Carlos Guitarlos

Carlos Guitarlos (born Carlos Daniel Ayala, March 4, 1950) is a Mexican-American guitarist. He first gained attention in Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs. His dramatic life has taken in cult stardom in Los Angeles, alcoholism, homelessness, and an unexpected return to recording in the new millennium.

Ayala grew up in the northeast Los Angeles community of Cypress Park. He talked his mother into buying him a guitar at 10, and learned the basics from an older brother. He had a good ear, noting that by the time he was 13, he could play anything he could hear.

After graduating from high school, Ayala played in some undistinguished bands. He spent most of his twenties living at home, writing songs and practicing. In 1980, at age 30, he got a job as a doorman at the downtown Hong Kong Café, working with his guitar strapped around his neck. It was there that he met James "Top Jimmy" Koncek. A musician both men knew introduced the doorman as “Carlos Guitarlos,” and it stuck.

With Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs

This rock and R&B band emerged in 1980 from the Los Angeles punk/roots music scene. Music writer Chris Morris dubbed them "L.A. punk's house band." As lead guitarist, Ayala was the key component of the group that backed frontman Top Jimmy. Morris described the pair as "imposing, loud, heavy-drinking, and talented."

During their heyday in the early 1980s, they attracted many famous guest stars to their gigs. One of the big names who joined the group on stage was Tom Waits. As a result, Carlos Guitarlos played on two tracks of the 1983 Waits album Swordfishtrombones.

However, Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs slowly crumbled. Internal volatility, fueled by Ayala, was a major reason. Morris noted that Ayala was "truculent...frequently deranged."

As a homeless busker

In 1988, an "increasingly erratic" Ayala followed his estranged wife and daughter to San Francisco. An undiagnosed case of diabetes worsened his problems. He wound up homeless in the Mission District, playing for change in the streets. He displayed a sign reading "Will Play for Fame or Fortune." Yet his talent was still visible: the San Francisco Bay Guardian named him "Best Street Musician" in a 1994 survey.

Comeback

Ayala gave up alcohol after Koncek died in 2001. After being hospitalized for congestive heart failure shortly thereafter, he turned his life around with the help of a nephew. He proceeded to put out an album called Mission Blues that year.

The Los Angeles Times caught up with Carlos in April 2003, devoting a feature to him called "The Ballad of Carlos Guitarlos" which started on that day's front page. Then living in a $35-a-day residence hotel room, Carlos was playing at a BART plaza in the Mission District with "unmistakably sophisticated" technique and "an old gravelly blues voice, perfectly cracked." After wondering who he was and what a guy with his chops was doing there, the back story unfolded.

A second album, Straight from the Heart (2003), followed. It was recorded with old friends and fellow members of the L.A. punk scene: John Doe, Mike Watt, and Dave Alvin. On display were skills as a songwriter in multiple styles, in addition to his guitar playing. The Times of London called it a roots-rockmasterpiece.

Ayala even traveled to England in 2004 and 2005 for performances, attracting featured press coverage.

His third album, Hell Can Wait, came out in 2005. Guests included David Hidalgo, Marcy Levy, and Gene Taylor.

In 2007, he guested on Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John by Peter Case.

Ongoing activity

A 2014 feature called "The Legend of Carlos Guitarlos" focused on him at home in Highland Park on his 64th birthday. He was playing as part of the Carlos Guitarlos Trio and had self-released a 2010 album, The Innocent Remains.

A former bandmate with The Rhythm Pigs, Richard Aeilts (a.k.a. Dig the Pig), noted that Ayala had mellowed to a degree. Aeilts offered a succinct description: a sensitive soul buried within a hardscrabble Highland Park Chicano who doesn't speak Spanish.