A Year Out of the Doorway

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — For as long as this paper has printed listings, a good share of them have had Charlene Broussard’s name somewhere near them. She owned The Sandbar in Biloxi. She sold it last year. She lives in Ocean Springs now and plays mahjong on Wednesdays. She would like it known that Wednesday is not available.

We begin our twenty-fifth year with this issue, and we wanted to ask her about the bands.

Every night she owned the place, she stood in the doorway before the first song and counted the house. She did not count during the show. She counted again at close. We asked whether she remembered any of the numbers. She said all of them.

“We asked whether she remembered any of the numbers. She said all of them.

We asked about Critter’s Gonna Critter, from Mobile, who played her room more than anybody. “Fourteen times,” she said. “That is the most any band played my bar. I did not plan this. They kept being available on Tuesdays.”

“They were quiet. They loaded in on time. Dale said thank you. The bass was too loud, but I never told him, because he was polite about it.” She thought about it. “They brought their own sound man. He was very clean.”

We asked about the four chairs. In 1995, after the others had stopped coming, Dale Whitfield set up four chairs on her stage out of habit. “I saw them,” she said. “I did not mention it.”

We asked whether she had ever told Mr. Whitfield the band was good. She said she had told him which night he could have and what it paid. She said he understood her.

We asked if she would count the house at our anniversary supper next month. She said she was retired. Then she asked how many we were expecting.