S.A. man's photos were documents of rock 'n' roll life

By Dan R. Goddard

Express-News Arts Writer

In the early 1960s while living in England with his Air Force family, San Antonian Tom Wright became a photography student at the Ealing Art School, where he met a fledgling guitarist named Pete Townshend.

Townshend went on to form The Who and write the classic rock opera "Tommy"; Wright became the group's photographer and tour manager. Wright became a well-known figure in rock 'n' roll, touring with and photographing the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Faces, the James Gang, J.D. Souther, the Thunderbirds, Elvis Costello and the Eagles.

Recently, Wright donated his rock 'n' roll archive of more than 120,000 black-and-white photos, 2,000 audio cassettes and several thousand color slides to the newly established Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin.

Twenty-seven of his photographs of The Who, blown up to nearly life-size, have been on display at UT's Bass Concert Hall in conjunction with the touring Broadway version of "The Who's Tommy," which just played at San Antonio's Majestic Theater.

"Being a photography student at Ealing definitely beat being a high school student in the United States. It was an amazing time, about 1960 or 1961, and I was only 17," Wright, who now works in the corporate office of the Old San Francisco Steak House, said. "Everyone played, or tried to play guitar. One day, a friend of mine told me about this graphic design student who could really play guitar.

"I said, 'Show me this guy.' He said, 'It's not hard to find Pete Townshend. Just look for the tall guy with the big nose.' Well, I got to talking to Pete, and he came over one day and got real interested in my record collection. I could buy albums at the PX for $1.50 that cost about $20 to $30 in England, if they were available. And this was when a good job paid $35 a week. I had lots of blues — Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker — and pretty soon Townshend had moved into the flat below us."

Wright was eventually forced to leave England, but he gave his album collection to Townshend as well as a Stratocaster guitar that he had traded for a motorcycle.

"Pete didn't tell me for many years, but eventually he admitted that it was the first guitar he smashed on stage," Wright said. "After leaving England, I wound up in Florida living with my folks and working as an underwater photographer. One day, I heard this song on the radio, 'Happy Jack,' and I recognized Pete's voice singing back-up. Well, I wrote him and said, 'Hey, there's this group called The Who and it sounds like you.' Pete wrote back and said the band would be in Tampa — they were touring with Herman's Hermits. They asked me to come along as a photographer, and that's how I became a rock 'n' roll photographer."

He recorded the entire band performing "Tommy" for the first time in the United States on May 9, 1969, in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom, which Wright managed from 1967 to 1969.

In an introduction to the exhibit, Townshend wrote, "Tom Wright is a friend of mine of long standing. Up to now he has remained relatively unknown as a photographer, but he has always been in tune with the mood of the music-inspired generation. His work is very much about 'capturing the moment.' He has passion for the elements that surround these moments, whether they are farcical — like life on the road in a bus with The Who — or inspirational — like the many moving concerts he helped organize in his work as a producer."

Wright has been living in San Antonio off and on since the early 1970s, since his father was stationed here. One of his first jobs was as an artist in residence at Southwest Craft Center, where he established the photography department. He eventually became involved in the restaurant business, which he compares to rock 'n' roll, and helped establish Maggie's.

"If I had ever thought about or planned what I was going to do with my life, I probably never would have left home," Wright said. "Nothing I did was ever planned; it just sort of happened to me. But it's been an interesting life.