A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CARLOS “GUITARLOS” STEELE HIMSELF…
Steele in 2023. (Photograph taken by himself (as the bulk of his photos are).)
The “biography” content within this section has been specially provided, in separate sections, by the two principle voices, faces, and loving and genuine human vessels behind Mr. Steele's becoming: Loretta Steele (his soft-spoken and brilliant mother) and Charlie Steele (his scholarly big bear of a father).
PART I : Carlos Steele (a.k.a. “Guitarlos”) - A Short Biographical Reflection
By Charles F. Steele
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My one and only son, Carlos, came to his mother and me out of pure love and our shared desire to have a child. We were over the “typical” age limit to be parents, compared to the majority of Carlos’ school friends: I was 42, and his mom was in her mid-thirties, so we were a unique crew from the beginning, and Carlos was no accident, but a true, and well-planned force of nature!
I am sure Carlos has experienced music of some kind since that beautiful fall day we drove him home from Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque in Sept. 2000–more than likely some Dylan and Neil Young, perhaps The Beatles and/or The Doors echoing and reverberating through his cute little ears.
This was surely the very best, single day of my life. And I take full responsibility for blasting my generation's rock'n'roll and blues and jazz music daily into Carlos' budding consciousness as I drove him around the block late at night (often to get him to fall asleep), and through his school years as he absorbed the sounds of my generation. (I myself have always believed in music as a form of therapy for happiness and creative expression.)
To say Carlos was a happy child is an understatement. I used to laugh, through my exhaustion as a new parent working in the corporate world, when he would wake us up to either nurse his mom, or play–usually a bit of both–in the middle of the night. And I would always turn up the music to calm all of our jangled nerves.
It was for his fifth Christmas that I bought Carlos a toy guitar for maybe $10 on the internet. I remember this little guitar because it was the first time I had ever purchased anything online, but the guitar did the trick: Carlos seldom put it down, though it was so cheap that it could not be properly tuned, let alone played–but none of that mattered. It was the Aristotelian idea of the guitar that enthralled my musical son to drag and bang it endlessly about. By the time he was eight or nine, Carlos was learning riffs from YouTube and his Uncle Dave, and began to get a knack for reading tabs to some of his favorite songs. After teaching him the three chords I knew on the instrument, it didn't take long for Car to take the guitar playing to the next level. And it has been nothing but guitars for my boy ever since…
So the music and the writing and the performing have never stopped. Indeed, the arts have grown into him, and he has grown into them. (And how could I forget–Carlos is a wonderful graphic artist as well.) It all grew through various organized and recreational pursuits, from singing in his chorus in preschool; to moving to the UNM Children’s Choir for a few years; to engaging with a spate of (hilarious and frenetic) piano lessons taken during his elementary school years; to pursuing playing the trumpet in middle and high school (which entailed state competitions and a string of formal and informal performances). But always, always, always–a guitar in his hands (in specific) never ceased to put a big smile on his face, and a song at his lips.
The course to follow was predominantly based in Carlos' own individual musical decisions and plans, consisting mainly of ripping out face-melters on the cheap electric guitars kept on display at Costco; performing endless hours of shredding on demo guitars at Guitar Center; playing in various jazz band ensembles, often alongside his lifelong friend and prolific drummer, Tina Marquez; playing gigs for balloonists during Albuquerque's historic annual festival; engaging with his band through various private parties for his parents and friends’ parents; recording his first album/EP with Tina and their friend Dylan at the ripe age of… 13, 14 (maybe)?
And the list goes on (especially the list of original songs that Carlos has been helming for years now)…
So, Carlos: a fully realized young artist with two original albums of music under his belt already (and more on the way), rock in his heart, and the blues in his soul, finds himself in full control of his art–a quality of his I have recognized since that now distant Christmas day when he picked up his first guitar as a little kid.
Carlos continues to bring so much love and truth to his audiences when he performs. He is a natural teacher, an amazing listener, and he can make even the least musical of us sound so much better, feel so much better, and embrace the power of his music in our hearts. What an easy person to love and honor.
And the warm, joyful smile he carries with his beautiful face always–and I mean always–proves to us all the joy he finds in his performances and songs. He is always smiling with his music and through his art.
And so are we.