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McKinney Avenue Tavern in Uptown Dallas has closed

McKinney Avenue Tavern -- known for its turtle races, karaoke nights and sports-bar vibe -- has closed in Uptown Dallas on Friday because of lack of business.

The "MAT," as it was called, was owned for eight years by Big Al Mack, one of the longtime voices on 106.1 KISS-FM. On The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show on Monday, the radio personality shed a tear, then asked fellow personality Kellie Rasberry to read a farewell letter to the bar, its staff and its regulars.

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"After eight years of selling wings, pizzas, burgers and beers, I had to make the decision to close it down," Rasberry said, reading Mack's words. "Lately, business has been going from OK to slow to slower. There were good days sprinkled in from time to time but overall it wasn't great."

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He wrote in a Facebook post early Monday: "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for having to make the decision to close our doors. For the last eight years, this place has been home."

The bar was a come-as-you-are kind of place, which occasionally made for wacky evenings with rowdy football fans and bad karaoke singers. One of the most famous karaoke singers to visit and re-visit the bar was, oddly, Jerry Springer. More than once, Springer performed a slew of Elvis Presley songs on Jan. 7, Elvis' birthday.

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The bar also hosted a Vanilla Ice concert in 2016 that drew dozens of complaints from neighbors and a disorderly conduct citation from the Dallas Police Department, our Robert Wilonsky reported.

After the bar closed on Friday, Mack called it "a sad weekend" during the KISS FM segment.

The MAT was located at 2822 McKinney Ave. in Dallas, just a few blocks from Idle Rich, another longtime Uptown Dallas bar that closed recently. Mack also owns another bar in D-FW called Big Al's Down the Hatch in Waxahachie.

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Here's McKinney Avenue Tavern owner Big Al Mack, center, with his crew: (from left) Bill...
Here's McKinney Avenue Tavern owner Big Al Mack, center, with his crew: (from left) Bill Keene with Dish Nation, plus KISS FM personalities Kellie Rasberry, JSi and Jenna Owens.(Jerry McClure / Special Contributor)