There was no crying at the community memorial service for country radio personality Michael Bandy.

No sentimental eulogies.

Not even hushed piano music.

Instead, co-workers, friends and fans gathered Monday night at Austin City Saloon to mix and mingle, sip beers and share stories of a man who liked having fun and wanted to make sure everyone else did, too.

"Bandy wouldn't have wanted everybody to sit around and mope," said Deidre Ransdell, who has been an on-air personality with Bandy and Bailey in the Morning since 2001 and co-owns Austin City Saloon. "He was always happy."

Bandy died of kidney and liver failure Dec. 20 in the hospice unit of St. Joseph Hospital. He was 37.

Ransdell said the bar was a favorite hangout for Bandy, who at one time was a partner in the business.

"Bandy was famous for getting up on stage with the band whether he was invited or not," Ransdell recalled. "He couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but boy, he thought he could."

Karen Scott and Darenda Watkins laughed as they remembered the lunches they had with Bandy every Thursday on the patio at O'Neill's Irish Pub.

He had nicknamed them Snuggles and Cackles and always helped them come up with creative excuses for why they were gone so long from work.

"He was so special," Watkins said. "It's really difficult to walk back out on that patio. As much as you want to cry, you just get a big smile on your face."

Aimee Baston, who manages annual giving for Kentucky Children's Hospital, said she came to show her respect for Bandy "and all that he did for the children of Kentucky."

He and co-host Jason Bailey helped raise more than $690,000 for the hospital over the last four years by hosting an annual radio telethon, she said.

Bandy, a native of Cooke ville, Tenn., teamed up with Bailey in 1994, and over the years their show aired in Lexington, Louisville and Atlanta.

"In radio, we grew up together," Bailey said. "It's like losing a brother."

He said the two of them could never figure out all the planning and scripting that some hosts put into their shows. The two of them just talked about things that happened to them in their daily lives.

"We're not trying to be funny," he said. "It's just, funny things happen."

The show currently airs on WLXX, 92.9 The Bear.

Eventually, Bailey said, another personality might join him and Ransdell, but "you're never going to replace Bandy," he said. "It ain't going to be another Bandy."