Why the Music of the Grateful Dead Makes the Perfect Soundtrack for Action Sports
“Fire On The Mountain” director Chris Benchetler fills us in on his new documentary
BY EVAN BLEIER
When skier and filmmaker Chris Benchetler was brainstorming names for someone to narrate his new action-sports film featuring the music of the Grateful Dead, there was one that kept popping up due to the nature of the movie’s soundtrack: Bill Walton.
Walton, a confirmed Deadhead, seemed like the perfect person to bring aboard to narrate Benchetler’s Fire On The Mountain as the 27-minute film is set to seven tracks selected from the Grateful Dead’s massive vault of recordings by official band archivist David Lemieux.
Luckily for Benchetler, he actually had the retired NBA star’s email address as the two had gone road biking some years ago. “I didn’t expect him to remember me at all but I just hit him up and explained my passion for the Dead and for what we were doing,” Benchetler tells InsideHook.