by Debbi | Aug 21, 2009 | Jukebox, Web/Tech
Music has been a hot topic around here lately, so I came up with a couple new ways for you to experience our jukebox when you can't actually be at The Sandbar.
1. Check out the new Sandbar Jukebox iMix at the iTunes store!
I used the suggestions made on our Facebook page and in the comments here and put together an iMix. It's published on iTunes, so you can open it up and purchase some or all of the songs to make your own playlist. (When you click on that link, you're going to be prompted to pick an application to open it with).
You might notice some obvious Sandbar songs missing from this list. My original list had about 25 songs on it. Unfortunately, if a song isn't available to be purchased on iTunes, it can't be included in the iMix. I was surprised by the number of songs I wanted that weren't available- or at least the version I had wasn't in iTunes. I wasn't interested in changing the data on my music files just to make it compatible with iTunes.
You can even rate this iMix- assign it some stars and let me know what you think.
2. Listen to the Sandbar Jukebox station on Pandora!
If you aren't familiar with Pandora, you should be. It's awesome. And the best way to get through a long boring day at the office.
I created a Sandbar Jukebox station for our fans. Now, it's likely that you'll hear songs on here that aren't actually on our jukebox. Pandora lets you select an artist, song, or genre that you like, and then it chooses music that has similar attributes to what you selected. It's a very analytical and detailed process that I don't fully understand so I'm not going to attempt to explain it.
But, I've created my own stations based on artists I like, and I haven't been disappointed yet. So if you love our jukebox, check out our Sandbar Jukebox station on Pandora.
I'm pretty excited about these two musical options, so check them out and let me know what you think.
by Debbi | Aug 16, 2009 | Around the World
Last month, my parents went on a 10-day cruise around Northern Europe. It was a tour sponsored by the K-State Alumni Association, of which they are not members but some of their friends are, and it included various excursions that were agriculture related and therefore of a business interest to my father.
Before they left, my mom ordered eight Sandbar t-shirts to take along for them and their friends to wear at various places for photo opportunities.
Here are a couple of the pictures I have so far.
One of their stops was at the Icebar cph by Icehotel. It's at the Hotel Twentyseven in Copenhagen. Basically, everything is frozen. The tourists all got what my dad called "eskimo coats" upon entry, and they wore them the entire time they were in the bar except when they took the picture above. The drinks were even served in ice "glasses."
The other picture I have is of some of the group posing in Sandbar shirts in front of the Little Mermaid statue, also in Copenhagen. This was the only picture I requested from them- I thought it would be fun to have Sandbar shirts with the Little Mermaid! I was surprised, though, how small the statue is.
They took some other pictures wearing Sandbar shirts while they were on vacation. I asked if they got any funny looks when they whipped out these shirts to put on over their regular clothes, but my mom said there were so many other tourists doing other goofy stuff, that no one seemed to give them any thought at all.
If you have pictures of a Sandbar shirt in an exotic location- meaning outside of Lawrence (unless you're doing something really cool in town, that is)- email it to us or bring it by to add to our wall!
by Debbi | Aug 11, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
One of the best parts of our birthday party was our mini-Sandbar show at 10:30. Since the party was all about celebrating the Sandbar, of course we had to include our famous float dances!
A few weeks before the party, Peach and I put together a list of float songs from the past. We quickly narrowed the list down to six songs that we wanted to feature at the party. It was easy to pick songs because none of us could remember most of our float dances, and only the songs from the last couple of years were recorded on video. So, by default, these are the ones we chose:
- Car Wash
- Locomotion
- Proud Mary
- Love Train
- Shake Your Tailfeathers
- The Sandbar Song
We rounded up a group of expert float dancers and had a quick practice a few days before the party. Several of these songs we can do in our sleep; the others came back to us in no time at all.
Peach and Coleen both found/made great pirate costumes; the rest of the dancers aren't quite as talented and also wanted costumes that were easy to change in and out of. On the big night, we gathered around 10 pm to change into our costumes and run through our set one last time before performing it for the masses.
It was just like St. Patrick's Day, only dark outside! One of our very favorite things about the annual St. Patrick's Day parade is rolling down Massachusetts Street, singing and dancing, and watching all the people- kids and grandparents and everyone in between- dancing along with us. This was pretty much the same- there was a crowd of people right in front of the stage, following along with us and singing and dancing. It was so much fun to watch.
After performing our very own original Sandbar song, Peach grabbed the microphone to tell the story of how the Sandbar hurricane came to be. And then, we had one final treat for the crowd.
This is something that usually happens late, late at night, when the bartenders are getting a little slap-happy, and they want to goof around a little. I've seen Dave, Tegan, and Andrew all behind the bar at the same time doing this dance. I've also seen a huge line dance of people in the middle of the bar dancing along. It's kind of crazy.
Dave got to take center stage for "Apache." The rest of us just kind of stood back and watched, danced a little, and laughed.
After he was finished, Peach thanked everyone again for celebrating our birthday with us.
I hope to have the video edited and uploaded soon. Thanks to Brother Pants for sacrificing his arm and filming the entire show for us. Thanks also to Pat Paulsen, who took the pictures used in this post. He has lots of good ones and we'll share some soon.
by Debbi | Aug 9, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events, Social Media
After the Bar Band warmed up the crowd, we had a quick break before Mark Valentine took the stage with his band. Valentine and the Ones played for the rest of the night and entertained the crowd with lots of Sandbar favorites and other great tunes for dancing and singing along.
Our good friend and photographer Pat took a million great pictures of the entire event. Here are a couple that give an idea of just how many people were at our party:
It was great to see so many families, kids, and teenagers out in the street dancing and singing. We really wanted this event to be a "thank you" party for all of our friends and customers throughout the year, and we wanted everyone to feel welcome to attend.
It was also fun to see quite a few people dressed up in costume- Peach found a fantastic pirate costume, and there were a number of other pirates in attendance at the party. Elvis even made an appearance. So did three brides- although we're pretty sure these weren't costumes but actual wedding dresses!
We're starting to see our friends sharing their own pictures on Facebook. If you have pictures from the event, we'd really love to see them! There are several ways you can share your Sandbar pictures:
- Upload them to Flickr and add them to the Sandbar Flickr group. Only group members can view the pictures.
- Add them to the Fan Photos on our Facebook page. It's a little tricky to figure this out- at least it was for me- so I've posted detailed instructions about how to do this.
- If you don't have a Flickr or Facebook account, you can still share your pictures. Email them to sandbar{at}thesandbar{dot}com and we might feature them on the blog or post them on our wall in the bar.
We've still got a few more things to share about last week's party. The highlight of our night was performing several of our favorite Sandbar float songs for the crowd. We also have several videos to share with you. Check back this week for more Sandbar party memories!
by Debbi | Aug 7, 2009 | Bar Band, Birthday Party, Events, People
The stage was in place, the beer garden was ready, and people were arriving rather quickly and much earlier than we anticipated.
One of our great surprises for the fans at our birthday party was our Master of Ceremonies- Captain Jack Sparrow. He's made an appearance at The Sandbar before, a couple of years ago when the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie opened. We loved his character so much that we sort of promised him that our next St. Patrick's Day float would be a pirate ship and he could travel down Massachusetts Street with us…but we all know how that goes. Whatever we decide to do outside of a month beforehand is definitely not going to be our float the following March.
Anyway, we redeemed ourselves with Captain Jack by throwing the party. We promised to build a pirate ship stage and give him a microphone. He even brought another pirate with him this time, and if you were there I know you'll agree that they were the real deal!
They spent lots of time mingling with the crowds, taking pictures with babies and children and, probably more frequently, grown married women swooning over "Johnny Depp."
But the pirates weren't the only special surprise guests we had…
Our fantastic neighbors at Richards Music Company helped us out tremendously with this party. They provided the sound systems, electricity, and even the opening band- Stomper. Some of the guys who work at the store play in the band, and we were excited to give them some exposure. The crowd loved them and we can't wait to see them play again.
The Bar Band was up next, much to the delight of the crowd. We're very proud of the fact that the Bar Band began at The Sandbar, started by one of our very own former staff members over a decade ago. It's a small splinter group of the KU Marching Jayhawks (not officially sponsored by KU, of course). They travel around to various bars the night before home football and some basketball games, usually decked out in Sandbar shirts that we've provided to them. Of course, we still have Bar Band members on staff.
The band members looked pretty sharp in their matching blue shirts- and we were frankly surprised that Tyler was able to round up so many of them to play at the party. They played for about thirty minutes- the KU fight song, the alma mater, and some other popular game day songs.
The Bar Band was so great we were sad when it was over! But there was much more to come at this party…as the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Tomorrow: More music and dancing and an enormous crowd of people!
