Cult band the Grateful Dead might not exactly set iPods everywhere alight or top the charts these days, but they certainly gathered a hefty cult following in their heyday between the late ‘60s and the ‘80s.
And that whole genre of music can still lead to popular films – just look at Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. Now writer/producer Michael Grais is hoping that the tale of Steve Parish, a roadie who travelled with the band and witnessed their sex-and-drug-fuelled misadventures, will be just as successful.
Parish joined the band as a teenager and worked with them (and later, lead singer Jerry Garcia’s own group) for 35 years, so he can provide real insight. “There has never been and probably never will be another cast of characters like the Grateful Dead,” he blabbed to Variety. He turned his memories into the book Home Before Daylight, which he and Grais are adapting.
There’s no word on a director or cast yet - the script isn’t even complete – but it already boasts Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir as a music supervisor, so fans will know the tunes are authentic, if nothing else…
