Last spring we set up the Sandbar on Whrrl and Foursquare, two location-based social networs that allow you to check in, share your location and find friends. We added "specials" that allowed users to get free jukebox credits when they checked in and showed their status to the bartender.
Now, we've added a third network: Gowalla. It's similar to the others, with one big difference: the network was co-founded by an alumnus of KU. Which makes it a big deal in our opinion. And he's been to the Sandbar. Check out the picture he uploaded to our spot on Gowalla.
If you check in to the Sandbar on Gowalla, you'll get this nice friendly welcome message:
Once you check in, show this message to the bartender and they'll load five free credits on the jukebox for you. This offer is only valid before 9 p.m., any day of the week.
Another reason we like Gowalla: the AP Top 25/Gowalla Check In Challenge. The contest encourages fans to check in to five designated locations on their college campuses, and at the end of the regular football season the school with the most points will earn a $10,000 donation to their general scholarship fund. You can also win random prizes like MacBook Airs and iPods, just for checking in.
KU is pretty far behind in the standings right now, but you can help! Use Gowalla to check in at the University, Allen Fieldhouse, Memorial Stadium, the Campanile or the Kansas Union and you'll earn a point. Send your check-in to Twitter or Facebook and you'll earn five more. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Our famous Shark Attack drink has inspired a love of all things shark-related at The Sandbar. We were thrilled when one of our favorite customers, Brenna, told us she was going to make shark attack cupcakes.
The picture doesn't do the cupcake justice, because I'm not a good photographer, but use your imagination:
This weekend, she brought by the finished product. And man, were they good! You might wonder how if a baked good can actually taste like a tropical drink; the answer is yes. Somehow she managed to add blue curacao liqueur to the cupcake recipe, grenadine to the frosting, and make it taste exactly like what you'd imagine a shark attack cupcake to taste like.
The cupcakes even had little plastic toy shark picks stuck in the frosting and ocean blue paper cups. They were very fancy.
Big thanks to Brenna for the delicious treats!
You can read more about Brenna's baking adventures on her blog.
A long time ago, some of the Sandbar crew wrote revised lyrics to "Love Shack" and recorded a new song. We played it after the hurricane dance for awhile, but the song faded into obscurity and we forgot all about it.
Recently we were attempting to organize our hurricane video collection and discovered a recording of the song at the end of our 2002 hurricane video. Since you probably didn't watch all 15 minutes of that video- yes, 15 minutes!- we made a separate video with just the "Love Shack" clip just to make sure you didn't miss this glorious piece of poetry. And the bloopers- you can't miss the bloopers.
On the vocals: Scott aka "Showtime" and Peach, with help from Coleen, Debbi and Dave. Listen carefully to the lyrics; they're about the Sandbar, with some inside jokes sprinkled in for fun.
The Bar Band visited the Sandbar last night to rally the fans for today's football game against Colorado.
The Bar Band is one of our very favorite traditions. This ever-changing group of musicians has endured for over a decade now! You can read about their history here and see a picture of the original group here.
I wasn't there last night to see them. But the cool thing about social media and the online world today is that I can still share pictures and even a video with you, thanks to friends of the Sandbar who were there.
Heather took this picture from her awesome spot in the bar- right in front of the band. She probably can't hear today, but as she said, "it's a small price to pay for the awesomeness!"
Another Sandbar fan, Becca, took this great picture:
And finally, Brent, an out-of-town visitor here for the game, uploaded this video:
Thanks to everyone who came in last night, and especially to Heather, Becca and Brent for sharing pictures and video with us! Enjoy the tailgate and the game today, and Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Our pint glasses are a popular item, especially on Tropical Thursdays. We like to change the design on the glasses to match holidays or other events, but we don't always have time to create the artwork.
We know there are lots of talented Sandbar fans out there, so we want to use your artistic abilities!
Here's what we're looking for:
Thanksgiving/turkey-themed design
Christmas/winter holiday-themed design
New Year's Eve design
The designs are printed in a single color, so we need a black and white design. It needs to be a line art drawing with no shading or other complicated techniques. The design also needs to be simple- these are small images that are printed onto glass, so lots of tiny details will get lost. You don't have to be a professional artist to do this!
Clip art is fine or an original hand-drawn design works too. You can see some past examples here, here and here.
Send your submission to us at sandbar@thesandbar.com. Submit something for one holiday or all three, we don't care.
We'll either let our staff choose the winners, or we might let the fans vote. Submitting your design to us gives us the right to use it; we're not going to deal with fancy copyright and trademark issues. But, we'll compensate you with a pack of pint glasses or some other prize, our undying gratitude and the chance to be known to other Sandbar fans!
