Whether by proximity to the World Trade Center, the resulting dip in tourism or because of pre-existing economic jitters, any way one slices it, the live music business is down in the Big Apple. How much is a matter of degree, according to a report in The New York Times.

There aren’t that many clubs in the immediate vicinity of ground zero, but one – Roulette, which caters to a devoted clientele of abstract-music fans – learned that nothing short of a neighborhood quarantine would deter customers, the paper said.

Yet TriBeCa Blues closed with no reopening date announced and Lafayette Grill has canceled all music performances for now.

A venue that booked traditional Irish music once a week, The Blarney Star, is in an area that’s closed to all but residents and relief crews. It has moved its weekly shows to the outside-the-zone Irish Arts Center.

Then there’s the Knitting Factory. The venerable and eclectic nightclub was completely blocked for six days by debris from the Twin Towers collapse on September 11. Staff was finally able to re-enter the club September 17, despite

its TriBeCa neighborhood still being closed except to residents and emergency crews. “We found our club intact, our office intact, but all our technical capabilities were down,” publicist Guy Compton told the Times. “No T1 Internet access, no Web or e-mail server, no long distance. You go to the corner to get a soda, and there’s this huge mangled girder going by on a flatbed. We’re covered in that chemistry-class toxic stink. Those first days were really bad.”

Owner Michael Dorf and the Knitting Factory staff first questioned whether they should go back to business at all in what amounted to a war zone, until NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urged the public to go about life as normally as possible.

So despite police estimates that the neighborhood might be closed for at least a month, Knitting Factory employees forged ahead for a September 19 reopening. To grease the skids, they had opened the club to emergency workers, offering them soft drinks and showers.

Their efforts were rewarded with an agreement from their local precinct to allow advance ticket holders into the neighborhood to see their shows, the first of which featured Freedy Johnston and Stacey Earle.

By September 26 all four of the Knitting Factory’s rooms had reopened. And in a trend that the Times referred to as “ground-zero math,” the paper reported that ticket sales for the 700-capacity club were less than usual, but bar receipts were higher.

The Blue Note hasn’t been quite as lucky, depending more heavily on the tourist trade, which makes up some 60 percent of its audiences, club president Sal Haries told the paper.

“The Japanese are not coming, basically,” he said. Tour groups that made reservations have canceled since September 11 and the club has seen repeated houses that are half-full and less. Some staffers have been laid off, while others took reduced hours

And the Blue Note, which routinely sports cover charges that exceed $50, has begun giving away tickets to students, fire and police departments, jazz organizations and senior citizens’ groups.

In Greenwich Village, the Village Vanguard has also been hurt by the lack of tourists but reports that business has picked up. “The Japanese are noticeable by their absence,” said owner Lorraine Gordon, who doesn’t seem too nervous. “I say, be cool. This is our hideout. This is where I’m going to hide out. I’ve already put in provisions.”

Joe’s Pub often features international acts, which created its own set of problems. Except for Mexican alt-rock singer Ely Guerra, every international artist previously scheduled canceled in the wake of September 11, including Kevin Breit, a guitarist and half of the duo Supergenerous, who had trouble getting into the United Stated from Canada.

But some American artists, like singer Sam Phillips, canceled for more personal reasons – in her case, to be close to family.

Another jazz club, Iridium, has seen mixed results since reopening to a full house on September 14th for saxophonist Michael Brecker.

Les Paul, who consistently sells out his regular weekly gig at Iridium, played in front of only 25 people. The club now reports the crowds are beginning to return.

An October 16th gig by Charlie Haden’s Nocturne Quintet played before a full house.

“It’s slowly coming back,” said Rich Okon, Iridium‘s co-manager. “Since then, waitresses have mentioned to me that for the first time in all the years they’ve been working in clubs, strangers sitting next to each other tend to start talking to each other before the show. There’s a closeness, a humanity, about sharing a common thing they like, which is the music.”