by Debbi | Feb 1, 2011 | Jukebox, Off the Wall
The Sandbar is first and foremost a Jimmy Buffett-loving, beach music kind of bar, but we have all kinds of tunes in our jukebox. Some personal favorites of Dave's include music by bands out of Texas and Oklahoma that are commonly referred to as "red dirt" or "Texas country."
Pat Green is one of those artists. He played down the street at The Granada last weekend, the third or fourth year in a row that he's played there that same weekend.
Our buddy Justin from the Kansas City Limits radio show on 106.5 The Wolf hooked us up with this:
If you like this type of music, be sure to check out the Kansas City Limits Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. Often when bands play in Lawrence, Justin will stop by the Sandbar first with a few tickets to give away, and sometimes the bands will even stop by before or after the show.
Thanks, Justin!
by Debbi | Jan 25, 2011 | Events, Jukebox
No, not the country, although that could be an interesting trip.
Jimmy Buffett is finally returning to Kansas City after a long break and playing the Sprint Center on April 30 as part of the "Welcome to Fin Land" tour. He last played in Kansas City in 1997.
Lots of years ago, the Sandbar crew took a bus trip to Denver to see Jimmy Buffett. It was before my time, but I've heard lots of stories and seen the pictures. And there were certainly stories. I'm hoping to corner a few of the trip's participants and grill them about what they remember so I can share it here.
Back in the late 90's, we took another bus trip to Buffett, this time to St. Louis. It rained almost the entire show but we had a blast.
And now, we'll see him in Kansas City. The Sprint Center won't be quite the same as an outdoor amphitheater with large parking lots suited for tailgating, but we'll make it work.
It certainly was a fiasco to get tickets. Dave was on the phone and I was online right at 10 a.m., and we spent a lot of frustrating time with Ticketmaster. I finally managed to get a few pairs online, and then Dave had the best idea ever: go to the Ticketmaster outlet at HyVee. Genius! He got tickets with no problems at all.
We don't have any official plans for the concert yet. We've talked about taking a bus from Lawrence to the concert; we've also thought about renting hotel rooms and spending the night near Power & Light. Once we have a Sandbar party plan, we'll be sure to let you know.
Who else was lucky enough to score some tickets?
by Debbi | Jan 11, 2011 | Jukebox, People
A long time ago, like almost eight years ago, the Sandbar Song was born.
We had originally rewritten the words to "Copa Cabana" to dance along with after the hurricane blew through the bar, but Peach decided we needed our very own song. You can read the story of the Sandbar Song here.That was a fun trip that we definitely need to repeat.
The song was co-written by Peach, Dusty Workman and Eddie Kilgallon. Recently, we discovered that Dusty and Eddie have reunited on a new project, "Evidence of Journey."
According to Radio Rich and Friends:
Join us this week for Eddie K, founding member of the band Ricochet and keyboardist touring with Montgomery Gentry. He along with our friend Dusty Workman have put together a GREAT New Group, †Evidence of Journeyâ€Â. They’ll be playing a concert this weekend that you’ll hear about ONLY on Radio Rich and Friends.
I would tell you to tune into and listen to Radio Rich and friends for more information, but I couldn't find the radio station call letters anywhere on their website.
However, I received a Facebook invitation from Dusty to a concert on Sunday night. Looks like Evidence of Journey will be playing at 6 p.m. at the First Assembly of God near 27th and Topeka Boulevard.
I have no idea what kind of music Evidence of Journey plays, but I can assure you that Dusty and Eddie are both excellent musicians as well as super nice guys. We are eternally grateful for their help with the Sandbar Song! And by the way, the reggae voice singing our song belongs to Eddie.
by Debbi | Jul 3, 2010 | Jukebox, Off the Wall
Way back in 2003, when our hurricane attraction was barely a year old, Peach decided we needed our own song.
Peach got together with local musician Dusty Workman, and he called on his contacts. The two of them worked with Eddie Kilgallon, a Nashville musician and songwriter, and co-wrote the Sandbar Song. We never actually gave the song a name, it's just the Sandbar Song.
Since one of our most loved traditions is the ceremonial signing of a dollar bill, Peach, Dusty and Eddie created their own dollar bill artwork. Our art director and owner of local frame shop Fast Frame, Justin, created this collage for us.
The top dollar is a tribute to Peach, the leader of the fun; the middle dollar has the most popular phrase of the song "Meet you down at the Sandbar, yea!" and Eddie's signature; and the bottom dollar is signed by Dusty.
Pictures of the trio are in the middle of the frame. This collage hangs at the Sandbar in Ottawa.
by Debbi | Jun 17, 2010 | Jukebox
Friday nights can be long and hard at The Sandbar. It's the end of the work week and everyone just wants to unwind, including our staff. Fridays are almost always busy, from five o'clock until the last person is shown the door at two a.m. By the time all the customers are gone, the employees are ready to relax. Cryin' Fridays was born out of this need, and it was a tradition for a long time.
I've tried for years to get the "official" story on Cryin' Fridays, and I've tried to get the staff members involved to write a guest post. I haven't been very successful on either front. Apparently the first rule of Cryin' Fridays is that you don't talk about Cryin' Fridays. So, here's what I know and remember about it.
It all started many years ago. The jukebox had virtually no country music, and certain members of the staff were longing for some Willie, Waylon or Hank. Some of the guys started bringing in their own CD's to listen to while they cleaned the bar (this was, of course, before the iPod craze started). They started putting together their own mixes. They started asking if new music could be added to the jukebox- which doesn't really happen much.
Dave K, Scottie Mack and Ken were three of the core members of the Cryin' Fridays crew. Once the bar closed down on Friday nights, they were cleaning to the sounds of a fiddle and lost loves. Sound a bit depressing? Perhaps, but of course the Sandbar crew made it fun.
Have you ever seen Ken dance around the bar, acting out imagined scenes from "Pancho and Lefty" I mean "Old El Paso?" (Thanks, astute employee Danny, for the correction.) Or Scottie Mack, two-stepping all over the place while restocking the cooler and taking out the trash? It's entertainment, that's for sure.
We still have CD's with the Cryin' Fridays mixes somewhere- last I knew, we were up to four or five editions. Some of the songs have made their way to Dave's iPod, so if you ask him nicely, he might just play a cryin' tune for you on a Friday night.
by Debbi | Jun 4, 2010 | Guest Blogs, Jukebox, People
David, one of our customers, and his wife Haley recently traveled to Houston to fulfill a longtime dream: to see Jimmy Buffett in concert. Here's what they had to say:
For
the last ten years or so I've been trying to see Jimmy Buffett live in
concert. Unfortunately with Jimmy's tour schedule and my schedules,
he never seemed to play close to Kansas. We had 
plans last year to
fly to Las Vegas to see him at the MGM Grand, but right as we were booking
our airline tickets he cancelled the concert. This spring we made
plans to go see Jimmy live in Houston, TX and got our tickets and hotels
all booked. The 12 hour drive down was worth it jamming to Jimmy
songs on my ipod with my wife as I drove south. The night of the
concert we got all dressed up with Margaritaville attire, grabbed a tour
t-shirt and a margarita before the show. The show was fantastic, Jimmy played for over 2 hours. The songs were a variety of the new
album, "Buffet Hotel", random other artists songs, and a lot of
the old standby's on the "Songs You Know By Heart" classic album.
All I can say is that it was well worth the wait to see him live
for the first time! Any Sandbar or Jimmy fan should see him live
at least once in their lives, it is truly an experience to be remembered!
David was kind enough
to also forward some pictures of Jimmy on stage, the fins in the
audience, and of course, the requisite margarita. No Shark Attacks in sight, however.
Thanks, David and Haley! We're glad you had a great time.
