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06/10/2007Northern PeopleNo regretsThe man who tuned Pete Townshend
CENTRAL LAKE — There's nothing quite like a heart attack to provide a guy with a little clarity. After surviving a seven-artery bypass, photographer Tom Wright of Central Lake knew he'd nearly checked out with work undone. Piled in his basement were boxes upon boxes of uncataloged negatives, and one heck of a story yet to be completed. The memoir Wright had been kicking around in his head for years suddenly took on a new importance. The resulting "Roadwork: Rock and Roll Turned Inside Out,” co-authored by Susan VanHecke, was released on May 31 by Hal Leonard Publishing. Wright, an iconic photographer whose collection resides at the Center for American History at the University of Texas, chronicled life as an insider with bands like The Who, The Eagles, Small Faces, MC5, the Rolling Stones and others. Educated at Ealing Art School in England, where he met a young Pete Townshend in 1962, Wright would later manage the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. It was a pivotal stop for any 1960s or '70s band on tour. His images were first exhibited at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City in 2003, and he recently helped start a photography school in San Antonio, Texas. His 300-page, 46-chapter "Roadwork” begins with a forward by legendary Who guitarist and songwriter Townshend. He credits none other than Wright for the eventual success of what has been called by some "the greatest live band ever.” "One thing is certain, had I not met Tom Wright, The Who would never have become successful,” writes Townshend. "Being specially blessed by him when he was at his teenage peak is the most significant moment of my musical life.” How did the young photographer studying abroad have such an influence on Townshend, then an emerging musician playing local gigs? He used a simple mixture of good times, American R&B records and marijuana. 
"It sort of blew Johnny Cash tunes and Chet Atkins onto the back burner and got Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed and that kind of thing introduced into his scenario,” chuckled Wright, who would get booted from England not a year later for drug possession. But Townshend, irrevocably altered by the friendship, got to keep the records. Incorporating the sounds of American blues into The Detours, later to become The Who, he would bring that repackaged American sound back across the pond to phenomenal success. And Wright got the call to document it from the inside. His camera candidly caught the sound check, the arrival at the hotel, the party backstage, onstage and a whole lifestyle swathed in food, drink, groupies and excess. "The pace was full-throttle,” he recalls of the first Who tour in Chapter 11. "The dash to the plane. Next airport. Running late. Can't miss sound check, screw the hotel, go straight to the gig. I kept my footlockers full of photo gear in constant motion, but they were nothing compared to the mountains of amps, guitars and speakers in hard cases and on wheels that went with us everywhere.” An airplane ride to Nashville that makes an emergency landing in Memphis provides just enough time for Who drummer Keith Moon to nearly kill himself jumping into the hotel pool from his third story room. Wright shot over half a million pictures, many which have never been seen. He road managed the 1968 Who tour, and the Goose Lake and Detroit Rock and Roll Revival festivals, camera always at the ready. He attributes much of his success to the art school education in England, where the philosophy was "do the best you can with the materials on hand.” That meant developing and printing film on the road, in makeshift hotel bathroom darkrooms, laughing at the photographers who sent their film off for processing. "I thought, damn, by the time they get to the airport to stick a package on a plane, I've already got 16-by-20s thumbtacked to the wall,” he said, silently thanking his Ealing instructors. "Many a time, while duct-taping plastic over the windows or getting drunk and setting up my darkroom in the bathroom of the Holiday Inn, I did look back with a grin on my face.” Wright still has much work left, including assembling negatives and finding a new studio. But having stared the Grim Reaper in the face, Wright was able to put a question to rest that he'd struggled with while in and out of rehab in the years after the party ended. "I kept waiting to be terribly afraid and waiting for all these regrets to come rolling in,” he said, recounting his experience lying in the hospital awaiting surgery. "In reality, I was laying there at death's doorstep thinking: 'It's been great.' I'm so glad I did what I did, and I wouldn't change one second. I would even go back and turn the dial just slightly.” On the Web: Wright's Web site: www.tomwrightphotography.com Center for American History, The Tom Wright Collection:
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