My wife Maria and I live in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles on the coast. However, we were both foreigners at one time, so to speak. My wife was born in Havana, Cuba and came to the United States at age 3 and I'm originally from Amsterdam, Holland and came to the States right after high school at age 18. Five years later I became a police officer and that's what I still do, currently as a sergeant assigned to the Traffic Division. Maria and I both work for the City of Torrance where she is an administrative secretary for the Finance Director. 

I really started appreciating Andre and his music in 1998 after my mom suffered a stroke and was admitted to a local nursing home here. She was very lonely there but we were usually able to brighten her spirits and take away some of the loneliness with Andre Rieu's music. I will always remember the smile on her face when we put his tapes in her VCR and Andre's music from "from Holland with Love", "the Vienna I love", and "the North America I Love" started playing.

My mom was a classical pianist and vocalist who performed for the Dutch radio in the thirties with a Dutchman named Herman Emmink. She passed away in December 2001 and she truly loved Andre and the JSO's music. My wife and I were lucky enough to attend the May 1st concert in Grand Prairie, Texas with my sister Anneke and her husband Tom (who live in Longview, Texas).  My sister and I knew that mom was up there watching with us with a big smile on her face while once again enjoying Andre's music.

The Grand Prairie concert was the first time we were able to see Andre and the JSO "live" after watching and listening to all those tapes, DVD's and CD's. The first thing that you notice as audience is the immense pleasure Andre and the orchestra members take in performing their magic. They are the utmost professionals but are having so much fun at the same time! Andre is a magician, a man of many talents who also has a quick whit about him. In Grand Prairie when Andre asked people in the audience where they were from, someone yelled out "cow town", meaning Ft. Worth, with a heavy Texas twang. Andre picked right up on this and even had the accent going when he replied. I'm not sure exactly how many languages he speaks but I've heard him speak English, French, German, Italian and, off course, Nederlands (Dutch).
 
Listening to Andre and the JSO brings back many happy memories for me. Besides those of my mom of course, memories of growing up in Holland. You see, every New Year's day we, as a family, sat down in front of the television set to watch an orchestra from Vienna who played all the Strauss waltzes. It was great music and that orchestra also had some funny characters (especially the drummer/percussionist) who were pulling funny acts kind of like the "characters" in the JSO. The JSO musicians are some of the best I've ever heard perform, the three lady soloists are supreme and it is obvious that everyone is enjoying themselves while performing for audiences all over the world.

I'll be trying to get tickets for either the LA or Pasadena concerts in December and wouldn't mind getting my hands on some "Meet and Greet" tickets either.

In closing, a couple of words to all the Dutchies: hartelijk bedankt om Andre en het JSO met de rest van de wereld te delen. Hij en het orkest zijn hier, zoals julllie wel kunnen zien, ook ontzettend populair! Het allerbeste van een oud-Amsterdammer en de hartelijke groetjes aan iedereen in mijn oude landje.


John Prins