The Music Never Stops (Hachette Books) by Peter Shapiro with Dean Budnick

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The Music Never Stops

Anyone who has ever followed a band and wondered if there was a way to make a living at it would do well to read The Music Never Stops, producer/club owner/promoter Peter Shapiro’s fast-moving autobiography cum business manual on how to engineer an extremely successful life in music without actually being a musician.

As a radio/television/film student at Northwestern University, the New York City native decided in 1993 to make a film about “Dead Heads,” those followers of the ubiquitous Grateful Dead. It didn’t go so well for several reasons, but the experience helped Shapiro pry open Pandora’s musical box and an ever-growing wealth of opportunities, including ownership at age 23 of the famed Wetlands Preserve, NYC’s Tribeca music venue wrapped around a social mission that defined his business character and his career.

Those familiar with the NYC scene in the late ‘90s and early 21st century will find it easier to navigate the sea of dropped names indigenous to the time and place that slowed down the text for those of us who are not. But as Shapiro’s influence expands to other venues, other cities, and the growing festival scene, the action picks up, more names become familiar, and the newly minted entrepreneurs’ influence escalates at a seemingly remarkable speed, all of which makes for a fascinating read.

And, oh yes, the Grateful Dead and their individuals and offshoot groups remain omnipresent throughout the book and Shapiro’s career. That fact helped him produce Fair Thee Well, the Dead’s 50th anniversary and farewell tour, which hit Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2015. Shapiro’s business secret? “The idea is to put the work in and let the magic come to you,” he says. Nice to know such faith can still bear abundant fruit.