More than his laid back attitude or smoldering green eyes, Tyler Colburn's known for something very special around Casey Moore's Oyster House -- kickass bloody marys.
But when he's not serving up his famous spicy hangover juice (you can catch him behind the bar on Sundays), he's at the front entrance talking to regulars, reminding 21-year-olds to get horizontal IDs and taking orders from Thomas and Re-run, Casey's two regular cats and honorary bouncers.
Colburn has worked at the neighborhood bar in Tempe for four and a half years and has seen his fair share of twenty first birthdays, drunken Paddy's Day shenanigans and spooky ghost occurrences. He'll explain later.
The 32-year-old agreed to chat about his doorman experiences over a State Press and large bottle of water. Welcome, Tyler, to Bouncer Confidential.
Do you carry anything other than a radio?
Nope. None of us need anything other than that. People come here to get away from the Scottsdale and Mill Avenue atmosphere, so we have very little problems, and if I do need help, I can call up the guy at the back door and have things taken care of pretty easily.
Bar troubles: The heat, but I drink a ton of water. And of course the ghosts -- talk to David behind the bar about it. He's seen some crazy shit.
Highlights: Here, we're not out to take every college kids money, we're here for that person that lives at that house across the street, or that house ... And we don't have any live music, so people just come here to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere. If you go to Axis or Salty's they're totally different vibes. I like working here because of who's here.
Token bar fight story: I did get spit in the face by an old biker chick -- I had just told her that she needed to leave because she was drunk. But I don't have too many crazy or violent things that happen. If you do want to see a crazy night, check us out on St. Patrick's day or Halloween.
Summertime blues: Sometimes I miss the college kids. Most of the students who come down here all the time are really good people. You get the crazy kids once in a while, but for the most part we get the kids who just want to hang out. They went to Mill, they didn't have a great time, so they came back.
How do you tell a fake? Easy. Bad print, or it's just not the person. You can tell. I check out the heels, I size 'em up, it's pretty easy. And when I do catch someone I have a few really good questions, but I'm not going to tell you.
Breakfast of Champions: I have a cup of coffee and a cigarette.
Misconception: There should hardly be a stereotype for bouncers, we're all really different and work in totally different environments.
