Wetlands Preserved

Between 1989 and 2001, Wetlands Preserve was Manhattan’s most idiosyncratic rock club. The reasons for this were its largely hideous tie-dyed music and its unflinching dedication to environmental and anticonsumerist activism. So music fans will view this doc with ambivalence. Like, if a bunch of Deadheads who didn’t even keep books could do run a club, shouldn’t we expect more from places like Bowery Ballroom? Outside Wetlands’ axis-of-awful programming—think Phish, Blues Traveler and Ani DiFranco—it did make space for hip-hop, hardcore and metal. Like a jam session, though, Wetlands Preserved goes on just a bit too long.