by Debbi | Apr 25, 2008 | Off the Wall
You may have noticed this picture hanging close to the door. 
Pat got this for us when he lived in West Palm Beach, Florida. He says:
Justin was visiting, so we drove down to Key West. We popped into Captain Tony’s to get out of the heat. Ol’ Captain Tony himself was chillin’ in the bar.
He had a stack of these pictures and he was signing them. We had him sign it to Dave and the Sandbar Gang, and then we signed it too. Justin framed it and we gave it to the Sandbar.
Captain Tony kept hugging Mandy and flipping Justin and I off. He sure is an ornery old fart…
Next time you find yourself in Key West, stop into Captain Tony’s. You never know, the captain himself might be there.
Oh, and that’s Jimmy Buffett in the picture with him.
by Debbi | Apr 15, 2008 | Off the Wall
A large print of Jimmy Buffett graces the Sandbar wall, which should surprise no one who is familiar with the place. After all, his lifestyle is the inspiration for so many things Sandbar- including Dave’s work schedule of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
This print is from Mr. Buffett’s Fruitcakes tour.
Legend, otherwise known as Dave’s memory, has it that this print- well, not this exact print, but one like it- hung behind the bar at Margaritaville in Key West. Peach spied it and wanted one for herself, so she bought one just like it.
For many years, it held the place of honor at The Sandbar, above the jukebox with a spotlight shining on it. When we opened the Ottawa location, the print was sent down south so that our new customers could gain an appreciation for Mr. Buffett as well.
Fans in Lawrence, however, clamored for its return, and it is now back on the wall in Lawrence; although by now, Brother Pants’ mermaid painting has taken over the coveted jukebox position.
by Debbi | Mar 29, 2008 | Off the Wall
This is one of my favorite things on the Sandbar walls.
This is cover of a tabloid magazine, the "Weekly World News." And everything in this tabloid is true, of course.
Several years ago, Dave and I were traveling either to or from Wichita, and we stopped at one of the service stations along the turnpike to get gas (and our usual $20 worth of junk food).
While we were waiting in line to pay, I spotted this cover and pointed it out to Dave. We had a good laugh, thought briefly about buying it, and decided not to waste our money.
Halfway back to our car, we looked at each other and immediately turned back around to go buy it- we just couldn’t resist. The best part, in my opinion, is the claim that the government is keeping this mermaid in a secret aquarium.
by Debbi | Mar 21, 2008 | Off the Wall
Since St. Patrick’s Day is just a few short days behind us now, it seemed like a good time to highlight one of the many St. Patrick’s Day related items decking our walls.
This picture is of the Love Shack float of 2003, infamous because one of the palm trees (both of which are intact in the photo) decided to fall over right in front of the judges. It nearly took out a few parade spectators. We were convinced the palm tree debacle cost us the grand prize that year.
This was one of our favorite pictures of that float, so Peach ordered a giant sized print and Brother Pants framed it for us at his shop, Fastframe. He does good work. If you’re in the market for framing give him a call.
It sure doesn’t seem like it’s been five years since we donned the go-go boots.
by Debbi | Feb 21, 2008 | Off the Wall
So, several weeks ago I talked about how we have accumulated all this random stuff on our walls through the years, and that much of this stuff has great stories behind it, but if we don’t get those stories recorded somewhere we’ll forget them. And besides that, these great stories deserve to be shared with the fans!
I decided to start with one of the biggest items we have. If you’ve been to The Sandbar in recent years, you’ll recognize this great oil painting that hangs over the jukebox.
This was a commissioned piece that Dave and Peach requested of our artist in residence, Brother Pants. He painted it on a panel and even framed it himself at his shop, as he does with a lot of the stuff on our walls.
This painting truly represents The Sandbar and our hurricane story- our fictitious sea captain Jimmy and his mermaid love Kayla, on the sandbar where they fell in love.
Originally, a giant print of Jimmy Buffett hung in this place of honor. I’ll tell you all about that one in a future post. Until then, if there’s a particular piece of wall art you want to know about, or one that you can share the story of, let me know.
by Debbi | Jan 29, 2008 | Off the Wall
I had a brainstorm the other day, actually during the Martin Luther King Day festivities, and I think our readers will love it.
If you’ve been to The Sandbar, which most of you probably have, then you know we have an abundance of stuff on our walls. In fact, one can barely see the actual wall of the place through the accumulation of dollars, pictures, paintings, and other assorted trinkets that have accumulated over the last eighteen years. Wow, has it really been that long?
I’m going to start featuring a profile of some of the more colorful and interesting items. Lots of these things were donated by current and former customers to pay homage to, as well as leave a little bit of themselves behind in, their favorite bar . Our fans should know the stories behind all of this stuff. Plus, we still dream of someday writing and printing a Sandbar book and the more history we have documented, the easier that project will be.
So, if there’s a particular item on the wall in either Lawrence or Ottawa (because a lot of our items were shipped down south when our second location opened, so their walls wouldn’t have to start out as bare as ours did), leave a note in the comments. And if you know the story behind something on the wall, let me know that too, because there are definitely things hanging around whose origins are unknown even to those who have been around since the beginning of time.
