This is Bebel Gilberto in all her glory. This image began life as a rather frightening collage that Irving put together in an attempt to convey Ms. Gilberto's appearance, and was modified to create a sort of "simulated photo". We know, it's pathetic.

Ah, samba. Some of us grow up as befuddled youths trying to figure out which sad character we are in Bruce Springsteen's trashy american cultural epics of the 1980s, while others practically come out of the womb dancing the samba and declining marriage proposals from wealthy gentlemen. I won't say which story best describes my youth, but let's just say that my newly aquired flat in the left wing of the bathroom of my ex-sister-in-law's 7th floor walk-up in Brooklyn is a hard won jewel that I won't soon tarnish. Or something like that. Now, what was I talking about?

Ah yes, samba. Not content to taunt me with her lovely new album Tanto Tempo, Ms. Bebel Gilberto returned to the city of her birth this past Monday night and presented songs from said album to a room full of appreciative and enthusiastic fans. Thanks to some last-minute behind-the-scenes shenanigans from our ever resourceful editor, I was able to secure entry to the second of the night's more-than-sold-out shows at hip and pretty darn expensive drink-wise downtown NYC night-spot Shine (Thanks, Louisa!).

The audience at Shine was the kind of multi-generational, multi-gendered, multi-oriented, multi-national, multi-fashionsensed crowd that makes putting up with New York's few less-than-desirable properties more than worthwhile. I got the sense that most of the audience knew Gilberto's CD already, and while I wouldn't say it was a particularly latin/Brazilian crowd, there were clearly many Latin-music lovers in attendance.

Shine is not gigantic, and the stage is pretty modestly-sized. It had a cool shimmery purple shower curtain-like backdrop, which helped generate the plush cabaret groove that was running through the room. The crowd was thick and friendly, and everyone seemed content to hang out for a while waiting for the show to start.

The crowd cheered loudly as Ms. Gilberto and her four-man band (guitar, percussion, keyboards, sax/flute) mounted the stage. She was wearing a modest red dress, and apparently some fantastic sandals, although I never actually saw them. They started the set with "Samba da Benção", the first of many pretty, samba-tinged numbers we'd hear that evening. Gilberto sometimes does a peculiar floating dance when she sings, which is a little bit disconcerting, but plenty endearing.

Next up was "Alguém", a groovy mellow tune that the audience somehow managed not to dance to. Astrid Gilberto's "So Nice (Summer Samba)" got us moving though, and Gilberto did some sexy dancing herself, with a little help from the sax player, who was her primary sexy-dancing partner throughout the evening. I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying.

The boogie-ing continued with "Sem Contenção", a fast, dancy tune with congas replacing the drums. After the tune Gilberto told us: "Don't think with your head, think with your heart." Okay.

"Tanto Tempo" slowed things down, with some pretty keyboards and the sax player switching to flute. I'm not sure what the next song was, but it kept the romantic vibe going and had a groovy snare part to keep things moving. I guess they were tired of the pretty stuff because things really picked up on the next tune, the title of which I'm also unsure of. It was half-English/half-Portuguese, had a great percussive flute part and inspired to Ms. Gilberto to swish around the stage like a true Diva.

Slow and sexy came back on the classic "Samba e Amor", with Gilberto singing while seated in a chair with just the acoustic guitar player to accompany her. It's songs like this that can make a persons loins ache.

I sort of lost track at this point, as things started getting a bit steamy and the tempo picked up. A few funk/rock numbers followed, which I don't think work quite as well as the more mellow, samba-influenced songs. Nonetheless, the band was very tight and Gilberto continued to loosen up and started tearing up the stage with her sexy moves and bubble-dancing. It all came to a head a few songs later as the sax player started doing crazyman vocal trills into his sax mic and the crowd responded in kind. Gilberto cooled things down for a moment as she asked us all to close our eyes, but then proceeded to finish us off with what was probably the heaviest, funkiest tune of the night, "Close Your Eyes."

With the DJ's help we managed to hoot and hollar long enough to get the band to come back and do an encore, although it was only one song. The percussion-heavy tune, coupled with Ms. Gilberto's funky moves and beaming smile were enough to get us all riled up again though, and once the show was over we continued dancing to the DJ's world-beaty dance mix well into the morning.

Yes, it was a fine evening. My friend hit on a Greek girl, who doesn't like Americans but gave him her phone number anyway. I danced near an blonde Amazon woman and sinned in my heart several dozens of times. Afterwards we wandered the streets for awhile, then went to an all night convenience store for some ginger ale and casava chips. Not bad for a Monday night. I love New York.