Several bachelorette parties came through our doors. The first bachelorette happened to be someone I know from my day job. She dressed up as a mermaid and got on the bar with two of her friends to read the poem and do the dance.
There were several birthdays in the house last night. Dave rang the gong and called all the birthday boys and girls to the bar. Our friend Chad actually got on the bar willingly, much to our surprise. He would not, however, participate in the Car Wash dance with Dave, Tegan, and the other birthday kids. (That refusal became a standoff between him and Dave that lasted most of the night. Boys can be stubborn).
And of course, the Bar Band– the highlight of Friday nights in the fall for many of our customers.
The Bar Band showed up just before the 10 pm hurricane and took the stage as soon as the mermaids were finished with their performance. If you’ve never seen the Bar Band in the Sandbar, you are missing out. It’s a mini-pep rally the night before the game, with a splinter group of Marching Jayhawks parading around to several bars with their instruments and playing all their popular tunes.
It’s especially fun to see the Bar Band cram into every available space in our bar, and even on the bar.
Last night, I took a short video of the Bar Band. It’s a little dark, and the sound isn’t great, but that’s what you get with a point and shoot camera.
Enjoy! And if you missed the Bar Band, come back on the next Friday night before a home football game!
At long last, Kansas University football is upon us!
Tonight's season opener is against Northern Colorado and starts at 6 p.m. And apparently the game is sold out! Those crazy fans are already tailgating up on campus.
The start of football season also means the start of one of our favorite traditions….the Lawrence Bar Band! We are especially proud of this over-a-decade-long tradition, because it got it's start at The Sandbar, by one of our staff members who was a Marching Jayhawk. Every year since then, the torch has been passed down, and we try to always have at least one Marching Jayhawk on staff to carry on the Bar Band.
Dave printed this year's Bar Band shirts yesterday- their blue shirts were donated by adidas, thanks to doorboy Andrew. The front has the Sandbar logo with "Bar Band" on it, and the back has "Fand Buckers." I'll leave that to your imagination…but let me just say, they requested it.
The Bar Band made their rounds for the first time this season last night, and we've got pictures.
The picture to the left was contributed by Friday bartender Phil. He labeled this picture as "Heather's best night at the bar and Sharky's revenge."
It was a great night of music and fans and game day spirit. If you missed it, remember that the Bar Band plays on Friday night before every home game, usually around 10 pm.
We try to get them to The Sandbar as early as possible and as their first stop, since we're so tiny, and then they wander around town. I think they usually hit up the Wheel, and this year they're going to our new neighbor the Barrel House too. Where else have you seen the Bar Band?
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!
There was a great article in the University Daily Kansan today written by a senior about his last days as a student in Lawrence. He mentioned a number of things he was thankful for and things he would miss, and one of them was the bar band.
The writer and his friend were waxing nostalgic at a local bar (I like to think perhaps it was The Sandbar, but it could have been anywhere) and concluded that the bar band is one of the best traditions in Lawrence. We couldn't agree more.
The bar band, of course, got it's start back in the mid-90's by one of our very own staff members, Chad. He gathered a group of friends from the Marching Jayhawks, and they decided to hit up several Lawrence bars on the Friday nights before football games to get the fans going early.
"What time is it? Beer:30." That's the motto of the bar band.
The Bar Band is a pretty important part of The Sandbar during football and basketball season. In the original post about the beginning of this group, I said I didn't know how long the band had been around- that mystery has been solved.
In our attempt to chronicle some of the colorful things that adorn our walls, I uploaded a picture of a bar band from long ago to our Facebook page and asked for help. Almost immediately, nearly every person in the picture was identified and "tagged," and comments started rolling in.
This picture is of the original Bar Band, and it hangs on the lower wall in between the door and the bar. As you can see, it's been on the wall for quite some time. According to Randy, this group was started in the fall of 1996 by Chad, who was either a bartender at The Sandbar at the time, or became one later, I'm not sure.
Chad said that the group's motto was "What time is it? Beer:30." They tried to keep their mission simple- they traveled around to three or four bars the night before football games to try to get people excited.
The first few times they played at The Sandbar, they actually stood outside the bar and played into the open door. One night they walked up, and Peach and Ted told them to "Get on the bar!"
Ever since then, the bar band has been a welcome addition to the nights before a game. The band members cram into every possible space, including on top of the bar and on the benches. We buy them each a beer to show our appreciation, and then they go on their merry way to the next bar.
Well, another Sandbar Halloween party has come and gone, and I think we've recovered very well. There were plenty of tricks and treats this year…
The biggest trick of the night was successfully pulled off by bartender Coleen. Every year she talks non-stop about Halloween, and like several other friends she starts planning her next costume on November 1, but this year she was suspiciously quiet.
She showed up after ten o'clock dressed as Beth from Dog the Bounty Hunter, with Dog in tow. I think this picture is appropriate enough for the blog, hopefully she won't yell at me:
The pair of them won the costume contest- yes, we remembered to hold it this year! Second place went to the Hamburgler. Neither Dave nor I can remember who won third place- anyone else remember?
Now for the treats. Since it was Halloween we all forgot about the Bar Band, but they still play on holidays. They stopped by for their regular pre-game festivities, and most of them were dressed in costume.
There were so many great costumes this year! The whole bunch from the Wizard of Oz, a KU wizard, a Twister game, a detective from CSI, Rainbow Brite. The Orbit gum girl made an appearance, and we had bikers, a sexy (scary?) Abe Lincoln, and even Jesus. He was on vacation, though, and you could tell by his Hawaiian shirt.
Here are a few pictures of some of our staff, along with some of our favorite costumes of the night:
Check out our Halloween photo album for more pictures of the fun. And don't forget to upload your own Sandbar Halloween pictures to our Flickr group!
