"Bottom Line" closes for good.

Bottom Line Closes For Good

By Pete Bowles and Rafer Guzmán
Staff Writers
NEWSDAY

January 23, 2004, 8:11 PM EST


The Bottom Line has housed its last gig after a 30-year run.

The venerable Greenwich Village nightclub, where musicians from Bruce Springsteen to Miles Davis once performed, closed its doors on Thursday, seven weeks after a judge gave it five days to pay $190,000 in back rent or face eviction.

In a statement announcing its closing, the club's owners thanked fans who had lent their support during a six-month struggle "for making a very painful and surreal experience a bit more bearable."

In recent months, many performers refused to accept money for their shows. A recent online petition urging the saving of the club was signed by Gregg Allman, Sammy Hagar, Steven Van Zandt, Emmylou Harris and others.

On Dec. 3, after months of legal battling, Civil Court Judge Donna Recant issued a warrant of eviction, ordering The Bottom Line to pay the back rent owed to its landlord, New York University.

The club had vowed to remain open until marshals barred the doors. But people close to the case said co-owner Allan Pepper voluntarily handed over the keys to NYU without further protest.

Asked Friday about the closing, Josh Taylor, an NYU spokesman, said: "It's a sad day for everyone."

Several NYU students also expressed sadness.

"It's not only a loss of a large musical influence but a terrible loss of creativity," said Sie Wai, 19, a sophomore from Woodside.

Phoebe Fox, 18, a freshman from Chicago, said she was upset that she never had a chance to visit the club. "I feel I have been shortchanged by its closing because I will not have a chance to go there and enjoy the performances so many others have enjoyed for decades," she said.

Peter Cunningham, who worked as the club's photographer since its opening, blamed NYU for forcing the closing. "NYU is discouraging creative, independent voices," he said.

The university, which had been deluged with angry e-mails from people hoping to save the club, said it had offered opportunities for The Bottom Line to pay the back rent and sign a new lease but all talks had failed. The school says it will turn the space into classrooms.

The 400-seat club at the corner of West 4th and Mercer streets, which opened on Feb. 12, 1974, embraced famous names and unknowns alike.

"It was a club that was devoted to presenting really good music in an environment where you could listen without any worry about what was hip or trendy," said Bill Flanagan, senior vice president of MTV Networks and a 20-year resident of the Village. "They weren't just interested in guys who were blowing up big. It was whether or not they were making good music."

"Sometimes people would play there and fall flat on their face," recalled Meg Griffin, music director for Sirius Satellite Radio. "Allan would let them come back. It was a stage where you could be a work in progress."

Among some of the big-time names to hit the Bottom Line marquee were Little Richard, Tony Bennett, the Police, Elvis Costello, Whitney Houston, k.d. lang, Dizzy Gillespie, Taj Mahal and Prince.

Ricky Byrd, a former guitarist for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, fondly remembered Pepper's style in handling performers. "Every time I played there, the first thing he'd do is pull me aside and tell me a bad joke," Byrd said. "Then I'd tell him a bad joke. He's old-school show business."

In a statement to supporters, Pepper and co-owner Stanley Snadowsky said: "We hope that The Bottom Line has meant something in your lives, and it has given you as much joy as it has for us in presenting the extraordinary artists that have performed on our stage."

Staff writer Marianna Hernandez contributed to this story.

 

WOW! How Sad...I played there a half dozen times! What a great place it was A landmark! The vibes in that place were amazing...

 

Sad....very sad.

I saw many a show there in the late 70's, early 80's. Especially when I attented NYU for my first year of college. The sad part is I haven't been there in years - now I never will get to go again.

My first show at the Bottom Line, was Pure Prarie Leauge with Jimmy Buffet OPENING. If I remember correctly, "Havana Daydreaming" was the album Jimmy was touring to promote.

The funniest part of the story was that my friends and I were all underage at the time - all of us were 17 years old. We all had our drivers licenses by then, but couldn't legally drink, so we took our drivers learner's permits (which you get before your license) and bogus-ed up the date to make us look like we were of drinking age. They carded us at the door (we already had pre-bought tickets) and they let us in. I think they knew we were underage, since the club was empty, as we got there right when the doors opened, yet they sat us at the table right next to the entrance (probably so they could watch us). Regardless, we had a great time and even had a few beers. That was my first of many shows at this great venue.

 

Speaking of the Bottom Line, is Ed Palermo ever going to do any more Zappa tribute shows?

 

Knew this was coming, but still a damn shame. Greate place to see a show. I saw Billy Joel there in 1977, it was like he was playing in my living room. Saw lots of other great show there (including Television, I was so close to the stage Richard Lloyd was sweating on me, attractive image eh? )

Never saw Springsteen there, though. That would have been transcendental.

Jeff

 

Just another sign of the times......less music, more yuppies. Social consciousness? Another fading remnant of the counterculture. Another defeat in the losing battle between money and art. What's next?

 

Sad. Last show I saw there was Porcupine Tree promoting "Lightbulb Sun".

The place had a nice musical ambiance that will be missed.

 

A shame I never got to go into the place, but any time I walked by it when in the Village, I'd stop for a minute and think, "There's the legendary Bottom Line". I was never in NYC long enough to drop in. I think I just missed a chance to see the place about a year ago.

Though now they express their regrets, from what I've been reading, the college that owns the building is all too happy to see the place close. They have their own plans for the building. I don't imagine they did all that much to help the place stay alive.

 

Wow, that's terrible. One of my favorite bootleg recordings of all time was taped there (Neil Young, 1974, previewing a lot of On the Beach material), and I think Loudon Wainwright III's Career Moves album was done there as well.

I did get to go once ... The night before my wedding, in lieu of a traditional bachelor party, my brother and father and a few friends surprised me with a limo ride to NYC and an evening on the town, including a stop at the Bottom Line. No one very famous was there (in fact I don't remember who the female artist we saw was), but I still loved being there ... You could just feel the history in that place.

 

I met Warren Zevon there in '87. He was drunk as a skunk and could barely stand up but he signed an autograph for me. I came to appreciate John Hiatt there and became a Roseanne Cash fan after she opened for Randy Meisner in '83. Great memories!

 

Great Avatar! There are a bunch of us that are bigtime Springsteen fans. Glad to have you here! Hard to believe I didn't notice someone with the name "brucefan" before!

 

Hi Geoman,

I'm glad that there are many "Boss" fans here. There are some who need to be converted still.
I'm a fan of Cape Cod-although I havent been there in 30 something years. Born in Malden, lived in Danvers and Ipswich.

 

I went there lots over the years and saw Muddy Waters, Charles Mingus with his last band, and during the 1977 blackout I saw NRBQ do a mostly acoustic set--w/ electric guitar played through a Pignose battery-powered amp and vocals thru a mike plugged into a boombox set on pause. Also met Joey Ramone there.

 

I saw some great shows there too. Richard Thompson, the Feelies, Leo Kottke, a couple of others.... I always got there early and snagged a seat right next to the stage.

Next time NYU calls me to hit me up for a donation, I'll be telling them that I refuse to give them money due to what they did to the Bottom Line...

 

Hmmm...I thought Zevon was clean and sober at that time in his life, having just recently gone through a public alcohol detoxification...

I saw Zevon in '86 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solano Beach, CA, and he was DEFINITELY on the wagon at that time. (Someone kept lining up cokes and bottled waters on the stage and he was going through them like no one's business)...

Kwad

 

Thoughout the seventies I was a regular there. Of all the shows that I saw the one that sticks in my mind was Rory Gallagher around 75-76 I think. During the acoustic section of his set it was just ****ing magical. A great club and an ever greater performer both now gone.

 

Sounds like a cool place, but how in the hell did the managers rack up $190,000 in back rent? I woulda booted them out long ago if I was the landlord...

 

The NY Times ran some articles on the club's situation late last year, and IIRC the primary problems were:
1) Aging baby boomers (the audience for most of the acts that the Bottom Line presents) aren't seeing as many shows these days.
2) The club wasn't able, or didn't attempt, to attract younger audiences.
3) The club lost an awful lot of money in the months following 9/11...

 

Rent down there is wayyyy pricey if they're not pulling in drawing acts and putting butts in the seats. That part of Manhattan is a pretty young neighborhood for a club concentrating on more classic acts...

 

The NY Times ran a nice "obituary" for the Bottom Line today. This excerpt sums up why seeing shows at the club was always so enjoyable for me:


The Bottom Line did the small but essential things right. Performances started promptly and were heard through a trusty sound system. The audience was comfortable, since the Bottom Line had a fixed number of seats and tables. Yet diehard fans could still get in because the club sold tickets for standing room at the bar on the night of the show. Nearly every seat provided clear sightlines to the stage despite the infamous black pillars holding up its ceiling.

The club maintained good relationships with musicians, some of whom, like the guitarist David Bromberg, came back year after year. And it had a no-smoking policy well before the city's other clubs were forced to do the same.

In the economics of clubs, bands are usually paid from admission receipts, while club owners make their profits on food and drink. It pays to keep people waiting and drinking, and to nurture a bar scene. But the Bottom Line didn't squeeze out its audiences' last dollars. While the club served alcohol and some well-greased food, it wasn't a neighborhood bar with a stage tucked in, or a restaurant with an entertainment annex. It wasn't a lounge, a dance club, a hangout or a posing ground for hipsters, either.

The Bottom Line was a civilized place to hear music for audiences who wanted to sit and listen. And that may have contributed to its troubles. Most rock clubs have moved away from the cabaret model, as concertgoing has become more of a contact sport.

Folky guitar strummers, pop balladeers and jazz groups still prefer quiet, seated audiences. But they have been outflanked and outnumbered by indie rockers, hip-hop acts, punks, metal bands, rhythm-and-blues acts and jam bands, all of which are used to making their audiences move.

Young music fans don't mind being shoulder to shoulder at a concert, bouncing or even moshing to the beat. The setup turns a performance into a social event. Of course standing audiences are a bonanza for club owners, who can pack more bodies into the same space. That in turn allows a club to offer bigger fees to bands, sometimes with lower admission prices, competition the Bottom Line probably couldn't match. Record-company showcases have moved to clubs like the Bowery Ballroom, which has a handful of tables on a balcony above the dance floor.

 

It's a shame, really. There were some great artists that played there over the years. I remember seeing Tori Amos there back in '91 before she was 'Tori Amos'. It was just she and her piano and it was being taped for MTV as well. That's one of the best live shows I've ever been to. Her voice was perfection that night.

 

Stevie Ray Vaughn's first new york gig in the mid-70's was opening for Muddy Waters at the Bottom Line. The story I was told, was that he was booed off the stage, and left in tears, never to play new york again for years.

The last time I was there was in 1999. I saw Quicksilver's first NYC gig in more than 20 years (with original members Gary Duncan & David Freiberg and former Sly Stone drummer Greg Errico).
Superb gig, great club. R.I.P.