Here's the entire text of the Newsday article Merritt linked to:

Bottom Line Closes For Good
By Pete Bowles and Rafer Guzmán
Staff Writers





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.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.