Bottom Line - History

History

Owned by Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky, the Bottom Line opened on February 12, 1974 and enjoyed a successful three-decade run, presenting major musical acts and premiering new talent. Bruce Springsteen played showcase gigs at the club and Lou Reed recorded the album Live: Take No Prisoners there. Harry Chapin held his 2000th concert at the Bottom Line in January 1981.

The Bottom Line hosted an extremely wide variety of music and musicians. Among the thousands who performed on its stage were Stan Ridgway, Linda Ronstadt, Richard Marx, Prince, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, Clinn Rippy, Neil Young, Barry Manilow, Laura Nyro, Loudon Wainwright III, New York Dolls, Lyle Lovett, The Electric Flag, Pat Martino, Todd Rundgren, Graham Parker, Horslips, Dire Straits, Chris Hillman, Dolly Parton, Tracy Nelson, The Pointer Sisters, Betty Carter, Ravi Shankar, Ramones, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Ray Barretto, Peter Gabriel, Al Kooper, Tom Waits, Melvin Van Peebles, Neil Sedaka, Billy Joel, Suzi Quatro, Patti Smith, Flo & Eddie, Toots and the Maytals, Cheech & Chong, Tower of Power, Tim Hardin, Roger McGuinn, JJ Cale, The Meters, Greg Kihn Band, Ry Cooder, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Sam & Dave, Asım Can Gündüz, The Ronettes, John Cale, Gong, Peter Bardens, The Violent Femmes.

The Bottom Line seated 400 people and had a no smoking policy, long before that restriction became New York City law.

In later years the club hosted In Their Own Words: A Bunch Of Songwriters Sittin' Around Singing, a series of performances with commentary organized and initially hosted by radio personality Vin Scelsa. Another staple was the annual Downtown Messiah, a reworking of Handel directed by Richard Barone. At Christmastime, musicians like Vernon Reid and David Johansen made “The Messiah” their own. The venue was also well known for annual New Year's Eve shows by The Turtles (often performing as Flo & Eddie). Another recurring event was The Beat Goes On, a show in which performers covered pop songs around a theme, such as Christmas songs, or songs from a given time period. That show presented performers including Fountains of Wayne, Richard Lloyd and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch's John Cameron Mitchell. The Bottom Line was also the site, in April 1995, of four concerts by Joan Baez in which she collaborated with a number of female performers, including Dar Williams, Janis Ian, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Indigo Girls and Mary Black, the results of which were recorded and released as the album Ring Them Bells.

The Bottom Line's cachet faded with time, and by 2003 the club was deeply in debt ($190,000 in back rent, plus several hundred thousand dollars in other expenses) and no longer bringing in large crowds. Its landlord, New York University (NYU), increased the rent to market level, which was beyond the club's ability to pay, and in a contentious negotiation the university threatened eviction. Fans Karen and Carmine DeMarco started a petition on their website in support of the club. Bruce Springsteen offered to pay the club’s back rent if NYU and the owners could settle on a lease. Sirius Satellite Radio offered the same, but rather than risk a takeover, Pepper and Snadowsky closed the club before they could be kicked out. The last Bottom Line show was on January 22, 2004, just shy of the club’s thirtieth anniversary. The building now houses NYU classrooms.

Pepper and Snadowsky are seeking another venue to carry the Bottom Line name. They maintain the Bottom Line Corporate Website, and use it to provide the club's official history and to sell merchandise, including T-shirts. Since 2005, the site has been updated annually on February 12 (anniversary of the club's opening), with a letter detailing their current progress. In February 2007 they announced plans to release a box set of archival recordings on Koch Records. That set is currently in preproduction.