I popped out the other evening to make a quick visit to Shakespeare & Co. on Broadway. My daughter's caught the Harry Potter book bug, and had just finished the second novel. Wanting to feed her voracious need to keep reading, I volunteered to go procure her the next book in the series. As such, I found myself walking south on Mercer Street just as it was starting to flurry. I popped in my headphones and hit play, my skull filling with the adrenalized sprint of "Three Sisters" by the great Jim Carroll Band.
The track selection was oddly fitting, as I suddenly found myself walking by the former site of storied NYC rock club, The Bottom Line. Not quite as lionized as fellow-since vanished venues like CBGB or Max's Kansas City, The Bottom Line played an equally crucial role in Manhattan's gestation as a hotbed of music. The list of luminaries to grace the intimate stage of the Bottom Line is long, varied and distinguished (listen to the testimonials in the video below for ample examples of same).
Personally speaking, I didn't actually make it there that many times. I saw only a handful of shows there -- notably Jim Carroll (doing a reading of his poetry), an Irish folk band called The Furies and a rousing performance by Gavin Friday which involved the former Virgin Prune leaping from stage to table with dramatic aplomb. By the time I was a regular gig-goer, the Bottom Line was usually playing host to yawnsome acts like The Roches and The Church of Betty. I liked my live shows a little more visceral.
As has been pointed out here many times, the space the Bottom Line formerly occupied is now a rigorously non-distinct academic facility for NYU today (and currently shrouded in scaffolding). Even still, I still think of Take No Prisoners, the venomously bawdy live album by Lou Reed recorded live at The Bottom Line, every time I walk by the corner of East 4th and Mercer. I spoke a bit about that album on this post.
In any case, I stumbled upon this clip of former Bottom Line regulars, and thought I'd pass it on...
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