Happy Birthday, Pat!

Our Man on the Street and former bartender Pat turns 40 on Christmas Eve, so we threw him a party last night. Instead of the usual fracas at The Sandbar, though, we took it down the street to The Barrel House, a dueling piano bar that opened earlier this year.

If you haven't visited our neighboring bar yet, you should. It's great for groups and parties, and the piano players are great fun.

Our party was in the Blue Moon Lounge, one of the VIP balcony rooms that overlook the main bar area. We had our own private bartender and lots of space for friends and family.

Pat got called up on stage, where the piano player made fun of him for awhile, forced him to sit atop the piano, and made him chug a beer or two. They sang Happy Birthday, too.

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Another highlight of the night was a special performance by the Bar Band, and they played Happy Birthday to Pat also.

The birthday boy has been planning a trip to Key West to celebrate his birthday for months now, and he leaves this week. We all hope he had fun last night! If you see Pat, be sure to wish him a happy birthday.

What Words Bring You Here

It's been awhile since I posted about the keyword searches that internet surfers do that lands them on our lovely little blog. Okay, it's been a whole year. I'm sure you've been dying to know this information, too.

I can always tell when hurricane season is upon us- the real, actual, weather-related hurricane season, not the perpetual hurricane season at the Sandbar. How? Because people all over the internets start searching like mad for "what happens during a hurricane."  It's easily the most popular phrase that lands people here.

Somehow, I don't think our answer is quite what they are looking for. It's probably more fun than the other answer, though.

Some other fun phrases that have popped up lately:

  1. Wore heels all night Halloween.  This search was probably done by Dave. And he was probably looking for the ladies who continue to wear spike heels and dance on his fancy benches and pound little dents into them. Thanks, girls. He'll probably want to re-do the benches soon now.
  2. Actual volleyball team. This one made me laugh out loud. Wrong blog, people. There's no *actual* volleyball team here, just a bunch of wanna-be's.
  3. Andrew, KU Bar Band, Tuba. We talk a lot about the Bar Band and our doorboy Andrew. Apparently there is also a tuba player named Andrew in the Bar Band, and someone is looking for him. I hope it's a cute girl. 
  4. Joe's Sandbar Ottawa. Another one that made me chuckle. We poke a lot of fun at Joe, but it's all in good fun, and he knows it. At least I think he does. He's now been elevated to the owner of the Sandbar in Ottawa by the internets.
  5. How to add fan photos on Facebook. This search actually shows up a lot. I'm rather proud of the little instructional post I wrote about this- it was actually pretty difficult to figure out how to do this, so I hope this post helps someone out there.

There you have it, the search phrases I deemed most interesting. Or at least the ones I had something to say about.

Halloween Costumes from The Sandbar

Everyone recovered from Halloween?

The Sandbar had a great Halloween night, thanks to all of our great friends and customers. Once again, we neglected to have a costume contest- that's quickly becoming "our thing." I don't think anyone really noticed or cared though.

Lots of great costumes paraded through the bar! Some of our favorites:

John McEnroe, aka once upon a time staffer Todd; current bartender and sometimes-sax man for $ellout Danny, "I'm not Amelia Earhart, d**mit!"; and current bartender Coleen as a pirate.

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An eclectic group that includes an actual Amelia Earhart, characters from Up!, and the Burger King:

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And perhaps one of the stranger pairs of the night, the ShamWow guy and the, uh, lady (?) who beat him up. Yeah, only Joe and someone who hangs out with him could pull this off.

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Some others in attendance: Beyonce, in her "Single Ladies" outfit; Disney princesses; a Roller Derby team of four (yes, they were actually on rollerskates, in the bar); a beer pong table; the Karate Kid group from last night; and a whole gaggle of schoolgirls and nerds. Oh, and remember Rose, from the movie Titanic? She was there, too. Dressed from the scene where Jack is painting her? And all she's wearing is that enormous blue diamond necklace? Yeah, that girl had guts.

Oh, and Top Gun seemed to be a popular theme this year, too. We couldn't figure that one out, but there were lots of pilot types in the bar. Dave played some Top Gun tunes for them.

Dave and Hayley tag teamed their costumes- he was a jail inmate and she was the sexy cop.

We unfortunately didn't get very many pictures on Halloween night. There's a few more on our Facebook page and our Flickr photostream, but otherwise, we are hoping that you will share your pictures with us. Email them to us at sandbar{at}thesandbar{dot}com.

Hope you had a safe and fun Halloween!

Another Friday Night, Another Bar Band

 Friday brought another busy night and another visit from the Bar Band!

20091023_AlphaOmicronPi _0001We had some Oklahoma Sooner fans in the house- we always think it's fun for the opposing team's fans to see a tiny marching band invade the bar to play the KU fight songs. Wonder if any other Big 12 schools have a similar bar band that travels around town the night before a game?

Obviously, this tuba isn't used on game day. It's message pretty much sums up the Bar Band!

We had a line for most of the night on Friday. Lots of regulars, lots of football fans, and even a 30th birthday party.

The 10 pm hurricane featured brand new mermaids- these girls had never even SEEN the hurricane and had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed to put on the costume! (Don't tell anyone, but one of the girls is also a Mizzou fan! She thought the bar band was cool, though.)

It wasn't a very rowdy crowd, considering it was a Friday and the night before a football game. Usually after the hurricane, we do several more Sandbar favorite bar dancing songs, but this night we stopped after Car Wash because the crowd just wasn't into it.

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One of my friends who managed to get in the bar just before the Bar Band started had a video camera and filmed them. Once he gets the video ready and posts a link, I'll share it here so you can experience Friday's performance even if you weren't there.

Wedding Parties and Hunters

Last week I promised more stories from Homecoming weekend, but I also wanted pictures, and unfortunately someone kept leaving the camera at the bar. 

I talked about the Bar Band already but didn't mention some Very Important People who stopped by to see them play. Peach and Ted, creator and long-time owners of The Sandbar, don't visit very often anymore because they're so busy running their other four businesses, plus a farm, plus family, and all the other stuff they're involved in. But every once in awhile they make an appearance, and Friday was one of those times.

The Bar Band was lined up outside and ready to play, but we had to ask them to wait until Peach and Ted could get here. They had some hunters staying at the Lodge of Baldwin City– Italian hunters here by way of Pennsylvania. Of course they had to see an indoor hurricane in Kansas while they're here!

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(Just in case you couldn't tell who the hunters were, I drew a nice arrow and wrote their names on the picture.)

At just about the opposite end of the spectrum that night, we also entertained a wedding party. But not just any wedding party- the groom is the cousin of Hayley, our Wednesday (and sometimes weekend) bartender.

Chris is in medical school and lives in Colorado, and he got married in Lawrence on Friday. After the wedding and reception, much of the party traveled to The Sandbar, where of course the bride and groom danced on the bar in their wedding finery.

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It's not the first time a bride and groom have been fun-loving enough to hop up on the bar and dance, and it probably won't be the last. It's always fun when the couple is part of the extended Sandbar family though. 

Congratulations to Chris and his new bride, and Hayley's family!

Friday Homecoming Fun: First Time Mermaids

Homecoming weekend at The Sandbar was tons of fun for all of us! Lots of old and new friends paid us a visit, and there are so many stories. We'll pick some of our favorites to share this week.

Friday night brought in a Sandbar favorite during football season: the Bar Band.  The performers showed up right before 10 pm and definitely didn't disappoint! We had a full house waiting to sing, dance, and clap along, and a whole bunch of people had to watch from their spot in line. It's truly a neat experience, and if you've never been in our tiny bar while a marching band plays the KU fight song- well, you need to add that to your list.

We had a special group of people in Friday night that I want to mention. Last summer, The Sandbar hosted a "tweetup," which is basically an off-line gathering of Twitter users and a way for them to meet in real life. It was a great success, and many of our Twitter followers come in on a regular basis. A spontaneous tweetup occurred on Friday night- it was suggested online during the day, and the group made it's way to The Sandbar in time to catch the band.

A couple of the girls from the group had never been mermaids before- and you know as soon as we hear someone say that, they become the next volunteer! The hurricane blew through the bar shortly after the Bar Band left, and Dave led everyone through the dance routines. A crazy boy even jumped up on the bar in the middle of all the girls and showed off his dance moves. That *never* happens at The Sandbar. 

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After we all got down from the bar, I discovered that our friend Susan had never been on the bar before. This might not be surprising to you, but Susan has been coming to The Sandbar for at least a decade, I think! Proves there's a first time for everything.

More stories to come this week from Homecoming weekend, so check back!