Wetlands Preserved
March 9th, 2008
From 1989 to 2001, the Wetlands Preserve flourished just off of New York’s Houston Street. Founded by a Deadhead, the club attracted rising bands in the burgeoning “jam bands” scene, along with ska and hip-hop acts, while maintaining an activism center that held “eco-saloons” and launched inventive street theater protests. Dean Budnick’s Wetlands Preserved, produced by second and final owner Peter Shapiro, is a heartfelt tribute to a joyous anomaly in New York’s nightlife scene that eventually surrendered to Tribeca’s increasing gentrification in the days following September 11.
Continue reading my review of Wetlands Preserved, opening March 14, on About.com.
Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub. Dean Budnick, 2006. ***
And here’s a video to go along with it: Ann Marie Calhoun and her brother Joe cover Phish’s “Stash” [via Andy Gadiel]:
March 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
That Stash is absolutely fantastic!
You mean to say Hudson St, not Houston St. by the way - Wetlands was on Hudson just south of Canal.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Right right, thanks. I remember it was technically on Hudson Street but it felt like you had to go around the corner? Saw Zero there once but man it was hot and nasty crowded. Don’t think I got to lay eyes on Kimock that night at all.
And yeah, that Stash is freakin amazing. Apparently she got to play with the Foo Fighters at the Grammies — there are some wild pictures on her MySpace page.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Well, actually, it was just off of West Houston.