April 4, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.
Business profile - Midnight Express Mobile Entertainment
Such and such quits, such and such gets married.
Mike Asher and Bobby Waddle were ready to write the next and last lines in permanent ink, a postscript to a treasured time that was being relegated to the crowded page of a yearbook packed with whimsical well wishes.
But this song has a different ending than the one either of them expected. In this version, the friends reunite. The separated become inseparable. The rockers get together for one last jam session with no end in sight.
Asher, now 51, thinks of his deejaying partnership with Waddle as fate.
As a child growing up in Hope, Asher said he drove his mother crazy by playing and replaying vinyl records and 45s. He remembered the not-so-positive effect the song "Love Will Keep us Together" had on his mother.
"She'd yell at me to turn down the music," he said.
Asher and Waddle met as students at Hauser High School. Asher, who was three years older, remembers speaking with Waddle one day and discovering they had a common interest in music -- specifically as deejays.
Before this, Waddle went his own way, entertaining at various events including birthdays and graduations. Now, he was part of a two-man team, working with Waddle at Hauser dances and building a lasting friendship.
"Put two crazy people together and everybody is sure to have a great time," Asher said.
The partnership continued.
They donated their deejay skills at each other's weddings.
Children followed.
Their lives grew more complicated until, finally, Waddle, busy juggling it all, stepped down to raise his family.
The years 1995 to about 2010 passed with Asher as a solo act. He remained friends with Waddle, but no longer musically connected.
"I hounded him for years," said Asher, who never thought his joking efforts would have an effect. But then the Brian Adams song took a divergent turn. With Waddle's children graduated, Waddle found himself with time again to pursue his passion.
The team reunited and eventually founded their own company called Midnight Express Mobile Entertainment.
Asher said the highlight of their partnership came in the spring, when a chance encounter led them to meeting Vice President Mike Pence.
The two had worked an event at Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County where they met a photographer who mentioned to them, almost in passing, that she had a gig lined up to take pictures at the wedding of Pence's son. Asher asked if the young couple had found a deejay, and the photographer said she would make some calls.
They got the job.
The vice president requested "The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra," Asher said, and was a charming guest.
Waddle said he and Asher in the past have gone their own way on certain deejay jobs. But they discovered along the way that they have a lot more fun together. From now on they would work only as a team.
"We have more fun together, which I think helps others have more fun, too," Waddle said.
Asher summed it up.
"We want to provide entertainment and fun so people can forget their struggles for the day and have the time of their lives," he said.
"It's been so much fun."[[In-content Ad]]
