Musician Friends

ALBERTINA WASSENHOVE and the MIDWAY TAVERN

We are so fortunate here in the Michigan area, to have one of the finest blues venues in the country. It's the MIDWAY TAVERN located at 810 W. 4th Street, Mishawaka, Indiana. The Midway has a long and storied career...starting in 1924 as Martha's Midway Lunch operated by Albertina's Mother. Martha is in the Bartenders Hall of Fame...she tended bar in this same room for 67 years. You'll find her story in the "People Magazine" archives. Famous people like Al Capone and Knute Rockne were regulars, as was many of the Notre Dame folks.

The bar has original fixtures and lighting ....it looks like "time stood still" over the past 60-70 years. The walls are covered with hundreds of photos and hundred of autographs of folks that have played there. Albertina has been running the bar since the sixties. Being a lover of music and a great dancer, she keeps the bar going thru good and bad times. It's no longer a money maker for her but she says that she will keep it open "till the money runs out".

Being centrally located between Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis she's able to draw big names in the blues scene on the day before or day after shows in the major cities. Where else in a 1920's bar will you see major national acts like: Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, Rick Estrin & the Night Cats, Deanna Bogart, Pinetop Perkins, Kim Wilson, Michael Burks, Barrelhouse Chuck, Willie Smith, John Nemeth, Popa Chubby, Bryan Lee, Eden Brent, Davina and the Vagabonds, Blue Lunch, Nick Moss, Mississippi Heat, Jimmy Thackery, Bruce Katz, Doug Deming, Dennis Gruenling, Walter Trout Band and on and on.

If you'd like to learn more about the bar WATCH THIS VIDEO