Long Goodbyes and New Beginnings

While we expected the final days of Wetlands to a difficult period, nothing could have prepared us for the shock of September 11th. With the World Trade Center less than a mile from 161 Hudson Street, the tragic disaster literally hit close to home for us.

Our final “Eco-saloon” activist forum was scheduled for 7PM on September 11th at the familiar Thai House Café. That week was intended to be our last week of concerts. Needless to say it was cancelled. Several old friends converged on the club on the day of the tragedy, looking for friends in a time of disaster and trying to see if there was something, anything they could do. Some headed north for safer ground. Others headed directly to the crash site to see if they could aid the victims.

For weeks, following, Tribeca was nearly a fortress, guarded by barricades, state police, and soldiers. Getting back into Wetlands to finish our move-out was nearly impossible. Every little step was a bureaucratic nightmare—a pickup truck that we’d borrowed got stuck in the lot of an opportunistic parking lot owner who charged us for every day it was there; volunteers and staff needed official authorization on letterhead to get to the club, and getting another vehicle in for moving purposes was a major ordeal of inspections and authorizations. Packing everything up was an enormous effort, with some of us working as much as 20 hours a day. A falling stack of wood boards pinned Wetlands activist Cindy Rosin and put her on crutches and out of commission for weeks.

The prolonged move-out made the closing of Wetlands seem almost unreal, as if the club had been given a second lease on life. This feeling was reinforced when the club received permission for special final shows to make up for those we’d lost on the week on 9/11. The last night of music went all the way ‘til dawn, a bittersweet fairwell to a place that had launched musical careers and activist campaigns, fostered friendships and romances, opened hearts, eyes, ears, and minds, and for many of us was, for better or worse, the one place we could truly call home.

As we left one home, we immediately moved into another, the Global Sweatshop Coalition/CISPES office on 29th Street in Manhattan. When we got there it didn’t look like much, but weeks of volunteer work –building shelves, sanding and finishing floors, painting walls, installing decoration, and setting up furniture, we discovered a bright, beautiful new workspace that will allow Wetlands to continue as we look for a new, permanent office.