He was grumpy, but he had a heart! That's why.
Carmen were masterminded by a a brother (the guitarist) and sister (the keyboardess, flamenco dancer and singer) pair who had grown up as children of Spanish immigrants in the US. Their parents had a restaurant, flamenco events there were frequent. In the erarly seventies their mix of hard progressive rock, Spanish music and flamenco visuals and dance was nothing short of groundbreaking.