Why Sonotheque closed plus Charleston changes

Today I talked to my busy brother-in-law Terry Alexander about the reasons for the sale of Sonotheque—and the long and the short of it is: Dance music has exploded in popularity, leaving smaller DJ lounges like Sonotheque with the short end of the stick. He explained that the economic realities of running a small club that books different DJs every night of the week have changed, and that as far as Sonotheque and his partners were concerned, "The numbers just weren’t working out."

"When we opened that place and we were flying in DJs, you could get them for a certain amount of money and keep the door low. Guys you could get for $1,000 are now $3,500 plus expenses. Now, with the economy being as it is, kids can't pay more than 10 dollars to get in the show. It wasn’t working out numberswise. That’s basically what happened."

DJ crews such as Dark Wave Disco and Flosstradamus, nurtured with residencies at the 300-capacity Sonotheque, have now moved out of Sono's range. They can play bigger clubs such as Smart Bar or crobar for more money. Same goes for Scion-sponsored DJ events. Sponsored DJ nights can bring in bigger crowds than they could four years ago, so they are being booked at much larger venues.

When new partners in Sonotheque, the Empty Bottle, introduced Terry and his partners to the Beauty Bar people, things came together nicely. "I didn’t want to put a For Sale," says Alexander. "It was perfect; we sold it to those guys.  They're doing a Beauty Bar. We’re gonna support it. We’re excited about it. The timing was exactly right for everybody. Some of the staff is staying there. Some went over to Big Star. Rarely does a place a close and you pick everybody and move them around and everything is going well."

Sonotheque's issue may be that it was too popular to be what it was intended to be—but not large enough to be a serious contender in the nightlife business. The place where Diplo, Grandmaster Flash and countless DJ legends and locals spun records was never intended to be a dance club in the first place. "We thought it was going to be a neighborhood bar with a really great sound system," says Alexander.

Sonotheque's music director, Joe Bryl, talked to me about his move to the Charleston—recently taken over by Jeremy Lewen—where he will be managing the bar and directing the music. He's not expecting it to be a dance club. "Charleston is going to be the Charleston," says Bryl. "If I would do a Brazilian night, it would be totally different from what I did at Sonotheque. Charleston is a bar where people sit down and have cocktails. You would make the music and the vibe different. There are many things I couldn’t play at Sonotheque I could play at the Charleston."

"We’re just gonna run it as is. In 2010, after we do our build-out, we’re going to put a sound system in, not a club sound system of course, and just clean up the rough edges," says Bryl. But programming could evolve to include "interesting jazz on weekdays, DJ music on the weekend," plus Tunisian and other types of African music, funky jazz, garage bands from Peru—an altogether eclectic menu. Right now, he's just getting his feet wet but envisions something roughly like a “Danny’s/Matchbox place with live music, sometimes.”