Mike turned the big Three-Oh on Monday and over the weekend I threw him two birthday parties: one decoy fondue party at Brutus on Saturday night (which got busted up by a f%@!ing riot breaking out before 11PM), and one surprise party at Red on Sunday. I've never thrown a surprise party before...oh wait, that's not true. I kinda sorta threw Julie a surprise party last year but it was really small and there wasn't a lot involved other than gathering a bunch of friends, picking up some food, and showing up at her apartment unannounced. Come to think of it, I don't think she was all too pleased at first (I mean, seriously, who likes it when people just show up unannounced?), but she was totally fine after a few beers and a pound of birthday cake.

Anyway, I planned the surprise party to go down on Sunday around noon at Red. I chose that time and location for several reasons. One, no one gigs at noon on Sunday so all Mike's bandmates could be there. Two, Patrick Palomo plays (or used to play) brunch at Red on Sunday so if any of the boys wanted to get up and play, Patrick was more than happy to share the stage. Three, we spend copious amounts of time in bars at the various gigs and I wanted to take the party out of the bar to a place where people could bring their families if they wanted to. It would be the first time I'd actually see some of Mike's friends in the light of day.

So I had the date and venue in mind, and the next step was to ensure Mike had that day off which would be a little tricky since Mike gets his schedule from Watabe for the whole month a day or so before the month starts. If he was scheduled on July 13 I'd be hard-pressed for an idea or an excuse to get him to take the day off without arousing suspicion. Enter Rich Borja. Rich talked to Mike's boss and told him about my plan and asked him if he could give Mike that day off. And he did! So, thanks, Mike's boss Mike. :)

After that, everything was pretty easy to plan. I designed an invitation and got them delivered to Mike's inner circle. Sure, I could have invited all 223 of his MySpace friends but I wanted to keep the party intimate. 40 invitations went out and 34 RSVPs came back. I was very pleased. I ordered a cake, balloons, a few things here and there, and I designed the Mike Hartendorp Activity Placemat (which turned out pretty cool). Everything was smooth sailing.

So how did I get Mike to Red on Sunday morning without arousing suspicion? After talking to Patrick Palomo about the sound system at Red, I found out Pat was not going to be playing on Sundays anymore and that gave me a brilliant idea on how to get Mike to his surprise party. Re-enter Rich. I called Rich and told him to tell Mike that Ruben at Red asked if Rich and Mike could play brunch on July 13 because they hadn't found a replacement for Patrick yet. Of course, Mike said he'd do it since he didn't have to work that day.

Anyway, this is getting long, so to cut to the chase: after a bit of stalling for time in the bathroom on my part, I drove Mike to Red on Sunday and he was completely surprised. And it was fantastic. My goal from the start was to gather his closest friends to celebrate him in a place where they could all play music together and I did it with the help of some of my friends. A huge thank you to Mindi, Jessica, Julie, Logan, Richard and Madrid for helping me pull off the surprise of the year. And thanks to everyone who came to the party and spent their Sunday afternoons with us.

There are many photos from the party on my flickr stream. I also put this little video together in which I tried to include all the highlights. Enjoy!

Everyone should have a party thrown in their honor at least once in their lifetime. You all have a little over 6 months to plan my 35th birthday party. Hop to it, people!