The other day I posted a video of one of our float dances; today I’m giving you the second one.
This is actually the first dance I filmed on the gray, rainy day that was St. Patrick’s Day. It was also before I thought to ask if anyone had brought an umbrella, so instead I was using a gallon zip-loc bag. It helped keep the video camera dry, but was incredibly difficult to finagle while trying to hold the camera still, change positions, and try not to get hit by oncoming traffic.
So you can see the zip-loc bag at the top of some of the video. Oh well.
I promise this will be the last mention of St. Patrick’s Day, at least until we start planning next year’s float. Which will probably be in June.
In spite of the downpour on St. Patrick’s Day, I managed to get footage of both of the dances. This is actually the second song we recorded but since it’s the first one to be uploaded, here it is.
It was a little difficult to manage a video camera and an umbrella in the rain, while simultaneously moving around and trying to keep still. As a result, the umbrella makes an appearance at the top of the video a few times. What can I say, I’m not a professional.
The Sandbar could never be considered a sports bar- we love our jukebox way too much and we only have a couple small tv's whose main purpose is to show our hurricane videos.
Last night, though, even The Sandbar was transformed into a sports bar when the Kansas State Wildcats came to town to play in Allen Fieldhouse. The bar was full by the time the game tipped off, prompting Andrew the doorguy to suggest that we invest in more, and bigger, tv's.
After the game, the line outside grew past the Tap Room. KU winning the game probably helped increase the size of the line. It moved quickly, though, and most patient people didn't have to wait too long to get inside. The crowd was full of fans sporting Jayhawk attire (and I saw a couple of purple shirts sneak inside).
Some of Dave's old college buddies, Joe and Curtis, showed up after the game. They used to be Sandbar regulars until marriage, kids, and careers intervened, and we don't see them nearly as often as we'd like. They originally planned on staying for just a few drinks but ended up closing down the bar. It was a long, fun night full of happy people.
The Bar Band came in Friday night for their regular pep rally tour of bars; here's a couple of pictures of them.
I was completely thrilled today by a little worn piece of paper that Dave brought home from the bar last night.
A group who sat in the back of the bar had a member who apparently reads this blog. They had printed out the "Six Things Every Sandbar Fan Should Accomplish" and brought the instructions along for their big night at the bar.
The slip of paper was left behind at the end of the night, and the guys found it while they were cleaning. Dave knew how excited I would be to find that someone (other than our friends) was not only reading the blog, but taking it seriously. He was right. It totally made my day!
I think I’m going to frame it and hang it on the wall somewhere.
Thanks, unknown group of people. I’d buy you a round of shots if I knew who you were.
{Thanks to Q at 650miles for tagging us and inspiring that list of six things.}
Oh, and a quick float update- building is progressing very well thanks to the awesome weather that finally arrived, and we choreographed both dances today. We rock!
A couple weeks ago, The Sandbar hosted a farewell party for someone near and dear to our heart, Carol. I say "farewell" because it was really a congratulations-on-your-retirement party, only she’s a little sensitive about the word retirement and claims that this is only a temporary break from the working world.
Last night, Carol’s family held another party for close friends and family at a different establishment which will remain nameless. After the gathering there wrapped up around 8:30, everyone decided that they wanted to go to The Sandbar. The party moved down the street a few blocks and continued well into the night.
Carol and her three daughters donned the mermaid costumes and danced on the bar. This might be the first time we’ve ever had a mother and all three of her daughters on the bar at the same time. They did a great job for their first time as mermaids.
They weren’t the only family unit in the bar last night, however. I’m going to put a plug in for my little brother Mike, who made the journey up I-35 from Wichita yesterday with his buddy Kale in anticipation of today’s KU basketball game. They had a fine time trying new drinks (like the Big Wave Dave), enjoying old favorites, meeting new people, and watching the crowd.
And finally, while not a biological family, we had another interesting group descend on the bar last night who could be considered a family of sorts. KU’s game today was against the Colorado Buffaloes, and some members of their traveling party (no players, if you’re wondering) managed to find their way to our bar. We seem to attract the opposing team’s fans quite often. As long as they’re fun we don’t mind, we love to show visitors a Sandbar time, and these guys were no exception. A great group of guys- and a girl- hung out for several hours among the Jayhawk fans, even conceding that KU was likely to win the game. Colorado fans are welcome back anytime.
Ironically, the usual crowd of Sandbar family members- employees and regulars- was on the small side last night.
Once upon a time, long ago in the early 1990’s, The Sandbar installed a webcam. We were one of the first businesses in Lawrence to have one, and it caught on as kind of a fad around town. The LJW has written about our webcam several times; I couldn’t find any of the early articles, but one of the later ones is here.
Back in those early days, we also had a television hooked up in a front corner of the bar, always tuned to
show the picture from the webcam. The camera was also in the front of the bar, near the television, and it was a hoot to watch customers hamming it up for the camera and watching themselves on the screen. People would call up their friends and family, give them our website, and then do something goofy in front of the camera. I’ve even heard of soldiers in Iraq logging on to see their friend’s birthday celebration. Note for those of you uncomfortable with the idea of web voyeurism: we purposely chose a camera that doesn’t function as well in lower light, to keep our customers slightly blurry and unidentifiable.
Our former website host/bartender/doorguy Josh used to tell us that our website got a million hits every month. I’m not sure what he was drinking, but I’m quite sure we were not *that* popular. Because if that were the case, given that the internet is way more prevalent now than it was then, our hits would be considerably higher now, and I can assure you that they’re nowhere near a million a month.
Anyway, somewhere along the way, we lost the television set to technology or something, and never replaced it. No longer could patrons see themselves on a screen or encourage their far-away friends to watch them, and consequently the interest in our website began to drop. We still had the webcam, nothing changed there (except the location, it’s now in the back corner of the bar where it gets more even lighting), but it was suddenly less visible.
Until now. Last month, bartender Joe (who should be interviewed on this site soon) sold Dave his old computer system, which included a flat panel monitor. Dave was able to hook up the monitor over the bar, and voila! The days of watching yourself while you’re at the bar are back.
So, tell your friends and family and long-lost cousins that if they must know what you’re doing, they can log on to www.thesandbar.com and click on "webcam," and they just might be able to pick you out of the crowd.
