South by Southwest is running in Austin right now. It’s an “everyone into the pool” kinda event. If you live here, you can’t avoid being touched by it in some way.

So, The Dude got this invitation to a reception being thrown by The Center for American History at The University of Texas as part of the SXSW festivities. He’s been working with CAH to establish an archive for video games. (Stop sniggering, you over there. Ten years from now this archive will be the shit – and I’ll have all that stuff out of my house.)

Anyway, we got an invitation to this reception for Tom Wright, whose collection of 500,000 photos was acquired by UT in 1990.

Tom Wright was the official photographer for The Who starting in 1967. I didn’t know this right off, as I know bupkis about photography and photographers. However, I do know what I like. And I like Tom Wright’s stuff. A lot.

His photography is documentary and fluid. He doesn’t take static pictures. They’re full of motion and action. You can almost hear the crashing of Keith’s drums, Daltry’s wail, and Townshend’s riffing. The only person who doesn’t seem to be in motion is John Entwistle. (And that’s as it should be.) He also took loads of photos of, well, everyone. From the Stones, to Ike and Tina Turner, to Rod Stewart, to Elvis Costello, Tom Wright has been at the epicenter of coolness and music for forty years.

So, we get to the reception and start milling about, talking to the people we know, checking out the other guests who we don’t know. At one of the reserved tables, I see a young guy asking a middle-aged guy if he’ll take a picture with him. The young guy’s buddy takes the photo as the older guy looks mildly amused and just a smidge put out. I’m thinking to myself, “Who is that guy? Dammit, he looks so familiar.” Later, I realize it’s Joe Walsh.

We mill around some more, looking at enlargements of Wright’s terrific pictures and the slide show they’ve got running on monitors scattered about the club. The Dude and I grab a seat and nibble some of the appetizers. We’re trying to act cool because we’re both insanely excited about seeing SXSW’s keynote speaker, who is also going to be at this reception: Pete Townshend.

Townshend shows up and the “milling about” part of the reception ends and the “lauding Tom Wright” part begins. I can only hope that one day people might say half the nice things about me that were said about Tom Wright. Not only is he a terrific photographer, but he’s genuinely beloved.

The celebrity praise begins. I discover that Ian McLagan (who now lives here in Austin) is hysterically funny. Joe Walsh is surprisingly nostalgic, sweet, and yes, funny. And Townshend is really amusing, whip smart, and a wee bit shockingly self-revelatory. Tom Wright spoke for all of two minutes – he was shy and self-deprecating.

After the lauding, we milled around at loose ends now that our raison d’etre was over. Then the wonderful Ramona Kelly from the Center for American History came by and asked if we wanted to meet Pete Townshend.

The Dude said, “No.” He was feeling nervous.

After looking at him for a nanosecond as if he were an insane person, I said, “Hell yeah!” Ramona and I dragged The Dude over and forced the introduction on him. He geebed out in a major way. (I didn’t know that “Who’s Next” is The Dude’s favorite album of all time. After 20 years of marriage, he still surprises me.)

And Townshend, well, he was lovely.

You already know my position on meeting people whose work you adore. It’s always a dangerous proposition. Well, Pete Townshend was as charming as anyone could have been.

When The Dude sputtered out how much he liked Townshend’s work, thanked him for the years of joy, and then apologized for goobering all over him, Townshend laughed and insisted they take a picture together. He slung his arm around The Dude and Ramona, and I took up the end next to The Dude. I have no idea who took the picture, as the whole thing was a bit of a whirl. (And I was also glad that when I was introduced to Townshend that I managed to say, “Hello, it’s delightful to meet you.” Instead of, “Gnahah, gnaha, gnah,” which is what I’ve been known to say upon meeting someone I really admire. I won’t go into my own enormous girl-crush on Townshend.)

So, that was yesterday.

I got to see Tom Wright’s beautiful photography and see him honored by people who obviously love him, and that’s always cool. I got to go to The Headliners Club (where the event was held) and discovered that the bathrooms there are nicer than any house I’ve ever lived in. And I got to meet Pete Townshend.

On the whole, the day didn’t suck.

Tom Wright has a book coming out called Road Work. You should really see about getting it. It looks amazing from the advance promotional piece handed out at the reception.

And finally, here’s a quote I liked from Wright’s book “Knew and Used Photography.”

“In 1967, when The Who asked me to join them on their first tour of the U.S., I got on the plane and as we are taking off some guy was driving down the runway firing a shotgun at us. I later found out Keith had been with this guy’s daughter the night before. I wondered what I had gotten myself into and 35 years later I am still wondering.”