Bottom Line Rules: Bottom Line Closes
The legendary Greenwich Village music venue, The Bottom Line, has closed. Its landlord, New York University, evicted the club after it had failed to pay almost $200,000 in rent over the past two years.

The club just missed its 30th anniversary: opening night was February 12, 1974, with a show that featured Dr. John (who welcomed special guests Stevie Wonder and Edgar Winter onstage). Mick Jagger, Carly Simon, Bette Midler and Charles Mingus were among the music notables in the first audience.

Since then, the stage was graced with an eclectic group of outstanding performers. "Our goal was to create a Music Room. Not a jazz, rock or folk club, but a venue where many different genres could find an audience," wrote the co-founders on their web site. Bruce Springsteen, Shakti, Maynard Ferguson, Savoy Brown, Pat Martino, Joan Armatrading, The Four Seasons, Jesse Winchester, Kool and the Gang… the list of performers (also available on their web site) goes on and on.

An anniversary show had been planned, with Doc Watson, Loudon Wainwright III, David Johansen, Kris Kristofferson, David Bromberg and other veterans of the Bottom Line stage slated to appear. However, a hoped-for deal to create a new long-term lease for the club never materialized, and NYU finally lowered the boom. The club closed for good on Jan. 22.

In a Jan. 9, 2004 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a NYU spokesman stated that "It is simply not reasonable, sustainable, or appropriate for a not-for-profit educational institution to subsidize a for-profit, privately owned nightclub."

Business had dropped significantly after the 9/11 attacks in Lower Manhattan. The historic club's location at West 4th and Mercer was a short walk away from the World Trade Center.

Read an update from the owners at SaveTheBottomLine.com or visit their official web site

Read about the closing from Billboard or Reuters