The Harmony Parlor Photo Album

Alice & Friends: Here I come, Tacoma!

As André often says, “Music brings people together”, this is exactly what I experienced as André Rieu & JSO had their US Tour over the past few weeks.

It's been over 4 years since I last wrote a “novel” on Harmony Parlor. I thought I was due for some updates, but now that I attended the Tacoma concert, I didn't know how to write my report...just so much happened over the weeks...before I even got to Tacoma! This report is not about which pieces were played in the concert, but more about how André's music unites people. And if you had read my previous novels, you would know I seldom talked much about the concerts, but they're more family and friends events.

It was March 2013 when I last went to a beautiful concert of André. Dad loved asking “Is André touring anywhere?”, “When are they coming again?” We thought they had a push pin for Canada in 2016...but nope...we had to wait! When the US Tour 2017 was officially announced, we thought Canada would be included as well...but nope...we had to wait!

Earlier this year, some of my Aussie and Kiwi friends told me they're planning to come to a few concerts of the US Tour, still, I wasn't planning. My dad was sick, he's not in shape to travel anywhere, thought I would just wait for Kiwi Kathy to come visit me in Vancouver. We had never met since we knew each other over 8 years ago! Edwina (or Mrs. Ed, we called) would be coming back to her beloved second home with her husband Jeff (or Mr. Burger) and Liz. I had not seen Liz in her Aussie headband since Maastricht 2009, this gave me something to look forward to.

Sadly, something came up that changed my life forever. My dad wouldn't make it to the next concert. Our beloved Charlie passed away in April, mom and I were not planning to travel anywhere, we had lots to do and not in the mood. One thing I'm thankful is that Charlie had fond memories to take with him. We were in Toronto 2007 for the World Stadium Tour, Ottawa 2008 for a concert and a visit to our capital city, Maastricht 2009 for the hometown concert experience, New York 2010 for supporting André “Live” at Today Show. Charlie did very well in his 80's. At the Celebration of Life, we were showing tons of photos of my handsome dad while playing André's music, with Toselli's Serenade looped the most, afterall, it's Charlie's most favorite piece since 1985, when he first listened to André Rieu & the Maastricht Salon Orchestra. Friends told us it was the most relaxed service they'd ever attended ...

Life goes on! Back to the US Tour...it didn't attract just the “ANZACS”, but our Dutch webhosts too! Ineke and Ruud were planning to visit me in October and cheer me up! Yesss!!!

A few months passed by! One day I learnt that Kiwi Barbara would be going to Tacoma concert with her dad. I hate driving cross the border, but it'd be just a couple of hours drive once we pass it. Alright then! That's it! If 93-yr-old Billy boy could go, it'd be a shame that I didn't go. Besides, it's been too long since I last had any Rieu events. The last fans activity I participated was the virtual fan dinner we held on Harmony Parlor Facebook page in July 2014, that was a lot of fun with 108 members from 27 countries signed up, and enough virtual leftover food to last for a week, and it was sweet and lovely for a few years my dear friends brought “Laminated Alice” to Rieu events, but it would be nice if I could go in person. So.... Okay! America The Beautiful, here I come!

It was nearly end of September, the first Rieu birds Mrs. Ed, Mr. Burger and Liz arrived from Australia, I picked them up at Mrs. Ed's most favorite hotel and we had dinner buffet at my most favorite casino resort in town. It was a short but wonderful gathering. They were travelling to the Rockies and the States, and we were to meet again in Tacoma!

2 weeks later, our Dutch friends arrived! Ineke and Ruud were staying at a hotel very close to my favorite place in town, so guess what we had for dinner?? Yep! Buffet at same place again! Next day, our Thanksgiving Day, was a full day “Alice Tour”. I took them to Richmond Olympic Oval, where the Dutch team proudly scored a few medals in the 2010 Winter Games. I even brought a few orange jackets with me for photo opportunity. Although Ruud had a little difficulty zipping up, he made it eventually...and he looked good!

We also went to several other places, including a visit to the beautiful temple, where a memorial tablet of my dad was placed, and I showed them the venue in which André played his concerts. I'm glad the weather was nice as they had only one day in town, then the two Rieu birds continued with their busy itinerary and headed down to meet other friends in US, and of course some André's concert to attend.

I was working, my sister was in town, I was going to Tacoma....very occupied. Kathy was very thoughtful and suggested if I was too busy we would just meet up in Tacoma and not Vancouver... No Way!! Kathy and Rhonda were here just for the night and we had been looking forward to it for soooo long, we must meet!! Although our Plan A for dinner didn't work as I had other engagement, thought I came up with a nice Plan B, but nope!!! Oct 26, their flight was delayed for two hours, still, I thought we would meet up regardless, even for just 10 minutes at the airport...until something very important came up (details to follow) and I didn't find time to go meet them. I knew I would regret if I didn't meet them in Vancouver, afterall, it's Alice in Vancouver, so it's confusing and wouldn't sound right if they met Alice in Tacoma...our friends might go “Who the (beep) is Alice in Tacoma?”

It's 10:30pm when I asked if my visitors were in pyjamas yet. “Come now!!! Room 3xx...”, so off I go! Quickly dropped everything and popped into my car, heading to meet the two Rieu birds. “Hellooooo!! OMG!!! You're here!!!” Sorry if there's a little bit of screaming at the hotel lobby at 11pm, but after knowing each other on social media for over 8 years, we finally met! We had about 80 minutes of quality time together and had to say goodbye after a photo with A RIEU, but we would meet again in Tacoma, so that's not too sad.

And now, what was it so important that killed my Plan B with my dear friends? I was online checking for flight updates of the Rieu birds, but as I checked my emails, I saw a name in my inbox and go “WHOA!!! Oh Boy!!” and had to reply immediately and made arrangements as we had less than 2 days. Ineke mentioned to me a few days earlier, that a TV producer following André in US for a new road soap might email me, as he was looking for special fans, but not sure if he would still find time for a filming of my car with the special plate A RIEU. I wasn't sure if I would be driving A RIEU to Tacoma, as my brother was going to take his Caravan so we could all sit comfortably, and even so, should I be on TV myself?? I was not very photogenic...think I looked nicer in person..(yeah, right...) But Ineke said “Come on Alice. Present yourself as the proud car owner!” She's right!! I should do it, do it for Charlie, or as how Kathy and Mrs. Ed would put it, “I did it for the team!” , or else, I would regret for the rest of my life! Besides, I had 4 new tires, a new battery and new brake pads installed recently, so A RIEU was all good to go when I received the email from Mike, good thing my friend could drive his own car to the concert. So, a BIGGG Thank You to Ineke!!!

Oct 27 evening, finally had to pack my stuff for the little trip. I realized I have quite an inventory of André T-shirts. Last year after I posed and posted about the Ladies' UK T-shirts on Harmony Parlor, the webshop ran out of the shirts immediately! Then I suggested they could order a Men's...then some Men's size ran out too! The fans said I should be getting commission. Too funny!

Oct 28 morning, the day of the concert, I dropped off my sister and her husband at the Vancouver airport, went back home to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law. All four of us, with my mom, were off to the US in A RIEU. With added security checks, it was quite busy at the border, and after about an hour wait, it was finally our turn. “Where are you going? For how long? What are you doing in Tacoma? Whose concert?” “André Rieu”! The officer saw me wearing André T-shirt “Okay! You can go!” Thanks André!!!

We crossed the border and had a quick lunch at the world's most famous burger chain restaurant (I suddenly thought it would be fun to have the world's most famous unknown artist doing a commercial for them). I asked my brother to drive as he's good with his GPS. I don't use GPS, and I found its instructions sometimes confusing, especially when it said “Make a legal U-Turn” even when you knew you're going the right way. Traffic was quite okay, just a bit slow around Seattle area, as expected. We checked in our hotel, quickly connected to the world of free wifi, and set up a time and place to meet Mike Wiseman, the producer of “Welcome to my World”. Mike told me to meet at 6pm at the venue's parking lot. Thought we could get there at 5:45pm, but the highway was a little congested. We finally arrived at Tacoma Dome at 5:55pm but took us a few minutes to locate where they were. Finally! While I was still talking to Mike on the phone, I saw 3 guys standing at the top of the hill. Whewww!! Found them! Mike, Josef with the camera, and the sound engineer were waiting for us. Boy! It was fun waving at the camera several times, as they tried to film A RIEU from different angles, but the poor guys wondered why we had to drive so far away before turning back for another shot.

Sorry, there was oncoming traffic so we just kept driving until we could “make a legal u-turn”. Interesting how I was asked to open up my orange jacket, exposing André on my chest for the second time in less than a month (Ruud took a little video of me and Ineke and I already flashed once in Vancouver). It'd better be good when it's edited. They also filmed the bumper sticker which Sue designed (sorry, I didn't have time to colour André's hair before our trip), and I mentioned that my car's insurance expires every year on September 30^th, as I purposely picked up my car on André's birthday, October 1^st.

After the interview, we had to get into the venue. There's a huge line-up but we got in, leaving sufficient time for the crew to film us getting to our seats. As soon as we finished our hot dog, my Aussie friends Mrs. Ed and Liz came over to say hello. Next we headed down to the floor to meet up with more fans, we said we would try to meet up and have a group photo before the concert. As soon as I walked up to the front, I saw Marilyn from Oregon right away. She had centre seats in Row 2, so there's no way I couldn't see her, and as I said, my goodness Marilyn, from all the photos of you I saw all these years, I had no idea you're so tall. Then the father and daughter from New Zealand were here. Hellooo Barbara!! Aloooha Bill !! At long last, so good to see all these fans in person! I asked my brother to help us take a group photo, but he started taking a little video instead, and it was so funny as he captured the scene when Barbara opened up my orange jacket to expose André. So, make that 3 times flashed in a month! I think by now I can be called “Alice the Flasher”!

Concert was about to start, let's get back to our seats before the 76 Trombones started. Although my brother was the one who bought the Serenata black vinyl back in 1985, he had never been to any André's concert before. His favorite from that evening was Bolero, and same for mom too. The fire blasting was just awesome!!! My friends from Vancouver loved the atmosphere of the concert. As for me, I had my emotional ones. As André was playing America the Beautiful, I had tears rolling in my eyes, I'm not American, but I've always found this piece very touching. I also remembered Ruth in her white blouse and pink jacket on the Radio City Music Hall DVD, for me to hear this piece LIVE, in America, was a memorable experience. André pulled me out of the emotion as he joked “Now I am hundred percent sure...”. We've seen his act before but I still found it funny!

As they played “You'll Never Walk Alone”, I was weeping again. It was a song they played in Maastricht 2009, when I was there with my girls, Sonja, Sue and Jann. Sadly, we lost Jann in 2012. Grabbed some Kleenex and I had to visit the girl's room at intermission.

We all know when André said “Bye Bye”, it's only the beginning of a real party. I headed to the moshpit and my ANZACS girls were happy and said “You made it!” It's been a while since we did the swaying together, and I got some facial expressions from some of the JSO members, as if “Oh! She's here too!” The ANZACS had attended quite a few of the US concerts already, so I guess it's a little surprise that suddenly there's this Asian woman in orange joining them. Vincenzo gave me a sweet wink and Laura, my Charlie's angel, blew me a kiss. Laura knew I was going but we didn't have a chance to meet up before the concert. One minute I was happily swaying with my dear friends, next minute I was crying. As soon as they started playing Hallelujah, I knew it was coming. I couldn't hold back anymore. I missed my dad and wished he was there to see his most favorite musicians. When they played “Can't help falling in love”, Laura and I were looking at each other as we're singing together.

It was nice to see our Billy boy joining the moshpit too, and very lovely of the girls to throw him kisses when they came on the stage. Had to wipe my tears to get into the André's “YES-NO-YES-NO-YES-NO” fight! Ahhhhhh!! Why did it end so soon?? Oh well...everything has an end. Some of us said goodbye to each other, and some of us remained. Laura was to meet me after she got changed. And here came Mike again and did the last interview with me. Thank you soooo much Mike and Josef!! (Sorry, I never got the name of the sound engineer) We said goodbye and who knows...maybe someday he would come to film a road soap in Canada!

I asked my friends from Vancouver to join us in our group photos. It was very kind of Gary to find time and come take photos with us. Finally my Charlie's Angel appeared with her suitcase walking through the black drapes. I'd been waiting for this day to come...It would had been wonderful if Mirusia was there for a Charlie's Angels 10^th anniversary photo, but Mrs. Ed did very good as stand-in. Thank You Edwina! We tried a few poses while everyone helped take shots from different angles. Laura asked if I was okay as she saw me crying...not sure if that's why I had awful eyebags...but Thannnk Youuu Laura!!! Not easy to walk in those high heels, but glad you found time for me! Mwaaa Mwaaa!!

Okay! Folks!! Guess we had to say goodbye! Rhonda would not be coming back to Vancouver so we exchanged hugs, while I could save my kisses for the Rieu birds who'd be visiting Vancouver again in a few days. We had to go get our cars before the parking lots closed. We spent the night in Seattle, did some shopping the next day before going back to Canada.

So the whole time I didn't get to speak to Boss himself, but it didn't matter anymore. We fans go to these concerts not just for the music or because we're hoping to get a high-five from André on the aisle, it's the experience and memories we get when meeting our new and old friends. If you do get a nice high five as bonus, then you're not sure if you want to wash your hand, leaving you just the other hand to use for the whole week (that's my excuse to make myself feel better anyway, as I had never got a high-five from any of them), so.....I think I'm good!

Oh no no no! Party's not over yet! It was Halloween and the Rieu birds were back in town, Mrs. Ed and Jeff, Liz and Kathy. I asked if they liked the same place for dinner as that was my Plan A for Kathy and Rhonda originally, “Yes yes yes yes!” I'm hopeless, we had buffet again. This time we took some photos at the resort before the sun went down. It was beautiful!

After dinner, we held a mini Maastricht concert at my place. I put on the 2014 Love in Venice and the ANZACS were waving the little paper flags I made for fan dinner in past years. We even did the Snow Waltz “Everybody 1-2-up” act. Hilarious!! Next day, I did the “Alice Tour” with them and we had lots of fun. We took a photo especially for our dear friend Lily, who runs a Chinese restaurant in Maastricht. We were lucky to have nice weather for a few days and the autumn leaves were beautiful. The following day was a different story. It was raining and we did some indoor shopping, but we had fun singing along Rosamunde, Heidi, and Sjeng aon de geng in my car, and we each had an éclair for afternoon snack. Yummie! We even found a shop named Muse, which is special to our friend Eri in Japan. In case you haven't noticed, yes, quite often we're thinking of our André friends around the world!

Next day, time to say goodbye! We had a little chat at the airport and took a few more selfies before the Rieu birds had to proceed to the boarding gate. Adieu! My friends!

All Rieu birds have gone home after the US Tour, everything is back to normal for me in Vancouver... my hometown...where I live...

We'll Meet Again!

Alice

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