Nine Lives, a book about nine characters in New Orleans spanning the years from Hurricane Betsy in 1965 to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that was later adapted into a musical, has been optioned as a potential television miniseries according to a Facebook post by Chris Joseph, director of Threadhead Records, which produced an album of the musical’s 39 songs.
Nine Lives started as a book written in 2009 by New York Times best-selling author and former New Yorker writer Dan Baum. The nonfiction book follows a cross section of New Orleanians between the 40-year span of the two epic hurricanes. In 2011, Paul Sanchez and his writing partner Colman deKay turned the book into a musical, which was staged in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., along with several shows in New Orleans.
“I can finally announce the good news—Happy to be part of an effort that was successful in obtaining the television and motion picture theatrical rights to develop the book Nine Lives into what is hoped will be a limited TV miniseries,” posted Joseph to his Facebook account. “Much work to be done in developing this, and of course there is no guarantees of success … the first step is developing a pitch piece/treatment, and I’m working with Paul Sanchez and Johnny Sanchez on that. Not much more I can say on this for the time being, but feel free to reach out to me if you have any ideas or thoughts.”
Joseph is a familiar, prominent figure in New Orleans. He lives in Santa Monica, California, but has missed just two Jazz Fests since the late 1980s, the second absence in 2017 due to cancer treatments. In that time, he became an advocate and catalyst in the music community. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he marshaled a global network of passionate Jazz Festers, dubbed the Threadheads, to finance New Orleans artists struggling to make albums. Threadhead Records fan-funded the operation before the concept came into vogue, with dozens of releases by such local artists as Sanchez, Alex McMurray, John Boutté, Susan Cowsill and Debbie Davis. And that sparked the creation of the Threadhead Foundation, which raises money for grants to New Orleans music and arts projects and education.
Baum died on October 8, 2020, at his home in Boulder, Colorado, from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. As a staff writer for the New Yorker, he was dispatched to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where he became fascinated by the people he encountered.
“He was so taken with the triumphant spirit of the people of New Orleans in the face of tragedy that he needed it to be more” than a series of articles, Sanchez told the Times-Picayune. “He needed it to be a book.”
The nine characters included former New Orleans police officer Tim Bruneau; high school band director Wilbert Rawlins Jr.; JoAnn Guidos, the trans proprietor of Kajun’s Pub; attorney Billy Grace, a former Rex; trumpet-playing coroner Frank Minyard; and Joyce Montana, the widow of Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Tootie Montana.
Read more about the production of Nine Lives at the Contemporary Arts Center in 2012 in this article by OffBeat contributing writer John Swenson.
