My good friend Mike Harle, threw a 50th birthday bash for his gal Jen Grabowski, and boy was it a BASH!! Lots of friends, tons of food, and the AMAZING Mike Wheeler Band from Chicago!! Mike got them to come to Finnegan's Pub in Dyer, Indiana, just to play for Jen's birthday!! PLUS, Joe Baranowski started the party tunes early on (I'm sorry I missed him)!! I'm thinking Mike may have set the bar slightly high for other guys out there.
This was the first time I had the pleasure of seeing The Mike Wheeler Band, and they were AWESOME!! These guys could do it all! Blues, funk, rock, hip hop, and everything in between, including some current tunes! They are simply amazing musicians! Northwest Indiana staple (and my friend, as well as Mike & Jen's) Kenny Kinsey stopped by, along with his wife Laurell, to wish Jen a happy birthday, and ended up on stage for a few songs, much to the delight of the crowd (after Mike Wheeler asked Mrs Kinsey if it was ok, lol). While I took photos, Mike had Laura Wilson record video of the band.
As there were a lot of cell phone photos being taken, I felt it was my "job" to capture the fun of the evening, and Jen's moments. So, on with the show..
Of course the birthday girl has to introduce her special guests...
I believe this was the first song of the evening, dedicated to Jen....
(video by Mike Harle)
Jen's guy Mike and his very sweet mom....
Video man Michael Nowak....
Aww... Jen's getting serenaded....
THAT'S a birthday photo.....
I feel I must apologize here, a few photos were attempted in a very dark area, right in front of the stage. So dark, in fact, that my camera couldn't auto-focus on a subject. So a few of the next photos, may not be as focused as they should be, as I was attempting manual focus on people I could barely see, lol.
I think you can see by Jen's face why I said Mike set the bar kinda high...
I think she had a good night... Happy Birthday Jen!!
1074 Joliet St.
Dyer, In
And if you're in need of flooring work....
(I highly recommend)
** ALL photos on this blog are property of Christi Bushby, copyrighted and protected as such by law. Please see my copyright page for details and/or permissions of use.
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