What does the Sandbar have to do with a giant steak?
Earlier this month on March 5, Dave’s friend Bret called to tell him that members of their favorite band, Jason Boland & the Stragglers, were on the road in Texas. Before their show that night, they planned to stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch.
The Big Texan is home to the 72 ounce steak challenge. Basically, if you can eat the entire meal in one hour, it’s free. There’s a list on their website of everyone who’s completed the dinner since 1991- they’ve been doing this since 1962, but their records were destroyed in 1976 by fire and again in 1991 by a sprinkler system accident. The list is long. And it looks like it’s all men.
The other interesting thing about this challenge: it’s broadcast live on the internet through webcams aimed at the tables.
Anyway. Roger, the band’s guitar player, and Mikey, one of their crew, were up for the challenge. According to Bret, Roger also planned to wear a Sandbar shirt that Dave gave him the last time they played in Lawrence.
Here’s a picture of them filling out their disclaimer forms (courtesy of the band’s Twitter feed). Although it’s hidden by his jacket, you can see that Roger’s wearing a blue Sandbar shirt:
Dave watched part of the challenge online, and indeed he got a glimpse of the Sandbar shirt. Roger completed the meal in 57:40 according to the Big Texan’s record list. Mike didn’t- but he’s probably better off.
Roger and the rest of the Stragglers are in Lawrence again tonight. If you like good, traditional country music don’t miss this show. It’s at The Granada, and the opening band- the John D. Hale Band from Missouri- is good too. The guys from Kansas City Limits, a radio program in Kansas City, will be at the Sandbar early this evening to give away some tickets.
The Bar Band is one of our favorite traditions- members of the Marching Jayhawks & the KU Pep Bands form this group that takes to the streets of Lawrence the night before games to get the town excited.
They used to only come out during football season, but at some point decided it was so much fun, they might as well play during basketball season too. We're glad they do.
Not too long ago, Dave installed strands of white LED lights on the ceiling. They're not on all the time, but they make the bar a little brighter during the day. When the bar band stopped by in early March, he flipped on the lights so we could record a little better video.
Here's our last footage of the bar band from this season. It's kind of long, about five minutes, but it's worth it. Our bartender/doorguy Tyler is standing on the bar, on the far left of the video, playing his trumpet. Enjoy!
A question came up on Twitter the other day: "What's that surfboard thing with shot glasses?" I quickly searched for a link to the blog post that explained the shotski…and found nothing.
I'm shocked and slightly sad that we've never explained the Shotski to you. I guess I took it for granted that you've all experienced it already.
The Origins of Our Shotski
Our shotski got its start many years ago when Matt still worked here. (Wow, has it really been 2 1/2 years since he was behind the bar?) Matt's parents have a little party lake house at Lake Dabinawa, and it's been an informal holiday spot for many Sandbar staff and friends. There's a bar, of course, and that's where we discovered the Shotski.
I'm pretty sure this isn't the first Shotski in existence, but it's the first one we saw, and we loved it. Matt was cool with us borrowing the idea for the Sandbar. Dave found a waterski missing its mate, attached permanent shark shot glasses from Margaritaville, and the rest was history.
How It Works
The shotski is a group event. Find two friends who want to play- or bribe them- and sit or stand in a line. The three sharks hold plastic shot glasses, usually filled with Dirty Banana goodness. The plastic shot glasses are replaced every time- this is a sanitary operation. Everyone holds onto the ski, raises it together, and drinks the shot at the same time.
Here are some pictures to demonstrate the fun:
See? It's not hard.
Dave got ambitious recently and upped the challenge- he found a longer ski and put SIX shot glasses on it. Of course, he had to hang this one underneath the tiki roof over the bar, so most of the staff can't reach it. It makes cameo appearances every once in awhile.
This entry is a guest blog by long-time Friday evening bartender and future bride-to-be, Heather.
Many of you who saw our float know it was an amazing castle. Dave truly is a float building genius and each year seems to outdo himself from the year before. What you may not be aware of is how amazing the float was on the inside as well. Decorated on the inside, you say? Ah, it's true…we here at The Sandbar don't do anything halfway.
This year our float had not only a working bathroom, but a pretty pretty pink princess bathroom. In addition to the pink princesses on the pink walls, there was hand sanitizer, hand lotion, a trashcan, a pink shower curtain for privacy, and my absolute favorite: the potted flowers.
Now Dave may have had the idea for the potty (or maybe not- the women at The Sandbar frequently requestmore access and better facilities), but the ever-resourceful Coleen came up with the decorations. The story I've been told is that Coleen and Michelle worked on the bathroom in front of Dave, all the while discussing castle related decorations and gray paint. He had no idea it was pink until it was too late.
When Dave asked the ladies "isn't that pink?"- meaning the wall paint- Michelle told him it was just the way the sun was hitting it. I like to imagine the look on his face when he first walked into the float bathroom in all its pink princess glory.
A special thanks goes out to Sandbar regular Brandon for providing the potty. Rumor has it he wanted to buy it for tailgating, and offering to loan it to the Sandbar float got bonus points with his wife.
For me, the pink girly bathroom made our castle on wheels quite luxurious and lots of fun!
After a sad weekend that saw our beloved Kansas Jayhawks losing in the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament, we thought everyone could use some cheer.
Here's a short video clip of our castle float from this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade. One of our knights, "Showtime," was gracious enough to jump off the float at the beginning of the parade and film this for us.
We hope you enjoyed our float this year!
(After creating & uploading this video, I realized that we never uploaded footage of last year's parade float, the Crazy Love Train in Locomotion. When I run out of things to talk about here, rest assured it will be posted. Probably soon. There's also video of our float dancers warming up before the parade, which will be good for some laughs.)
