence the release of "Straight from the Heart" in 2003, which features the helping hands of old pals Mike Watt, John Doe, and Dave Alvin. The album?s title track was written from his hospital bed. Showcasing Carlos?s stinging, fluid fretwork, lived-in vocals, and uncanny ability to write original songs in a wide variety of classic styles, the album made Rolling Stone Magazine?s "Top Albums of 2003" and it was swiftly picked up for national distribution, a fact that was covered by Billboard Magazine, who described his re-emergence as "one of the most surprising music stories of the year." The long-awaited follow up, "Hell Can Wait", features a stronger, healthier Carlos on another 19 original compositions. Guest artists include Marcy Levy (Clapton, Shakespear?s Sister), Gene Taylor (Blasters, Fabulous Thunderbirds), and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos.