New Year's Eve 2001 at SOBs

Where: New York City, New York

Place: SOBs (Sounds of Brazil)

Address: 204 Varick Street @ West Houston

Phone: 212-243-4940

Reviewer: Robert Abrams

Date: 01/01/2001

SOBs is a New York club that specializes in Brazilian and Caribbean music. They know how to go all out for a big party.

SOBs New Year's Eve bash included a six course dinner, three bands, a DJ, two dance troupes, a house full of people, and lots of noise. Brazooka's keyboard player was sensible and brought earplugs.

The first two bands, The New Swing Sextet and Brazooka, were excellent and full of enthusiasm. Once the party got going, the dance floor was packed continuously. I left around 3:30 am. I was originally going to stay for the included breakfast at dawn, but I figured seven hours of revelry was enough for one night.

As is typical of clubs, there were lots of people bopping and bumping and grinding, but relatively few dancing in partnership. There was a least one person who was making an admirable effort, but whose feet stopped moving every time he sent his lady into a turn.

At the start of the evening, there was at least one person who was dancing without her shoes. Later on in the evening this would have been dangerous, in part because a couple of patrons had dropped their glasses and thus left broken glass on the dance floor. At some point in the evening, the SOBs staff sensibly switched to plastic cups instead of glass glasses. This observation about the glass is not intended as a criticism of SOBs. It was a crowded floor, and New Year's Eve besides: a certain amount of caution is only prudent under such circumstances. You could think about being mindful of the possibility of broken glass on a dance floor as a form of expanded floorcraft. On the other hand, there are certain rules of etiquette that every dancer ought to observe. People should not bring glass glasses or bottles onto a dance floor. Barring this, if someone does drop a glass on the floor, he or she should take responsibility and alert the club staff immediately.

All in all, SOBs was a great place to ring in the New Year. SOBs has been a NYC venue for a variety of music and dance for 17 years. Check out their website for upcoming events.