Thanks to Mike in Australia for this ...
8/14/85
Little Rieu and Alice in Maastricht
years outing to the city ... but one of mine is nothing to do with the concerts, or the music ... it's to do with friendships.
My friend Betty and I went a week early so that we could enjoy the quiet charm of Maastricht that we love so much before the thousands of fans came upon it. We had a wonderful time and it was everything we remembered from years before ... (this was our third year). Breakfast on the River Maas on a beautiful clear morning, walking the little winding cobblestone streets that were almost empty until we were lost, and enjoying the wonderful food at the Cafe's around the Vrijthof ~ with our home base always being Gauchos for afternoon tea and dinner where we could watch the André happenings on the Vrijthof.
At the end of the first week I was starting to feel just a little homesick at times. It's a long way from home and I was missing it ... but especially my Sassy. I started missing those big brown eyes and wet kisses. Around that time though, all the fans started arriving for the second week of concerts and festivities. One dear friend, Alice ... brought me the cutest gift ... a little puppy. Not just any little puppy ... this one was like André's dog. She even had a friend dye parts of the puppy's hair to look more like André's dog!! Little did she know that this silly little stuffed puppy was just what I needed with being a little on the homesick side and missing my Sassy so much. It wasn't Sassy ~ but it was a puppy with a little cocked head that I swear gave it personality. And it was so sweet of her to think of something special like that to give to me ~ I instantly loved Rieu. (of course I named him Rieu!) For three days ~ Rieu went everywhere with me, he even slept with me!! :) I carried him around during the day with his little head sticking out of my Maastricht bag. My friends got to know him! I know ~ I'm crazy. He was so cute though and I just loved that little puppy.
At the end of the first week I was starting to feel just a little homesick at times. It's a long way from home and I was missing it ... but especially my Sassy. I started missing those big brown eyes and wet kisses. Around that time though, all the fans started arriving for the second week of concerts and festivities. One dear friend, Alice ... brought me the cutest gift ... a little puppy. Not just any little puppy ... this one was like André's dog. She even had a friend dye parts of the puppy's hair to look more like André's dog!! Little did she know that this silly little stuffed puppy was just what I needed with being a little on the homesick side and missing my Sassy so much. It wasn't Sassy ~ but it was a puppy with a little cocked head that I swear gave it personality. And it was so sweet of her to think of something special like that to give to me ~ I instantly loved Rieu. (of course I named him Rieu!) For three days ~ Rieu went everywhere with me, he even slept with me!! :) I carried him around during the day with his little head sticking out of my Maastricht bag. My friends got to know him! I know ~ I'm crazy. He was so cute though and I just loved that little puppy.
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On the third day, a very special day ... Jann arrived from Australia. We have been very close friends through email and hours on hours on the phone ... but have never met. I was so excited when she got there!!! And she too 
brought me a gift. "ALICE" the Koala Bear! Well, there we were at Gauchos and suddenly everyone is taking pictures of me and Jann and Alice ... and some just of Alice. God, even Alice loved Alice!!! While there in the Maastricht bag is poor little Rieu wondering, "Alice, Alice ~ Who the "Heck" is Alice!!!"
brought me a gift. "ALICE" the Koala Bear! Well, there we were at Gauchos and suddenly everyone is taking pictures of me and Jann and Alice ... and some just of Alice. God, even Alice loved Alice!!! While there in the Maastricht bag is poor little Rieu wondering, "Alice, Alice ~ Who the "Heck" is Alice!!!"
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Alice was absolutely adorable and with the history behind her I will always cherish her. I took her back up to my room and she sat in the chair there by the window for all to see ... then off we went to dinner, with little Rieu in my Maastricht bag sticking his tiny head out ~ happy again. :) He went all over Maastricht with me and even to one of the concerts!! He also watched one of them from the window in our room and clapped along with Teresa from England! He had a gay old time ...
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Then it was the night before we were to leave for home. We got back to the room late ... I got ready for bed and as I came out of the bathroom Sonja was already in bed (hugging her little Teddy Bear from Alice). I went to my Maastricht bag to get Rieu to go to bed ........ and NO Rieu!!!! I was panicked!!!!
We looked everywhere!!!! Under chairs, under the beds, in the covers and cushions ... Rieu was nowhere. All I could think is I must have left him at Gauchos at dinner time. I couldn't go look because it was three in the morning. I was in tears ........ poor Sonja even offered me her Teddy Bear to sleep with. Seriously!!! Now THAT'S a friend! But it wasn't Rieu ... Rieu was given to me by a sweet friend and he had become so special to me ......I went to bed heartbroken ... I was leaving the next day to go home and no Rieu. I thought I would forever be sad about this. I couldn't go to sleep wondering where he was ... had someone taken him? Did Gauchos have him safely in lost and found? Would I never know and never see him again? ........ I said to Sonja, this is crazy, a grown woman in tears because she can't find her little stuffed puppy .......... I was so sad as I fell asleep. :(
The next morning when I woke, the first thing on my mind was to get to Gauchos and see if they had Rieu!! I prayed that they had Rieu!! I was getting ready and went to reach for my jacket on the back of the chair. I don't know
what made me look, but I looked again behind the chair in the daylight and THERE WAS RIEU!!!!!!! I was happy beyond words of description and Rieu was going home with me!! ........ Sonja was as excited as I was!! (probably 'cause she was afraid she was going to have to give me her little Teddy Bear!)Rieu made the long trip home ... yes, with his tiny little head sticking out of my Maastricht bag. The lady in Airport Security gave me an odd look ...... but I didn't care, Rieu was going home with me! He sits with me at my laptop and keeps me company every night now. Working hard on the Parlor into the wee hours ... :)
Poor Alice was not so lucky. She was too big and just not enough room in my luggage for her. So Sonja said she would mail her to me in California from her mom's near Amsterdam. She had so little time at her mom's and with all she was doing she didn't get a chance to mail Alice ... now I was starting to wonder, Where the "Heck" is Alice!?!?! I didn't want to say anything though as it was nice of her to offer to ship her. She had decided to bring Alice home with her and mail her to me from there. (Ohio)
. Alice arrived yesterday!! And since little Rieu feels like King of the house now, he was not threatened at all by Alice's arrival. They have had a wonderful reunion and ALL are happy!! ...........
.. 
THE END
Now the moral of this story is ... how many people have friends that will bring them a Puppy and a Koala Bear half way around the world, or offer to give you their Teddy Bear!! How lucky am I??? :)
PS ~ The Concerts Were Great!!!
9/21/84
HEIDELBERG, September 18~19, 2009
Friday September 18th 2009
By Ineke
Ruud and I traveled about seven hours by tram, train and taxi from our home in The Hague, the Netherlands, to our hotel in Heidelberg, Germany (in the district of Baden). We passed through Cologne, where we'll attend the New Years concert on January 1st 2010. We had to change trains three times, but the German High Speed Trains are very comfortable, so it was a joy to travel with beautiful sunny Autumn weather and beautiful landscapes outside.
Ruud and I traveled about seven hours by tram, train and taxi from our home in The Hague, the Netherlands, to our hotel in Heidelberg, Germany (in the district of Baden). We passed through Cologne, where we'll attend the New Years concert on January 1st 2010. We had to change trains three times, but the German High Speed Trains are very comfortable, so it was a joy to travel with beautiful sunny Autumn weather and beautiful landscapes outside.
We arrived in Heidelberg just in time to attend the sound check at 5 pm. A few of the ladies in the orchestra still had rollers in their hair (I think Freya and Jennifer). On Thursday there was a dress rehearsal and we heard it was very amusing, as usual.
The venue for the Heidelberg concert was a small square, named Kornmarkt (Grain market) in front of the Town Hall, which formed a natural romantic decorum. Frank's mobile carillon was placed on the balcony of the Town Hall.
We had already met a few German fans including Beate Gundler who was in our hotel. We spent two enjoyable days with Helma, Uschi, Elke and Nino Freitag, Biggi and Petra. Peggy was also there, and to our surprise we ran into Torben and Kirsten Esbensen, from Denmark. Like us, they also traveled for seven hours by train from Denmark! Another surprise was the presence of Alice and Dan Lycan, all the way from the USA! Dan (the bannerman) brought no banners this time, but he provided us with the printed lyrics of the Heidelberg song, in German and in English! It was great to meet them all.
André had based the program on this well known song, "I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg". Of course he also made the connection of Students and University, since Heidelberg is Germany's oldest University town. He also played a few more German songs, also known in Holland. Before the concert started, nice ladies were selling chocolate hearts. The benefits went to the regional music school, to purchase new instruments for the pupils. We found another specialty in the shops, "Student's Kisses" (also chocolates). So everything in Heidelberg has to do with hearts and (student's) kisses! No concert programs were sold, so we had to write down the program for you.
Entering the concert we were welcomed by ladies offering the audience glasses of champagne. Well, I believe it was either Italian Prosecco or German sekt, but the gesture felt very nice. The square had 600 seats and a few rows of standing places were added. So that brought the audience up to a total of 850. We were lucky to have tickets for seats in row 6. The streets leading up to the square were also filled with people.
A surprise was a harmony singing group of five men, from Berlin. They sang a naughty song about a girl named Veronica, "Spring has come and the asparagus grows”, very funny!
Half way through the second soft and tender song (André's favorite) "Somewhere in the world must be a little bit of happiness", we heard the wailing sirens of paramedics coming closer and closer to the square! André stopped the Berlin Singers. Such a thing can happen during live performances! We don't know what happened, it was somewhere behind the square, but one of André's production team (Pierre?) went there and after awhile André got the sign that he could continue. No more sirens. He started the song again, it was really beautiful!
Mirusia was very funny in a traditional German dress (yellow), singing a song from our youth (I remember Connie Frobus from the 1950s) about two Italian lovers. During the song Franco and Vincenzo both tried to draw her attention, acting jealous and ended up in a kind of a fight ...
After the intermission, Mirusia, in a fantastic blue dress, sang the wonderful and touching song, "Within Me Sounds a Song". The first standing ovation of the night was for her. I had goose pimples and we saw that André was also touched.
Time went by too fast. After the Radetzky March and the confetti canons, he played encores for another half an hour. André brought the concert to an end at 10.45 pm with the Brahms lullaby.
We finished the night with a drink at an outdoor café terrace with some fan friends.
SATURDAY, September 19th 2009
Today another beautiful day. We went sightseeing throughout Heidelberg, and up the hill on the cable car to visit the Castle. From above, we had a wide view overlooking the town and the river Neckar. We could see the Grain Market with the stage and the light poles, and over in the next square were the tents of André's catering service. To our surprise a group of jolly good fellows passed by. We knew them! They were also roaming around the castle. Downtown again, we visited the center of Heidelberg with narrow little streets, big churches, medieval houses and cobble stone pavement.
SECOND CONCERT ... again champagne, same program but, a much more enthusiastic audience! We noticed that right from the beginning. A standing ovation for the three tenors and more standing ovations, long before the intermission ... Wonderful! Béla told a joke about a recipe with "tenor brains". He had seen it on a restaurant's menu card. I will not spoil the joke by telling it. The Eurovision TV will air this "special" in October and afterwards a DVD will be released. Frank played on the Carillion and also together with Marcel Falize "Circus Renz", with the smoke ... As usual, the wind section made a mess out of some pieces.
During this concert somewhere close by, a car honked once. André stopped again and started the song all over. All during the 30 minutes of the encores, the audience kept standing, clapping, cheering, and whistling. It was a wonderful experience.
After the concert we again had a drink and a chat, to let the adrenaline subside. We had an unforgettable weekend in Heidelberg with wonderful friends. Another pearl is added to our string of great André concerts/events with fan friends.
The venue for the Heidelberg concert was a small square, named Kornmarkt (Grain market) in front of the Town Hall, which formed a natural romantic decorum. Frank's mobile carillon was placed on the balcony of the Town Hall.
We had already met a few German fans including Beate Gundler who was in our hotel. We spent two enjoyable days with Helma, Uschi, Elke and Nino Freitag, Biggi and Petra. Peggy was also there, and to our surprise we ran into Torben and Kirsten Esbensen, from Denmark. Like us, they also traveled for seven hours by train from Denmark! Another surprise was the presence of Alice and Dan Lycan, all the way from the USA! Dan (the bannerman) brought no banners this time, but he provided us with the printed lyrics of the Heidelberg song, in German and in English! It was great to meet them all.
André had based the program on this well known song, "I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg". Of course he also made the connection of Students and University, since Heidelberg is Germany's oldest University town. He also played a few more German songs, also known in Holland. Before the concert started, nice ladies were selling chocolate hearts. The benefits went to the regional music school, to purchase new instruments for the pupils. We found another specialty in the shops, "Student's Kisses" (also chocolates). So everything in Heidelberg has to do with hearts and (student's) kisses! No concert programs were sold, so we had to write down the program for you.
Entering the concert we were welcomed by ladies offering the audience glasses of champagne. Well, I believe it was either Italian Prosecco or German sekt, but the gesture felt very nice. The square had 600 seats and a few rows of standing places were added. So that brought the audience up to a total of 850. We were lucky to have tickets for seats in row 6. The streets leading up to the square were also filled with people.
A surprise was a harmony singing group of five men, from Berlin. They sang a naughty song about a girl named Veronica, "Spring has come and the asparagus grows”, very funny!
Half way through the second soft and tender song (André's favorite) "Somewhere in the world must be a little bit of happiness", we heard the wailing sirens of paramedics coming closer and closer to the square! André stopped the Berlin Singers. Such a thing can happen during live performances! We don't know what happened, it was somewhere behind the square, but one of André's production team (Pierre?) went there and after awhile André got the sign that he could continue. No more sirens. He started the song again, it was really beautiful!
Mirusia was very funny in a traditional German dress (yellow), singing a song from our youth (I remember Connie Frobus from the 1950s) about two Italian lovers. During the song Franco and Vincenzo both tried to draw her attention, acting jealous and ended up in a kind of a fight ...
After the intermission, Mirusia, in a fantastic blue dress, sang the wonderful and touching song, "Within Me Sounds a Song". The first standing ovation of the night was for her. I had goose pimples and we saw that André was also touched.
Time went by too fast. After the Radetzky March and the confetti canons, he played encores for another half an hour. André brought the concert to an end at 10.45 pm with the Brahms lullaby.
We finished the night with a drink at an outdoor café terrace with some fan friends.
SATURDAY, September 19th 2009
Today another beautiful day. We went sightseeing throughout Heidelberg, and up the hill on the cable car to visit the Castle. From above, we had a wide view overlooking the town and the river Neckar. We could see the Grain Market with the stage and the light poles, and over in the next square were the tents of André's catering service. To our surprise a group of jolly good fellows passed by. We knew them! They were also roaming around the castle. Downtown again, we visited the center of Heidelberg with narrow little streets, big churches, medieval houses and cobble stone pavement.
SECOND CONCERT ... again champagne, same program but, a much more enthusiastic audience! We noticed that right from the beginning. A standing ovation for the three tenors and more standing ovations, long before the intermission ... Wonderful! Béla told a joke about a recipe with "tenor brains". He had seen it on a restaurant's menu card. I will not spoil the joke by telling it. The Eurovision TV will air this "special" in October and afterwards a DVD will be released. Frank played on the Carillion and also together with Marcel Falize "Circus Renz", with the smoke ... As usual, the wind section made a mess out of some pieces.
During this concert somewhere close by, a car honked once. André stopped again and started the song all over. All during the 30 minutes of the encores, the audience kept standing, clapping, cheering, and whistling. It was a wonderful experience.
After the concert we again had a drink and a chat, to let the adrenaline subside. We had an unforgettable weekend in Heidelberg with wonderful friends. Another pearl is added to our string of great André concerts/events with fan friends.
.
.
Heidelberg Concert Program
76 trombones
(Espana Cani (bull song))
I lost my heart in Heidelberg (Ich habe mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren)
Drinking song
Claudiamus Digitus (student's song)
La Danza
Gold und Silber
Julitza aus Budapest
Concerto d'Aranjuez
Lonely little Bell (Einsam klinkt das kleine Glöckchen)
Circus Renz
My fair lady (I could have danced all night)
Intermission
Veronica (Berlin Comedian Harmoniums)
A little bit of happiness (Berlin Comedian Harmoniums) Irgendwo auf den Welt gibt's ein bisschen Glück.
Sailor Song (dass ist die Liebe der Matrozen) by Berlin Comedian Harmoniums.
Mirusia: I lost my heart in Heidelberg
Two little Italians (Zwei kleine Italiener)
Volga Song
Lorelei Song (Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten)
Heide Rösslein (German song)
Hoch auf den gelben Wagen (German song)
Mein Hut,er hat drie Ecken (German song)
Varia (Lustig ist das Zigeuner Leben) German song about Gypsy's life
Mirusia: Within me sounds a song (In mir klinkt ein Lied)
An der schönen blauen Neckar
Alle Menschen werden Brüder (Ode to Joy)
Radetzky March
Encores
Strauss and Co
Libiamo
Amazing Grace (Manoe on the bagpipe)
Adieu, kleine Garden Offizier
Good Night (Brahms Lullaby)
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