Overview
In 1974, when young music promoters Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky opened their night club the Bottom Line in an industrial area of Greenwich Village that was all but deserted after 6 pm, no one could have foreseen either its long-term success or its impact on the musical and cultural landscape of New York City. Over the next thirty years, while trends and tastes came and went, the Bottom Line throughout its fabled history remained true to its co-founders’ profoundly simple vision: that if you presented entertainers in an intimate setting where the focus would always be on what transpired onstage, both artists and audiences would treasure the experience. That vision would ultimately translate to, literally, thousands of magical evenings and events featuring both icons and up-and-comers from across the music universe. As the performers, patrons and staffers who passed through its doors all agree, the Bottom Line realized its founders vision as no New York music club, before or after, ever would. The story of the Bottom Line is the tale of childhood friends who turned their shared dream into a reality – and, through determination, hard work, and, most of all, a belief in each other, made entertainment history, and memories, to last a lifetime. Told by co-founder Allan Pepper and award-winning music journalist Billy Altman, as well as scores of on and offstage participants whose exploits helped create its lasting legacy, Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York’s Iconic Music Club, The Bottom Line is certain to appeal to anyone interested in music, show business and the inner and outer workings of a legendary club that defined its time in the firmament of New York City nightlife. Positively Fourth and Mercer is about a time and place. It is a love story about friendship, romance, and following a dream.
Full Product Details
Author: Allan Pepper (Music promoter, Englewood, NJ, USA) , Billy Altman (Journalist, Westchester County, NY, USA) , Peter Cunningham
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Imprint: Backbeat Books
Dimensions:
Width: 15.80cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 23.20cm
Weight: 0.580kg
ISBN: 9781493080144
ISBN 10: 1493080148
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 19 February 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available 
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION IA Devotion to Music, and a Devoted Friendship, Grows in Brooklyn II Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars, a Dream, and a Match Made in the College Library III Tastes of the Big Time, Bitter and Sweet IV From a Red Garter to a Bottom Line: We Built it, and They Came V Hell’s Angels, Jazz Devils, and New York Dolls VI Born to Kill: The Boss Raises the Bar VII A Punk Priestess, a Rock Transformer, a Country Darling – and a “Formula” for Success VIII Meat Loaf Burns, and No-Show Jones Finally Does IX The Chairs Hold Firm: Do-Woppers, Rock ‘n’ Roll Prisoners, and the Great French Fry Caper X I Got My Job Through the…Village Voice? Working at The Bottom Line XI Leader of the Pack: A Village Smash, a Broadway Bust XII Fast Folks: From the Cool, Cool, Cool to the Hot, Hot, Hot XIII Talkin’ Songwriting; Square Toe Boots Optional XIV ‘Tis the Season: Caroling Carollers, Hallelujah Chrouses, and New Year’s Hi-Jinx XV Stanley XVI The Bottom Line Sinks the Bottom Line EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INDEX
Reviews
At its core, Positively Fourth and Mercer is about the music, but it’s also a soulful slice of New York life. It’s a hefty tale. Billy Altman does a yeoman’s job framing it, while Allan Pepper’s vividly detailed memories provide a rich loam of living history. Old habitués and newcomers alike will have a blast diving in. * Book and Film Globe * Entertainingly assembled from interviews with performers, staff, and patrons, the book doubles as a slice of New York cultural and economic history. * Air Mail * This will give you a behind the scenes look at what made this club so special. And show you, chapter and verse, the making of the modern-day music business. The Bottom Line became a club like no other! -- John Scher * President, Metropolitan Entertainment Consultants * A gritty, gorgeous, behind-the-scenes portrait of how a neighborhood dive turned into a global pilgrimage site for anyone chasing the holy grail of live music ... This isn’t some dusty nostalgia trip—it’s a 336-page love letter to the soul of New York, when the Village still whispered poetry and rockstars bled magic onto bare stages. * Times Square Chronicles * This is a fabulous book about a fabulous time and place. I can’t put it down. -- Richard Barone * Singer/Songwriter/Arranger/Author/Director/Record Producer, frontman for The Bongos * This book reads like a Scorsese script. -- Christine Lavin * Singer/Songwriter/Recording Artist * As befits the quintessential 'listening room' it was, the Bottom Line's story can only be told as an oral history. The very best thing about an oral history is when done right, it captures the humanity of its subject. Like we did when we used to line up on the sidewalk, we come for the sound. We come for the voices. The sightlines are clear, the intimacy is palpable, the moments are vivid, and, thanks to Allen Pepper and Billy Altman, we all have the best seat. -- Bill Scheft * author, Letterman writer (1991-2015), former Bottom Line opening act *
Entertainingly assembled from interviews with performers, staff, and patrons, the book doubles as a slice of New York cultural and economic history. * Air Mail * This will give you a behind the scenes look at what made this club so special. And show you, chapter and verse, the making of the modern-day music business. The Bottom Line became a club like no other! -- John Scher * President, Metropolitan Entertainment Consultants * This is a fabulous book about a fabulous time and place. I can’t put it down. * Singer/Songwriter/Arranger/Author/Director/Record Producer, frontman for The Bongos * This book reads like a Scorsese script. -- Christine Lavin * Singer/Songwriter/Recording Artist *
Entertainingly assembled from interviews with performers, staff, and patrons, the book doubles as a slice of New York cultural and economic history. * Air Mail * This will give you a behind the scenes look at what made this club so special. And show you, chapter and verse, the making of the modern-day music business. The Bottom Line became a club like no other! -- John Scher * President, Metropolitan Entertainment Consultants * This is a fabulous book about a fabulous time and place. I can’t put it down. -- Richard Barone * Singer/Songwriter/Arranger/Author/Director/Record Producer, frontman for The Bongos * This book reads like a Scorsese script. -- Christine Lavin * Singer/Songwriter/Recording Artist *
Author Information
Allan Pepper’s career as a music entrepreneur began in his early 20s when, in 1965, he and childhood friend Stanley Snadowsky founded a non-profit devoted to expanding awareness of jazz’s contributions to American culture. Thus began a partnership that by 1974 found the two young promoters realizing a lifelong dream by opening their own nightclub, The Bottom Line. Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, their 400 seat cabaret would forever change the face of live music in New York City. Over its thirty year existence, more than three million music fans witnessed often career-defining performances by an unparalleled roster of iconic and up-and-coming artists from all points of the musical compass. Along the way, Pepper and Snadowsky also produced such original shows as Leader of the Pack, which would go on to Broadway and help pioneer the “jukebox musical,” as well as the nationally touring songwriter’s series, In Their Own Words. While they took an amazing journey together, even more impressively the two remained best friends until Snadowsky’s death in 2013. Allan Pepper lives in Englewood, New Jersey. Billy Altman is a Grammy-nominated journalist, critic, and historian whose work covering the worlds of music, popular culture and sports has appeared over the years in such publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Spin, Esquire, GQ, People, Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice. A former senior editor of Creem magazine, he was a founding curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and a consultant to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, and most recently he served as chief scriptwriter for both the National Blues Museum in St. Louis and the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. A recipient of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, he is a longstanding faculty member of the Humanities Department at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, where he teaches courses in rock, jazz and folk music as well as non-fiction writing. He lives in the lower Hudson Valley region of Westchester County, New York.
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