Sin-È Scoop

May 02, 2003 A bunch of folks, Grant and Greg among them, have inquired whether new Attorney Street garage music venue Sin-È bears a relation to the old Sin-È on St. Mark's Place. Grant: "As a joint, it was chill, small in a cozy way, with fairly notable folksters, rarely dipping into the vast pool of recent-ex-buskers. I never saw the version in Williamsburg, but apparently they spent a crapload of money developing the space, then the neighbors (ie, the community board) shut them down." We recently chatted up Sin-È's owner, Shane, a hell of a nice guy, and he filled us in.

The current Sin-E is indeed related to the previous two, the East Village original that closed in 1995, and the Brookyln fiasco ("That didn't work.") More recently, he opened (and still operates) Arlene Grocery on Stanton. Why another venue? "Because this is what I do." Why the resuccitation of the name? "It's not an attempt to be what the old Sin-È was. This is a different thing now. But it felt appropriate to bring back the name." Which means? "That's it."

Alert non-New Yorkers most likely know Sin-'e from the Jeff Buckley live EP of the same name, one of the two recordings Buckley released before his death in the mighty Mississippi. (After his death, there then was unleashed a torrential downpour of Buckley CD products and "unreleased material" and live recordings and demos, the likes of which have not been seen this side of Tupac and the guy from Sublime.

That Live at Sine EP is especially worthwhile for Buckley's very nice rendition of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do," from the perfect Astral Weeks.

Posted by: MOP at May 2, 2003 02:30 PM

Sounds like Arlene grocery 2. The web site is very non-informative. As a music listener, how am I supposed to pay and see 4 bands I don't know anything about?

Posted by: billyboy at May 5, 2003 10:11 AM

More from New York Magazine: Best Return Engagement.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/bestofny/nightlife/03/returnengagement.htm

Posted by: Lock at May 5, 2003 02:26 PM