By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dean Budnick
Country: united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 93
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811154/
Bruce says: “Wetlands used to be about twenty blocks from where I live and I had never heard of it. The reason for that is pretty clear. Some big names played at Wetlands before becoming famous – Dave Matthews, Phish, Blues Traveler, Pearl Jam, the Spin Doctors and Hootie and the Blowfish. Other Wetlands regulars were Murphy’s Law, Robert Randolf and His Family Band, Agnostic Front, Leftover Salmon, Fishbone, Sublime, Busta Rhymes, Disco Biscuits and Hanson. I do own one or two Pearl Jam CDs and someone once gave me a Dave Mathews CD but that’s it for me and the Wetlands crew.
“Wetlands was founded in 1989 by Larry and Laura Bloch. The concept was to create a venue for live music and have the proceeds fund an environmental issue activist center that would be on premises. Tribeca, in 1989, was still very commercial and it was possible to open a nightclub since the area was clearly ‘mixed use’ when it came to zoning laws. While kids came to hear great live music and dabble in drugs in the downstairs lounge, the activists were upstairs above the club fighting the corporate greed that is driving the American political and social agenda.
“A funky VW bus was alongside the dance floor and the activists peddled the social issues to club patrons from the side window. (The bus now resides at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.) The women who worked the bus recall club goers as ‘lots of weird guys’ while the male workers refer to them as ‘interesting characters.’ Larry Bloch hired good programmers and promoters. They even had a Sunday program for underage kids, getting them in the club habit before they were able to get into see the nighttime headliners. Wetlands appealed to many musical tastes: rock, hip-hop, jazz, dead-head/hippie. Improvisation nights brought many musicians together that would never have connected otherwise.
“The concept of Wetlands and its history are more interesting than the interviews in the film. To the directors credit, he does manage to create some suspense about the fate of the club. Unfortunately there is not enough live archival footage from the shows to make the film really rock. To solve that problem director hired about ten animators to develop images to go with the music. For me, the animation is not a good substitute for a live performance.
“Eventually, we learn that Laura and Larry split in the late 90’s and the club was sold to Peter Shapiro. After being hassled by the Giuliani administration under their ‘quality of life’ pretense the club finally folded. A few days after 9/11 the club held its farewell performances. The building was sold for $20 million and is now the site of luxury condos. That is the continuing saga of our inner cities which we once foolishly feared would decay before gentrification. Quality of live for a select few – fancy homes, no noise, no drugs, no dirty rock musicians. 3.5 cats
“WETLANDS PRESERVED: THE STORY OF AN ACTIVIST ROCK CLUB was screened at the 2006 Woodstock Film Festival”