One great Wednesday afternoon I was sitting at the bar as Joe was working. The phone rings, and I answered. It was a girl who left her credit card at the bar. Her name was "Nemo" (not her real name). So I hung up and sat down, expecting her to come by very soon.
Ten minutes went by and a girl walks in and says "I left my card here last night." So Joe went and grabbed teh card that said "Nemo" and hands it to the girl. She says "thanks" and leaves. As we see the girl drive off, another girl walks in and says "Hi, I'm Nemo, I left my card here last night."
Joe had just given the wrong card to the wrong girl. Now on one hand, Joe was not the sharpest tool in the shed this time. But on the other hand, the cards were two different colors and the first girl didn't realize it.
–Andrew
Followed by:
I'm sorry Dave!
–Joe
This weekend, a friend referred to the trip back into the bar the day after to retrieve a left-behind card as the adult version of the "walk of shame." I chuckled. He was an over-40 type who was making the walk of shame himself. He got the right card.
Dave and I were at the Sandbar early today before it opened, trying to get a few things done so we could search Lawrence for $5 bills, since we didn't make it to the bank before they closed.
Shortly after the Coleen, the afternoon bartender, arrived, a group of young guys piled in the door.
"Are you open yet?" they asked. To which we all replied, "Of course!"
In a flurry of activity- much like a hurricane- the group ordered Shark Attacks, requested an indoor hurricane, inquired about t-shirts for sale, and exponentially raised the energy level in the bar.
Turns out, the boys are scattered around the country, and last month they booked plane tickets and made plans to be in Lawrence this weekend- assuming that KU would be playing in the Final Four and then the National Championship game. And they wanted to be in Lawrence when KU won it all.
Lucky for us and the town of Lawrence, they continued with their plans even though KU didn't deliver.
We ran a hurricane, and a couple of the guys put on the mermaid costumes, hopped on the bar, and read the poem. They all danced and drank and even broke a glass. (They were very apologetic.)
After the hurricane was over, we played the other popular dance-along songs- Car Wash and Shake Your Tailfeathers. And then, Dave leaned over and whispered to me:
"Should I play Party in the USA?"
"Yes! Do it! Let's see what they do!" I responded.
And holy cow, you should have seen it. After just a few beats of the song, the boys all cheered like sorority girls and threw their hands in the air and danced around the bar.
What a super fun, and unexpected, treat on a Saturday afternoon. Guys, if you're reading this, thanks for coming in. You're the kind of customers we love to see- the ones who have fun, embrace the cheesy atmosphere, and are just plain nice.
I even managed to get a short video clip of the boys doing the Car Wash.
We're still laughing today about yesterday's suggestion that the Sandbar jukebox was booting Jimmy Buffett in favor of teen pop. The fact that "Party in the USA" and other songs by kids too young to even enter the bar have been played a lot probably gave credibility to this proposal.
Even more amusing, it seemed that at least one current employee fell for the prank (ahem, Danny).
Calm down.
We are not changing the jukebox. And we are absolutely not removing Jimmy Buffett. That would be blasphemy.
"The jukebox is the heart of the Sandbar. Please don't change it too much."
"Buffett cds are what makes the Sandbar the
Sandbar, please do not take them all away!"
"If the Sandbar yanks Buffett, the Sandbar
shall no longer be the Sandbar … :("
And the absolute best comment, in my humble opinion:
Oh dear sweet baby Jesus, let this be a
cruel April Fools! We don't change the Bible and we don't mess with The
Best Damn Jukebox in North America! If you must make amendments plz fix
the Elvis and Buffett cd's that skip. More Buffett and mas tequila!!
It was clear that a few of our fans checked the calendar. We loved this compliment (thanks Brad!):
"This may be the best April Fool's Joke I've seen this year … bravo."
I sincerely hope that we didn't send anyone into unnecessary panic mode yesterday. Rest assured, we love our jukebox as much as you do.
We're extremely proud of the Sandbar jukebox, and although everyone might not agree we think it's the best one in town. It's full of music from at least seven decades, and includes favorites like Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, ABBA, Disney tunes, and every Jimmy Buffett song you could dream of.
However. Times changes and people change.
Recently, I got an iTunes email receipt that ratted out the Miley Cyrus fan in the house. I didn't download "Party in the USA," and my dog, although extremely smart, hasn't mastered the computer yet. The only culprit was Dave.
Of course, he quickly used the bar as an excuse. "But you should see them dance!" he exclaimed when I called out his music taste. "Even the boys get up and dance!" he said. And it's always more fun at the Sandbar when the crowd is dancing. Dave's got a special playlist on an iPod that he can kick on whenever the jukebox music just doesn't deliver- and lately, that's been happening a lot.
We've decided it's time for a jukebox overhaul. This has never happened before, and in fact hands have been slapped when they tried to sneak a new CD (looking at you, Scotty Mack). But, we aim to please, and the masses clearly want new music.
Sad to say, Buffett may not make the cut. For some reason, people in a tropical bar just don't want to hear tropical music anymore. We're reviewing jukebox records to see what other songs haven't been played in the last few months, but they probably won't be missed.
As we go through this process, we'd love to hear your suggestions for new music. What songs will make you get up and dance?
Once upon a time, we had a lionfish in our big fish tank. It was a beautiful fish named….well, I don't remember its name, but ask Coleen. The lionfish had bold dark red and white stripes and large fan-like fins. It's an extremely venomous fish native to the Pacific ocean region.
The lionfish didn't live at The Sandbar for very long. It was a voracious predator that ate too many of our other fish, so Dave finally found another home for him.
Recently, I found an article in Reader's Digest about lionfish and how they've somehow migrated to the Atlantic Ocean. Very few other fish prey on lionfish, so in addition to threatening the supply of native fish and coral, they've also rapidly multiplied.
The article had several theories about why lionfish have appeared in the Atlantic- one theory was that when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, it destroyed numerous indoor saltwater fish tanks and released lionfish who were washed into the ocean. Maybe, maybe not.
Lionfish aren't deadly to humans, but their sting is very painful. Probably also part of the reason our lionfish had to go- Dave didn't want to risk contact with it.
We're very proud of our beautiful fish tank and its inhabitants. Which ones would you like to know more about? Leave us a comment and we'll tell more stories about the fish.
Sandbar, please do not take them all away!"