The Bowery Residents’ Committee, the venue’s landlord, announced August 31st that it intends to end its relationship with the 32-year-old club, calling for CBGB to “vacate the premises both voluntarily and expeditiously,” according to a statement from BRC executive director Muzzy Rosenblatt.

But with acts scheduled at the Bowery venue through most of September, owner Hilly Kristal was not backing down.

“This is not a eulogy,” he said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t come to an understanding.”

Musicians, actors and supporters of the venue promised to wage a battle to the end.

“We’re not going without a fight,” said musician/actor Steven Van Zandt, who hosted a rally in NYC’s Washington Square Park August 31st to put public pressure on Rosenblatt.

“If the eviction proceedings start tomorrow, which I hope it doesn’t, we’ll fight it in the courts,” Van Zandt added.

Not even the intervention of Mayor Bloomberg, who offered to mediate the dispute, could resolve the problem. Bloomberg said he hoped to help CBGB find a new location in the city.

“The mayor still wants us to work it out,” CBGB spokesman Scott Goodstein told Pollstar. “We can’t thank the mayor enough for getting involved at the 11th hour.”

Rosenblatt’s group holds a 45-year lease on the building, which houses 250 homeless people above the club. CBGB is its lone commercial tenant.

The rent feud between Kristal and Rosenblatt dates back five years, when Rosenblatt’s committee went to court to collect more than $300,000 in back rent from the club.

CBGB won a legal decision in early August when a Manhattan civil court judge ruled that the club couldn’t be evicted for a bookkeeping mistake that left Kristal about $100,000 behind in his rent.

The current rent is $19,000 a month, although that figure was expected to double under any new lease.

Earlier this year, Kristal hinted to Pollstar that if the lease renewal didn’t work out, the club could possibly relocate to Las Vegas where there seems to be a brewing punk scene.