A new photo album has been added over to the right. Some of the best pictures of St. Patrick’s Day through the years- in some cases, the only pictures I could find of that year- have been selected for your viewing pleasure. Check it out to see our favorite floats and characters of past parades!
Another new item on the right is a section with links to Sandbar videos. You can find links to videos that were featured in previous posts here. Enjoy!
All the things you never wanted to know about Danny….
How long have you worked at The Sandbar? It will be 2 years this May(assuming I don’t get fired)
How did you get this job? Mark Ernst was leaving for his fancy-pants job in KC, and I suggested to him that I have always wanted to work at the bar, and Dave also was aware of this. After I saved David’s life when he was crossing the street one night, he decided to repay me by giving me a job.
Other jobs you have had? K-mart cashier/stockboy, worked in the dorms as a deskie for a year, then an RA for two years, 3 years as a server at La Parrilla, also worked various jobs in concessions in Yosemite National Park for a
summer
Where are you from and how did you end up in Lawrence? Born in Fairfax, VA. Moved to Rolla, MO at age 8. Graduated in 1998 and went to school at KU(mainly to get the hell out of Missouri)
Favorite job besides The Sandbar? Being an RA was a mostly positive experience, but I got tired of it midway through my 2nd year
Favorite drink to drink? Jameson Press
Favorite drink to make? If I’m busy, anything easy. If I’m not busy, I like to make a good tropical concoction(usually just inventing the recipe on the fly)
Any specialty drinks? Oh, have you tried my WORLD FAMOUS "Blue Rhapsody" TM?
Most embarrassing moment at the bar? I got a red card from a representative of the BARS program. He was balding. (A red card means that you didn’t ask for ID from the customer)
Favorite memory at the bar?
Probably before I worked there……most likely some random Tuesday night with my friends, dancing to Sinatra tunes when there really wasn’t enough room for dancing.
Favorite song on the jukebox? "Jackie Wilson Said" by Van Morrison
Song on the jukebox you never want to hear again? For the love of god, please never ever play "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" again.
Favorite bar dancing song? Gotta go with "Carwash" on this one. I know, not very original….but those pelvic thrusts really make the dance.
How many dollars do you have on the wall? I haven’t put up a single dollar, but there are a handful that my name ended up on…maybe 4 or 5.
Favorite Sandbar float? The Loveboat was pretty kickass. Before I worked here, me and my friends were invited to be on the float, but we opted out, and instead left early for our spring break climbing trip.
Longest you’ve waited in line? At least an hour.
Hobbies? Rock climbing, mountain biking, running, saxophone, alcohol consumption, Guitar Hero on PS2, bowling.
5 random facts about you that we’d be surprised to know:
1. My senior year at Rolla High School, I entered the 1st annual Mr. RHS Pageant, a sort of mock male beauty pageant. I only entered as a joke because I thought the whole idea of it was completely ridiculous. I was Mr. German Club, as that was the group that "sponsored" me, and I ended up beating all the popular kids and jocks and won the whole thing.
2. I can walk on water.
3. I was a starting offensive lineman in 8th grade football. The following year, I was first string tackling dummy, because apparently all the other kids had discovered the weight room that summer. Who knew?
4. I can fake tapdance pretty well.
5. I am 6’3 and I absolutely, positively SUCK at basketball.
My first video uploaded to YouTube!
We hope to eventually have a full library of Sandbar videos on YouTube and this blog- things like the hurricane video, dance step how-to’s, and of course St. Patrick’s Day floats.
This is a short clip filmed by our friend Quick at the 2005 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. He was watching the parade and filmed this with his camera as we went by. Enjoy!
Last night was the annual St. Patrick’s Day pub quiz challenge, held at 23rd Street Brewery. We had two groups of four players each from The Sandbar, and there were lots of other people there who are regular visitors to our establishment.
One of the funniest moments of the evening came about halfway through the first round. A team, not ours, picked the category "KU Hoops History." Questions in this category are usually about record holders or national championship teams. However, the question this team got was different:
According to the 10/15/1990 edition of the Lawrence Journal World, which KU basketball player has the worst rhythm?
As soon as Andy Bob, the announcer, read the date in question, I could feel Dave get excited- these were his years of basketball playing and he would surely know the answer. Just as quickly though he dropped his head and put on a poker face. I nudged him and asked "Is that YOU?" to which he said "yes." At this point several other teams were looking at him.
Of course the team that drew the question was Blair’s, and they correctly answered "David Johanning." Dave stood up, took a bow, and danced a little jig for the crowd.
The article that inspired the trivia question was written after the traditional "Late Night With Roy Williams" event that took place at the beginning of basketball season each year. The players performed skits and dances to entertain the crowd before kicking off the season with a scrimmage.
Kudos to Scotty Mac for digging up the dirt on Dave.
The critics have obviously never seen him do the Car Wash.
You probably know that all of us at the Sandbar are big supporters of the Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It’s one of our biggest and most popular events of the year- building our annual float and participating in the parade. But, there is a lot more to the parade than just the parade.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade and all of it’s other activities is actually a huge fundraiser for local children’s charities. Since 1988, when the parade began, more than $385,000 has been raised for children’s charities such as the Boys and Girls Club, Crown Casting Club, the Ballard Center, and more.
The festivities include the St. Patrick’s Day Queen Volunteer program, t-shirts, a live and silent auction, dart tournament, pub quiz, and the Shamrock Shuffle 5k run/walk. These activities start happening around the end of February and take place up until St. Patrick’s Day.
The Sandbar is always a sponsor of the annual t-shirts and donates items to the auction. We also put together at least one team for the pub quiz tournament, which takes place tonight. Our friend Scotty Mac is the coordinator of the pub quiz event and we always have lots of fun not winning this event!
The live auction will be held on Saturday, March 3, at Liberty Hall beginning at 6 p.m. There are lots of great items to bid on- autographed items by the KU basketball team, George Brett, and the KC Wizards soccer team; golf packages, NASCAR tickets, and more. Not everything is a big ticket item however- there are lots of smaller things in the silent auction.
Come out to the 23rd Street Brewery tonight to have a beer and cheer on the Sandbar’s trivia teams!
If you’ve been in The Sandbar anytime in the last twelve years, you surely know David Johanning. He’s tended bar for twelve years now and managed the place for a lot of this time. He’s definitely helped make the bar what it is today.
Here are some things you might not know about my favorite bartender.
How did you get a job at The Sandbar? I was roommates with the manager before me (Garreth) and worked for Peach at Jox, a sports bar that was in the strip mall at 6th and Kasold.
Other jobs you have had? Jox, The Brass Apple (a restaurant/bar that used to be at 15th and Kasold), the Hawk, and Sidewinders (a country bar that used to be where Last Call is now- can you imagine?)
Favorite job (besides the Sandbar of course!) Working basketball camps.
Favorite drink to drink? Jack and Coke.
Favorite drink to make? Pineapple Upside Down Cake shot.
Any specialty drinks? Arctic Lemonade.
Most embarrassing moment at The Sandbar? When I dressed up as "The Hammer," a pro wrestler, for Halloween. (A story about this, along with the incriminating pictures, can be found in the archives of this blog)
Favorite memory at The Sandbar? Meeting my wife. (OK, Dave didn’t really say this, but it better be his favorite memory!!!)
Favorite jukebox song? Reggae- anything by Toots or Marley.
Song you never want to hear again? Anything from The Little Mermaid soundtrack.
Favorite bar dancing song? The Car Wash!
How many dollars do you have on the wall? At least 20 but I only know where four of them are.
Favorite Sandbar float? The Love Boat.
Longest you’ve ever waited in line? Probably 30 minutes.
Five Fun Facts:
1. I transferred schools five times for basketball- started at Clemson, transferred to Hutch Community College, went to Southern Methodist University for a summer, back to Hutch, then came to KU.
2. My youngest sister is a senior in high school this year.
3. I can fix almost anything, including the rebuilding of nearly all of our house.
4. I was born in the same town as my wife; her aunt and my uncle dated in high school until her grandpa chased my uncle with a shotgun; and I was best friends with my wife’s cousin in high school. We didn’t meet until years after all of this.
5. I have almost 15,000 songs on the computer at home.
The picture above is the cover of Sporting News and shows Dave blocking an attempted shot by Christian Laettner in the national championship game against Duke in 1991. Aren’t those shorts cute?
Happy Birthday Michelle!!
I won’t reveal her age here, but I will say that she looks at least ten years younger than she is. I know she doesn’t believe me when I say that but it’s true. How many of you out there can still wiggle into your high school prom dress?
Michelle decided a few years ago to change careers because she was tired of commuting to Kansas City for her graphic design job. She made the enormous decision to apply to nursing school. Of course she got in, studied like a madwoman, and hardly ever saw her friends or family for almost two years. She graduated last May with her nursing degree. And we still don’t see her much, because now she works crazy nursing hours!
A big happy birthday to Michelle. And we hope Justin got you a great gift. If he didn’t, you let us know.
Last night at The Sandbar was certainly a good one…
Our old friend Chris Burns was in town. He’s a regular from years ago who is good friends with Peach and Ted. He lives in Maryville, MO, now and runs a bar there.
The Sandbar was also graced with the presence of some of the referees from yesterday’s KU-Nebraska basketball game (if you can call it that). One of the refs is from Maryville and is a friend of Chris’. These guys were hilarious- dancing all over the bar and having fun. We had a lot of Nebraska folks in last night too, but they were good sports about the game. Some of the girls from Nebraska were teaching the referees some Michael Jackson dance moves.
Apparently at least one of the referees was supposed to work a game today in Miami and had a very early morning flight out of Kansas City. We’re assuming he made it- we forgot to watch the basketball games today to look for him.
Last night was also one of our friend Shane’s last nights in town. He’s going to be moving out of state soon with his job. Lots of his friends were in to help him celebrate last night too. And, small world that it is, he’s also friends with Chris.
Overall it was a fun Saturday night with a great crowd, no problems, and good times.
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, in case you don’t have a significant other who’s already reminded you of this very important holiday.
It’s not really a big deal at The Sandbar…one year we had specially printed Bahama Mama glasses that had two fish kissing…but other than that, Valentine’s Day is hardly noticed.
This is, however, the perfect time to talk about just how many couples have met at The Sandbar. And I don’t just mean couples who have met for a few random dates, who could hardly be considered couples- I mean couples who have stayed together for a long time and many of whom are even married now.
If not for The Sandbar, Dave might not be married today. Long ago, when he was a KU basketball player, he was far and away my mother’s favorite player. I was still in high school at the time, and every time my family watched KU games (which was every game), my mom would get sooooo excited every time David Johanning got in the game. She thought he was just about the cutest thing ever.
Fast forward a few years to 1996. The Sandbar had become my favorite college hangout, but I wasn’t there much on nights that he worked. One night, someone happened to mention “There’s David Johanning,” and somehow in my slightly intoxicated little mind, the name rang bells. I remembered my mom obsessing over this guy, and I happened to have my camera, so without hesitation I approached him and asked for a picture for my mom.
Here’s the first picture of Dave and me, and it’s still on my parents’ refrigerator today:
Don’t we look so young? Anyway, at some point after that we began dating, and now here we are 11 years later. Time sure does fly by.
But we’re certainly not the only couple to owe The Sandbar many thanks. Here are some of the other folks who have met at our fair establishment:
Brit and Megan; Heather and Paxton; Maynard and Brooke (well they went to high school together, but they reconnected at The Sandbar); Matt and Ana; Pat and Mandy; and the couple who met when one of the wall decorations fell and happened to hit both of them- they stopped in for a drink on the way to their wedding reception.
I know there’s a million more of you out there that I just can’t think of right now. Did you and your sweetheart meet at The Sandbar? Send us your story, we’d love to hear it.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Back in the beginning days of this blog, I talked about how I planned to spotlight an employee every once in awhile- fun facts about the staff that would help people get to know them better. I came up with a list of questions, some funny and some serious, and emailed it to all the employees who I had email addresses for, and sat back and waited. Would you believe that not one of the staff responded? I thought they’d be excited about being a topic on the blog. Maybe they didn’t read the email, or maybe they thought it was spam. I think I’ll just have to corner each of them in person and ask my questions.
I have a new plan- updates on past staff members. How fun is that? There are so many employees that even I don’t know. Dave’s going to make up a list of all the Sandbar employees he can remember who ever worked a single shift, and then we’ll start seeking them out. We’ll find out what they’re doing now, where they live, what they look like, and what they remember of The Sandbar.
It should be a fun trip down memory lane. If you’re reading this and you ever worked at The Sandbar, email us. We’d love to know what you’re up to these days. If you’re reading this and there’s a particular former employee you’d like to know about, email us. No idea who will be first up, so suggestions are welcome.
