by Debbi | Sep 5, 2008 | Bar Band
Last week's start of the KU football season also brought the beginning of another long-time tradition, the Bar Band.
They arrived at The Sandbar last Friday night to put on their show for the patrons, and they'll be back tonight. The band used to come in later in the evening, like 11 p.m., but because of capacity issues and the fire marshall, Dave has requested that they hit The Sandbar much earlier in the evening this year.
And like past years, we are providing the band members with free t-shirts. For the second year now, the shirts are courtesy of our friend/regular Ashley and adidas. Dave printed the Sandbar logo on the front and "Bar Band" on the back. These are great limited-edition shirts and the only way to get one is to be a member of the bar band!
So, if you aren't busy tonight and want to get in the spirit of tomorrow's football game a little early, come on out to The Sandbar. Be sure to get there early- meaning don't wait very long after reading this- and get a good spot to sing along with the band. And if you take any pictures of the fun, send them to us!
by Debbi | Sep 2, 2008 | Web/Tech
A long time ago, back in the beginning of this blog, I also set up a Sandbar MySpace page. Actually, I had to send a cease and desist message to another member of MySpace, because in the process of setting up the profile and searching for employees to befriend, I discovered that someone else had already set up a profile for The Sandbar. It was even using our trademarked logo, without permission of course. Once I mentioned that particular infraction, the guy was all too happy to change the name of his profile.
The MySpace page has quite a few friends now, some from Lawrence and some from Ottawa, and it's been yet another tool to use to send out notices of events and other happenings.
It took quite awhile longer to jump on the
Facebook bandwagon, mainly because for some reason I find it strangely more confusing to use. But since 99% of the rest of the world seems to have a Facebook profile, then so should The Sandbar.
After setting up the page, I didn't do much with it for a long time. And frankly, I still don't really understand a lot of things, like what's the difference between fans and friends? But recently I decided to try to take advantage of yet another social networking opportunity, so I've been trying to find Sandbar friends online.
I've also figured out a way to automatically send all of these blog posts to the Sandbar Facebook profile, which is pretty cool. Since I've been doing that, I've noticed quite a bit of traffic linking here from Facebook.
If you have your own Facebook profile, you can be our friend
online.
by Debbi | Aug 31, 2008 | Door Diaries
An old guy about 60 or 70 who didn't have a drivers license tried to
come in and was denied. He said he was gonna kick my a** and when I
turned to have Pat call the cops, he walked in the bar. Will caught him
and pretended to call the cops, then escorted him out. He smelled like
alcohol and was probably already drunk. It turned into quite the scene
at the door.
Then people who saw the whole ordeal tried to get in with just an ID card. They weren't pleased either.
Then
a guy with a military ID asked if he could come in (no other ID).
After denial he and his friends left. I never saw the ID but someone
already in the bar knew him and said he was only 20 anyway.
At
1:30 am a girl fell off her barstool and hit her head on the floor. It
was her 21st birthday. We only served her a couple drinks, and she
drank water for the last hour.
–anonymous
by Debbi | Aug 30, 2008 | Good Things
Bartender Danny is a participant in next week's MS 150 bike ride, an annual event that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He rode in it last year for the first time, and on his personal page he talks about how his perspective on and motivation for the event has evolved.
And being Danny, he has added his own flair to this year's event.
His fundraising goal is $1000 and he has a week left to reach it. If he reaches his goal, he has promised to shave his head completely bald AND send a picture to everyone who donated to the cause! Now if that isn't incentive enough to donate, I don't know what is.
Chances are, you know someone who is somehow impacted by this disease. You might not think five dollars can make a difference, but if everyone who thought that donated just that much, it would quickly add up to a lot of money.
So, try to give up just a couple drinks this week and donate to a good cause. Go here to make your donation.
by Debbi | Aug 29, 2008 | People
A few weeks ago I wrote about the new Shark Bar in the Kansas City Power & Light District; last night I finally got to see it.
I went to Kansas City with a couple of former Sandbar staffers, Tyler and Erick, and while we were there we managed to run into even more Sandbar alumni.
Brit was a doorguy/bartender from many years ago. Once upon a time he tended bar on Saturday nights with Megan. They fell in love while sharing the space behind the bar and are now happily married, living in Kansas City with their two kids. I haven't seen Brit in several years. He was enjoying an after-work cocktail at an Irish pub.
Maynard– yet another former doorguy- managed to find us in the mob at KC Live. And then we ran into yet another old friend- Dave Kepsel (I'm sure I'm not spelling his last name right), who most of us haven't seen since he disappeared a few years ago. He's still tall.
It was a regular Sandbar reunion last night, and it wasn't even at The Sandbar. Feel free to share your favorite stories about these guys in the comments.
by Debbi | Aug 27, 2008 | Newsworthy
The Sandbar has always been blessed to get a lot of publicity, usually from the common sources like the local and campus newspapers, but also sometimes from an unexpected source.
Dave's mom got her hands on a copy of Women's Focus magazine, which is a publication in Wichita that caters, obviously, to women. The August 2008 edition's theme was education, so the Focus on Travel section featured a KU journalism student's tour of her college town.
Here's what she had to say about us:
We ventured into my favorite bar and a local staple, The Sandbar, home to a mixture of tropical concotions. With its island music, The Sandbar is unique for its indoor hurricane, which happens twice every night giving patronst he feel of the wind, rain, and thunder of an actual Florida hurricane.
You can read the rest of the article here (it's a PDF and you'll have to flip ahead to page 33/34 for the article). Next month, the column will feature a review of Manhattan, so check back on their website to see what our rivals down the road have to offer.
by Debbi | Aug 26, 2008 | Around the World
A couple days ago I made another plea to the internet for pictures of people doing fun things while wearing Sandbar shirts.
Almost immediately I got not only a response, but also a picture, and it's a good one. And, it's apparently already up on the wall.
Brother Pants and Michelle went skydiving this weekend in their Sandbar shirts! They couldn't get a picture of the actual event (cameras not allowed while diving), but they did get one of them posing by the sign:
Now, who can top this one? Give it your best shot.
by Debbi | Aug 25, 2008 | Newsworthy
Most of The Sandbar staff spent at least part of their Sunday afternoon at Abe & Jake's learning about various alcohol rules and regulations.
There's usually some kind of server education training held in Lawrence every year, and Dave likes to make sure most of his employees attend. It's always a good refresher course on how to spot fake ID's, fire safety, and a review of the laws and penalties surrounding the sale of alcohol.
And of course, it wouldn't be an article in the Lawrence Journal-World without a quote from one of our very own. Even though he identified himself as the manager of Johnny's in his brief interview and didn't mention his other employment at The Sandbar, we still love Blair.
by Debbi | Aug 24, 2008 | Around the World
Awhile back (okay, nearly a year ago), I asked fans of The Sandbar to submit pictures of themselves wearing their Sandbar attire in exotic places. I didn't get a lot of response, other than from the usual people who respond, like Pat and Justin, but we did finally get a spot on the wall designated for the few pictures we've received.
Thanks to Ken- and a very slow shift at the bar one day- for moving a bunch of pictures from the corkboard by the popcorn machine and putting them on the opposite wall. The newly cleared space now contains our very small collection of Sandbar shirt pictures.
We have pictures of people hunting, horseback riding, fishing in Key West, cruising in the Bahamas, on a beach, at a Royals game, and posing with a llama- all while wearing Sandbar shirts. There used to be a picture of Michelle with a short bus, but someone must have really liked it because it's gone.
This wall is also where we'll put pictures of people while at another Sandbar, even if they aren't actually wearing a Sandbar shirt.
Whenever a fun new picture arrives at the bar, we'll highlight it here along with a story from the person in the picture. Look how bare the board is right now- send us some pictures!
by Debbi | Aug 23, 2008 | Newsworthy, People, Stories
Brother Pants forwarded me a funny article from The Onion about Jimmy Buffett, so now I am sharing it all of you.
And speaking of secret lives, here's a good one for you from the alive-and-well rumor mill in Lawrence.
My good friend Becki called the other day to tell me that her mom had been visiting with a friend who informed her that she (or a friend of hers, I can't remember) was planning to go to Mexico to attend the wedding of the guy who owned the Sandbar. Becki's mom quickly informed her that she must be mistaken, because the guy who owns the Sandbar (actually, co-owns) had been happily married for quite some time and was definitely not traveling to Mexico to get married.
Her friend insisted that yes, it was the guy from the Sandbar- you know, the place that always has the floats in the St. Patrick's Day parade every year?
I told Dave that if he's planning to go to Mexico to get married that I at least better get to go along for the vacation.
