Las Vegas Weekly

February 4, 2010 · 11:46 PM

Photo Gallery: Carlos Santana visits Andre Agassi Prep Academy

By Robin Leach

Carlos Santana plays a guitar he donated to the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy while taking a tour of the school with Andre Agassi on Feb. 4, 2010.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

Music legend and Hard Rock Hotel resident headliner Carlos Santana launched his partnership with the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education today by joining the tennis superstar and our hometown hero for a tour of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. Carlos is encouraging donations through text messaging during his performances of Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits at The Joint this month.

From now until Feb. 21, concertgoers can donate to the foundation in increments of $5 via text message. Fans will be prompted to text the word “kids” to 20222 to make a donation, which will show up on the user’s cell phone bill. The foundation can receive donations through March 31 via text or at any time at AgassiFoundation.org.

“We are so grateful to Carlos Santana for his generosity and compassion,” Andre said in a press release. He understands the toll that hunger, poverty and lack of access to education has taken on the world’s young people, and he is a living example that ‘caring, by definition, means doing.’ … With Carlos, we believe we can make an impact on what matters most -- giving our children the tools to succeed through education and the life choices it allows them to pursue.”

During his visit, Carlos met with students from the academy and students from Cheyenne, Legacy, Mojave and Sunrise Mountain High Schools, as well. Photographers Denise Truscello and Scott Harrison were onsite to capture the collaboration. (We posted their photo gallery in Strip Scribbles this afternoon right when we received the photos and are breaking it out into a separate story now because it deserves it.)

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Andre Agassi, Carlos Santana and Steffi Graf take a tour of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy on Feb. 4, 2010.

In addition to the music donations and financial support, Carlos is inviting students from the academy’s drum line to appear in the opening number of his show on Saturday. As we reported yesterday, Carlos said that he’s fallen in love with Las Vegas and wants to be more involved with the community.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Share This