Series offers up replacements

Young Chang

Officials at Fashion Island have swapped out one 1970s flashback

for another this week.

When the double-booked Pablo Cruise canceled his Wednesday

performance at Fashion Island’s Summer Concert Series at the last

minute, vocalists Gary Wright and Al Stewart agreed on Monday to take

Cruise’s place.

“We’ve never had this happen before,” said Shayne Voorheis,

director of sales and marketing for Fashion Island. “But they were

two strong artists that happened to meet the criteria of what we’re

looking for: They appeal to a large audience, it’s enjoyable music,

and it brings back a lot of memories.”

Wright is best known for “Dream Weaver.” Stewart’s most popular

tracks include “Time Passages” and “Year of the Cat.” Each has

enjoyed the sort of career that led to “best of” albums, tracks that

have been covered by contemporary artists and a defining role in the

music of a past heyday.

Ticket holders for Pablo Cruise’s show can instead watch Wright

and Stewart.

Wright, who gave a quick interview Monday, will perform hits

including “Dream Weaver,” “Love is Alive” and “Really Want to Know

You” this week.

The 59-year-old performer said he feels fortunate that the songs

became “classics” that everyone remembers. Wright began his musical

career in 1966 in Germany, after finishing his graduate studies at

Frei University. A year later, he formed his group Spooky Tooth,

whose album “It’s All About” garnered praise enough to launch a

touring frenzy in Europe.

Spooky Tooth’s second album brought them to the United States,

where they played with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling

Stones.

Wright went solo for a while in the first half of the ‘70s and

worked as a producer for different artists, as well as spending some

time as a keyboardist for George Harrison. They played together on

“All Things Must Pass” and many subsequent albums.

“He was one of my best friends,” Wright said of the late Beatle.

That friendship ultimately led to the creation of the hit “Dream

Weaver.” The story goes that before the two took a trip to India in

the mid-’70s, Harrison gave Wright a book of Indian philosophy by

Paramahansa Yogananda. Wright became deeply interested in the

writer’s work and later came across a poem by Yogananda titled “God!

God! God!,” which contained a line about a mind-weaving dream.

“I wrote it in a little journal,” Wright said. “A year later I was

in the English countryside, I picked up an acoustic guitar ... and I

wrote it in about half an hour.”

The song came out in 1975, and for more than the next 10 years the

artist continued to write new music. In the ‘80s, he scored films,

including “Endangered Species,” Stayin’ Alive” and “Fire and Ice.”

In 1995, he put out what he calls an “eclectic kind of African

Brazilian album” called “First Signs of Life,” and for about six

years after that Wright devoted most of his time to developing his

two sons’ musical talents. His future involves some “surprises,”

though, that have to do with the artist’s own musical career.

“I’ll be re-releasing some old material ... and my early album

that’s never been released,” he said. “There are performances by

George Harrison on the album. It will really be a collector’s item

when it comes out.”