For all you Jimmy Buffett fans out there…
Looks like Jimmy Buffett is expanding his empire to include beer. LandShark Lager is a new brew from Margaritaville that is currently being featured in the Orlando, Vegas, and Key West locations.
What a great idea. There are so many Parrotheads out there who will buy anything with Jimmy’s name on it. I’m surprised he hasn’t come out with this sooner, actually.
Maybe someday The Sandbar will be able to offer this beer.
Video cameras are fun.
We bought our own camera a couple years ago, so we could film fun Sandbar events. We also used it to film the current hurricane video- in the past we’ve gone to the local television studio and filmed the video like professionals, but it’s expensive, not to mention unnatural, in the studio. Much more fun to do our own thing.
Anyway, we thought it would be fun to start filming short video clips for Sandbar TV. We’ll post them here or even on YouTube and provide links. If you have some creative ideas for entertainining Sandbar commercials, send them our way.
Here’s one to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmCW4gj7nfs
(I wanted to embed the video clip directly into the blog…but YouTube and TypePad haven’t worked out whatever it is they need to work out to allow this. They say it’s "coming soon." We’ll see. In the meantime, you’ll have to click on the link above to see the video.)
We didn’t film this video. A customer from Halloween of 2005 apparently had a camera with him, and filmed himself during one of his finer moments in life. We know it’s from Halloween that year, because Ken and Blair were dressed as the Wham! boys that year, with the easily recognizable "Choose Life" t-shirts. A quick search of YouTube brings up several Sandbar themed videos but this was the best.
Enjoy!
The Sandbar is somewhat of a shrine to Jimmy Buffett and his lifestyle. Our jukebox has all of his songs, and we have a rather large framed poster of him with a spotlight on it. So, unsurprisingly, we also love Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.
Sandbar crew has visited a couple of the locations. Our first experience with Margaritaville, was ironically, not part of Jimmy Buffett’s chain at the time. When Dave and I went on our honeymoon to Jamaica, we were surprised to see a place called "Margueritaville" near our resort in Montego Bay. When we traveled to Negril for the day, there was another one. And finally, in the Montego Bay airport, was a third location. We later found out that Mr. Buffett was apparently unhappy with the idea of someone else trying to capitalize on his chain and was in the process of buying the Jamaican copycats.
Margaritaville New Orleans was our next stop. Located on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, it was a research dinner during our trip to the Big Easy. We tried the food, checked out the upstairs "Tire Swing Bar," and shopped in the store. We especially loved the stairs painted with the words to "Margaritaville," the song.
Margaritaville Las Vegas was everything you would expect in a city known for it’s over the top shows. It’s part of the Flamingo, on a corner of the Strip. At intervals throughout the day and night, the staff of the restaurant gathered in the center of the room for their own Vegas show. They sang and danced. They encouraged audience participation. They even had a guy on stilts. But the best part was the giant volcano and blender at the bar. A girl popped out of the volcano and slid down the side of it into the blender. It was amazingly funny.
Eventually we’ll visit the rest of the Margaritavilles. If they’re anything like the ones we’ve seen, we know we’ll love it. That would be a fun Sandbar field trip- traveling the country to check out all of Jimmy Buffett’s restaurants. Surely that’s tax deductible???
It’s kind of funny to see how some of you wind up at this blog.
I have a web counter set up on this blog to track the number of hits and some other general information. I can see the domain name you came from, like sunflower.com or rr.com or swbell.com. That doesn’t usually tell me much, because half of the people in Lawrence use sunflower.com. I can also see the time of day that each hit takes place, and how long the person stayed as well as how many pages they viewed.
The most interesting part to me, however, is the referring URL. In most cases, there isn’t one. Those people likely are customers or friends of The Sandbar and just typed the blog address directly into their browser. A lot of people came directly from the main Sandbar website. But others have ended up here because they are searching the web for something that may or may not have anything to do with us.
Searches for "sandbar webcam" and "sandbar dancing" would, not surprisingly, lead a person to our blog. But, someone out there was searching Google for "super dave costumes" and was directed here. Still others have searched for "indoor fun nashville" and "tuxedo thong" and ended up reading our blog. Someone even was looking for "maynard’s birthday" and showed up here! What’s funny to me is that the Sandbar blog shows up on the first page of search results for some of these searches.
Lots of folks out there are looking for the elusive Dirty Banana recipe. We talk about it, but we don’t tell you how to make it. Other people are looking for Halloween costumes, especially Dee Snider wigs and how to dress as a woman.
The internet really is an amazing thing.
Happy New Year to all!
Last night at The Sandbar was great. Thanks to all who celebrated with us, and even more thanks to those of you who participated in our theme party. We loved all the togas- especially the glam black sparkly ones- and pajamas and prom dresses. And it was great to see some folks dress up who haven’t dressed up in costume since the age of six.
Blair and Danny wowed the crowd when they walked in for their 9 p.m. shift wearing matching red and white heart printed togas. One was red with white hears; the other, white with red hearts. It seemed to be a little hard to tend bar wearing 4-5 yards of fabric strategically pinned around the body; the boys required some touch up pinning throughout the night.
Dave, as usual, spent some time coming up with a crazy costume that portrayed an actual person. This time, he chose to live out the dream as Hugh Hefner. For all you guys out there who like to be creative with your costumes, the JCPenney’s women’s section has been very good to Dave. He managed to find a red silky robe to function as a smoking jacket, and with his black silky pants and pipe he pulled off the part. Alas, no Playboy bunnies in sight (Thank God).
Brooke and Ken came in opposite togas- she in the aforementioned glam black sparkly one, complete with a sparkly headpiece, and Ken in a white one that seemed to take on a life of it’s own by the end of the night. Justin and Michelle arrived in style in white togas as well, with ivy headpieces. Surprisingly, none of these togas fell off any bodies during the night, at least while I was there. I did hear rumors of some pins being lost later in the night….
We had a prom queen and king in our midst….Morgan found a shiny purple taffeta number and added her own flair with hot pink tulle. She even convinced Emerson to dress up with her as the prom king, complete with a mullet.
The best idea ever, in my opinion, was to spend New Year’s Eve 2006 in a comfy pair of flannel pajamas. No uncomfortable fabrics, no worries about keeping body parts covered. And the best part- going home and going straight to bed without having to struggle out of a costume!
We have a new poll off to the left, and there are new pictures in the New Year’s Eve photo album. If you have pictures to share with us, email them! We’d love to see the party from another perspective.
Here’s a great new year!!
Another year is almost here.
Can you believe 2006 is almost over? It went by so fast, like every year seems to do anymore. We thought it would be fun to take a look back at all the happenings at The Sandbar this year.
The Sandbar was in the news on the very first day of 2006. The front page of the Lawrence Journal-World featured a story about all the happenings out on the town the night before. Since our place is usually already full of people pretty early, the LJW staff can get a good party picture for the paper. Justin and Michelle, as 80’s punk rockers, were featured in the front page picture.
March brought some nasty weather to town, and one of the biggest stories of the year was the microburst that hit Lawrence on March 12. The downtown and eastern areas of Lawrence were especially hard-hit, however it was mostly buildings on the west side of the streets running north-south that had damage. The Sandbar luckily came away with all windows intact and no damage. Amazingly enough, our St. Patrick’s Day float was also unscathed. The float is built every year on an empty lot next to Dave’s house. The storm leveled a massive old tree that sat probably twenty feet from the float. But, just like tornadoes, these storms are strange; the float was left untouched.
March 17, of course, was our annual Sandbar holiday of St. Patrick’s Day. Our theme this year was a giant wedding cake with three tiers, complete with icing and flowers. You might be wondering how we came up with this idea, and I’ll get to that in a minute. We had lots of helpers to build our cake float and it was finished in time. All of the float riders dressed as brides and grooms, with tiaras and veils and sequined green bow ties. Unfortunately it was a very chilly day, so the costumes weren’t on display quite like they usually are. We also had a white limo and a horse-drawn carriage as part of our entourage down Mass Street.
The Sandbar became a real beach bar this year with the addition of an upstairs beach in the spring of 2006. Lots and lots of sand was hauled upstairs and spread on the floor, and Dave built a "dock" leading to the sand. A giant beach scene wall mural is pasted on one wall. The beach scene is an ideal spot for photos for Sandbar guests. We also think it would be perfect for small weddings or vow renewal ceremonies! (This is where the idea for our St. Patrick’s Day float came from). So far, we haven’t had any takers on the wedding idea, but we’re not giving up. We even have two officially ordained-on-the-internet ministers ready to perform a ceremony, as soon as someone out there decided that a beach wedding at The Sandbar is exactly what they want!
This fall, we added a new fish tank in the back room and brand new windows in the front of the bar. The windows are hinged so we can open them up on nice days. We managed to get the windows in right before the big Get Downtown! street party that took place right in front of The Sandbar. For the first time, we were able to have an outdoor patio area where customers could drink. It was a great night for everyone.
As with every year, our staff experienced changes. We said goodbye to Jake and John, who left for Australia, and Leah, who took off for graduate school in Texas. We welcomed John, Drew, Morgan, and Josie to our family. The Sandbar staff is a close knit group, and we celebrated this with our annual Christmas party and gift exchange in December.
The Sandbar in Ottawa continued to grow it’s business this year. A new covered deck was added outside that has been very popular. Peach and Ted expanded their business ventures in Ottawa by purchasing, renovating, and reopening the Plaza Cinemas theater this summer. These places along with The Lodge of Baldwin City keep them very busy.
And, of course, we began this blog in September. We also started an official Sandbar MySpace page in an effort to keep up with the technology of the world.
We’re looking forward to ringing out 2006 with lots of fun at our annual New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night!
Our friend Pat was born on Christmas Eve. (So was our friend Ashley, but this story is about Pat). Everyone knows that Christmas babies get gypped a little bit at the holidays- their birthdays get a little lost in the commotion of Christmas and New Year’s and traveling, and everyone else is getting presents too, so people aren’t necessarily paying attention to the presents the birthday boy/girl opens.
Last Friday some of us thought an impromptu birthday party at The Sandbar would be fun for Pat, a night all his own that wasn’t shared with Santa and church and millions of other kids. Unfortunately, Pat apparently didn’t think it was such a great idea, as he stayed home and didn’t partake in the festivities.
But noooooo, that didn’t stop us….
A few years ago, our very artistic friend Michelle created "Pat Heads" for another of Pat’s birthdays. She took a picture of his face, blew it up, copied it about a hundred times (okay I’m exaggerating, but there were a lot of them), pasted it to a cardboard backer, and glued the face to a stick. When Pat showed up to the party, there were all these "Pat Heads" on sticks bobbing around the bar. Over the years, they’ve slowly disappeared. Someone, and we’ve never figured out who it was, stole one from the bar and took it on their travels with them. The Sandbar received pictures a few times of a "Pat Head" on a beach, in the city, etc.
Anyway, there happens to be one Pat Head left at The Sandbar, but it’s missing the face. It’s just a cardboard shape of his head, which made the night somehow funnier.
Pat experienced lots of adventures on Friday night. He was a mermaid…he drank lots of beers, he fell off his chair. He played foosball upstairs, and he was buried in the sand.
All in all, it was a fun birthday celebration. But it would have been even more fun if the birthday boy would have been there for real.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Sandbar!!
Here’s a fun little present for all of our readers. Click here to view the gift I created just for you. The best part is that you can create your own and share it with others.
And if you’re in public, beware. You just might fall out of your chair laughing.
If you’re going to be around Lawrence on Friday, stop by the Sandbar.
Phil and Heather are hosting their annual pre-holiday party from 5-9 p.m. They’ll have snacks, egg nog, and the usual merriment. I’m told that there will also be a pole in honor of Festivus.
And what’s the deal with the sudden interest in these Christmas sweaters? You’d think Erick sent out an email campaigning for votes or something.
We had an outstanding response to our online poll about a theme for New Year’s Eve. Thank you to everyone who gave an opinion, even if it was more than once (you cheaters know who you are Maynard.)
Drumroll, please….
We couldn’t decide. "My Best Friend’s Wedding" got the most votes, so technically it should be the winner, but we loved all the themes and they all got a lot of votes, so we’re doing them all. Yes, all of them.
Come as a bridesmaid, come as a prom date. Come in a toga, or come in your pj’s. (But for the love of God, please be decent). Or, be creative and combine more than one, or even all four themes, into one costume. Bonus points for the best creativity- it could win you prizes like cardboard tiaras, horns, or beads. Oh wait- we give those away free on New Year’s anyway.
Some of the crowd at our gift exchange were already figuring out how to incorporate more than one theme into their outfit. I’m not going to ruin the surprise by revealing their ideas here, but there will certainly be pictures posted after the fact.
So put on your thinking caps and figure out what you’re wearing to our party. We don’t like it when people show up to a theme party wearing regular clothes. We’ll still let you inside, but we’d much rather that everyone come in costume. How many times in a year do you get to be crazy like that?
We aren’t sure yet what the cover charge will be, and we’ll probably have snacks available, but we don’t have details yet. More information will be posted as we have it.
One thing that’s for sure, though, is this: The Sandbar fills up early on New Year’s Eve, so if you’re planning on being there when the ball drops, you better get there early.
