Rosanne Cash will think back on the great days of the Bottom Line at special free show June 22 in World Financial Center Winter Garden (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
River to River Festival
World Financial Center Winter Garden
220 Vesey St.
Wednesday, June 22, free, 7:00
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.bottomlinecabaret.com
In April 1974, childhood friends Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowski, who used to book acts at Folk City, opened the Bottom Line Cabaret, at the corner of Mercer & West Fourth St., with a series of shows by Buffy Sainte-Marie. For nearly thirty years, the club hosted some of the best in rock, pop, jazz, blues, and country, with a specialty in unique singer-songwriters. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a historic set of concerts at the Bottom Line in August 1975, Lou Reed recorded his scathing Take No Prisoners live album there in 1978, and other performers over the years included Miles Davis, Tom Waits, Barry Manilow, Melissa Etheridge, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Emmylou Harris, Muddy Waters, Patti Smith, Taj Mahal, Gil Scott-Heron, Steve Earle, Bob Mould, Richard Thompson, Captain Beefheart, and David Johansen, both with the New York Dolls and as lounge lizard Buster Poindexter. On June 22, the River to River Festival will pay tribute to one of New York City’s greatest-ever music venues, which was forced to close in 2004 when NYU took over its lease, with a free show featuring a cast of Bottom Line vets at the World Financial Center Winter Garden (the venue has moved from Rockefeller Park because of the weather). The stellar lineup includes Rosanne Cash (who first played the club in March 1981), Marshall Crenshaw (June 1982), the GrooveBarbers, Garland Jeffreys (May 1978), Willie Nile (April 1980), Martin Rivas, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche (April 1978), Catherine Russell (December 1999), “Idiot’s Delight” host Vin Scelsa (1990-95’s “In Their Own Words: A Bunch Of Songwriters Sittin’ Around Singing”), Loudon Wainwright III (August 1974), Dar Williams (June 1994), and additional guests to be announced, with Cash’s husband, John Leventhal, serving as musical director along with Mojo Mancini. The evening will be hosted by Sirius XM’s Meg Griffin, who first hosted a Bottom Line show back in April 1982, when she was a DJ at WNEW-FM. Titled “New York on My Mind,” this night promises to be a very special event, and you don’t have to worry about a post blocking your view — although with the change of venue indoors, a palm tree might get in your way.