A series based on a Grateful Dead book is being produced by Amazon.
The as-yet-untitled project is inspired by Steve Parish’ Home Before Daylight: My Life On The Road With The Grateful Dead, published in 2004 by St Martin’s Press. Parish spent years on tour with the band and founding member Bob Weir wrote the book’s foreword.
According to Deadline, Parish will serve as the show’s executive producer while Weir will “oversee all aspects of music.”
Parish originally tried to have the book made into a film, Rolling Stone reports, but couldn’t find a studio to take it on, despite the involvement of Weir and soundtrack contributions from Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
Meanwhile, the Grateful Dead’s farewell shows in Chicago earlier this year – coupled with an earlier gig at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California – saw them bring in the biggest cash haul for any live act in 2015. In total, the shows generated $52million, according to Billboard.
Peter Shapiro of DayGlo Productions, the firm behind the Fare Thee Well shows, says: “The key was that it transcended being a concert. The inter-mixing and overlapping of so many tribes of people who came from across America to Chicago was huge.
“That doesn’t happen a lot, probably never in this way in a single location, so that’s pretty powerful stuff that Facebook can’t provide. That kind of depth in an experiential, real-life form doesn’t happen enough, so I think when it does it occur, it really has impact.”
The band released a live package showcasing their swan song last month, while in October, bassist Phil Lesh revealed he was battling cancer for a second time.
