General

The “Tessie’s Christmas Stuffing” Skit

What started as a simple, little slap-stick comic sketch has now become an inevitable tradition at our Tenderloin Tessie Christmas Cabaret show. With the mise en scene of filming a documentary movie, “Tessie’s Christmas Stuffing” chronicles the mishaps of serving anything at a Tenderloin Tessie dinner WITHOUT “The Love Spice”. Silly and entertaining as it is, the skit has a profound punch at the end that instantly brings home the whole message of the evening and of the charity itself.

This years cast included the inimitable Steven Satyricon as “The Producer”, Andrew Darling as “The Impulsive Volunteer”, Michael Gagne as “The Doctor” & Vanessa as “The Volunteer Cook”. Thank you Linda Lee for these fabulous candid shots from the skit this year.

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HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Tenderloin Tessie Christmas Cabaret 2019

2019 marks our third annual Christmas Cabaret benefit show for Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners. Co-hosting this spectacular evening with TT President Michael Gagne has become one of the highlights of my holiday season. It is a joy to plan the event all year, and to be assisted by so many volunteers who believe in our heart-felt mission. Special thanks once again this year to Sergio Fedasz for providing us with sound, Carla Nicholson with lighting, John Hull for providing us with props and staging needs, James Campbell & Max Schroeder for their talent at the piano, Forest McDonald on guitar, Eric Osborne and Martha Veille for serving us food/drink, Terry Gauchat & Elizabeth Green Sah for publicity/marketing and Linda Ostrom and Denise Gindoy at the door.

It takes a village to put up such a fabulous evening, and Tenderloin Tessie is a 100% volunteer organization that KNOWS HOW TO MAKE BIG THINGS HAPPEN! I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful, loving group of people. Thank you all for your hard work and for sharing your talent with our cause.

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UCSF Surgical Department Holiday Party

What a fun evening of musical merriment with my good friends “The Singing Surgeons” Dr. Laura Esserman and Dr. Sanziana Cosanziana. Thank you, lovely ladies, for inviting Vanessa to appear with you at your annual holiday party for surgeons from UCSF Medical Center. What fun we had singing carols acapella together and bringing some serious diva elevation to the party with our holiday ensembles. I love sharing the stage with you ladies, in whatever incarnation we all find ourselves….that’s what the stage is all about, oui? Merry Christmas to all!!!!

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AAM Holiday Hostess Extraordinaire

Another fabulous holiday luncheon for the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco this year at The Metropolitan Club. Thank you Elizabeth Green Sah and Dr. Jay Xu for the invitation to again entertain at your celebration. With my ever-reliable Tom Shaw on piano, I performed a program of songs that told the story of Vanessa’s genesis as a performer, singing for Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners. My role with TTHD as a holiday hostess is one of the greatest delights of my year, and it was so wonderful to share about that joy with the storytellers of the AAM. Holiday cheer to all!

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Tenderloin Tessie Thanksgiving Day Dinner 2109

Yes indeed, the place to be happy is here on earth and the way to be happy is to to help make others happy. I just love that quote by Robert Ingersoll posted right outside of my dressing room door on Thanksgiving Day at Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinner. It was a beautiful reminder of precisely why I — and all of the volunteers who produce this annual event — keep coming back again and again.

For me personally, the metaphysical act of singing is my way of helping to make others happy. Music is such a powerful medium with which to communicate and to bring people together. My view from the microphone during the entire duration of this dinner is — every time — the most extraordinary sight to see. There is such joy in watching all of us volunteers bring tangible happiness and a real sense of belonging to those most needy at the holidays. I am honored and so proud to be part of an organization like Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners that does such good for so many. Much love to everyone in our great big extended TT family!

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HAIR TO STAY: The Diva Way

WHAT a night it was at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco on November 7, 2019. I was honored to co-host a beautiful annual gala for Hair To Stay: an organization that allows low-income chemo patients to keep their hair during treatments. A great cause and a FABULOUS show. I and my glamorous co-host, local drag chanteuse Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, wore stunning David More couture gowns for the entire evening. I also thought it the perfect occasion to bring out my BIGGEST hair, in keeping with the theme of the gala. Fabulous performances were given by headliner Isabel Leonard, Sylvie Jensen and Shawnette Sulker, sopranos, and singing surgeon divas Dr. Laura Esserman & Sanziana Roman. At the end of this most glamorous evening the announcement was made that we had raised over $100,000 for the Hair To Stay cause. Thank you to everyone who came out and gave so generously for the good and dignity of others.

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Birthday Diva COUTURE!

Thank God I was born a LEO…we cats of the Zodiac know how to have a damn good time! And on the occasion of one’s birthday, it is an especially grand time to pull out all the stops and rock one’s best looks. I find that shades of purple and gold particularly suit Vanessa’s royal Leonine persona, and that is precisely what I channeled in her stage couture for our August show. And about the black flowers on the gold sequin dress…they were both an hommage to Karl Lagerfeld and the Chanel camelia AND a good luck charm for daring to wear black on my birthday!

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FRIENDS Make A Birthday A Birthday

The best part about performing as Vanessa Bousay is being surrounded with so much LOVE, both onstage and off. I am the luckiest diva ever to have so many cherished friends who support me and my performing life. I really like people who aren’t afraid to have some fun! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who came out to my August birthday show this year…and to every show. All of YOU really are the reason that I sing!

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MY Steven Satyricon

My birthday show at Oasis this year was made EXTRA special by my collaboration with Steven Satyricon. Friends for a long time, Steven & I share a very special bond as musical, vocal and stage-creature soul mates. The alchemy that exists when we get in front of an audience — or even meet to rehearse together — is unlike any other relationship I have. Truly, we are friends through music and a shared love of performing. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication to our projects, Steven.  I am so blessed to have you in my life, and I can’t wait to share the stage with you again!

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Blondes In A Bar

Vanessa’s June Martuni’s show this year paid tribute to the signature songs of some of the world’s most beloved BLONDE divas: Dinah Shore, Doris Day, Dolly Parton, Peggy Lee & Marilyn Monroe. What a line-up of PLATINUM POWER! I was joined at the microphone by guest soloist Keta Bill, who served up her own unique spin on the songs of Dusty Springfield. Special thanks to Tom Shaw & Roberta Drake for providing this diva with the best band in town. It was an evening filled with really fabulous music and wonderful friendship through music. I am so grateful to everybody who came out to share!

Of particular note to me from this evening: although the stereotype of blondes as ditzy airheads may still pervade our cultural consciousness, this show opened my eyes to another way of looking at our platinum sisters. Being blonde is really about having a certain attitude – a confident attitude, because a blonde recognizes that she is different from all the other girls. Genetically, blonde hair is the rarest of all traits. So perhaps the blonde is just naturally liberated from the stuffy expectations of being an ordinary brunette or redhead – and maybe this is why blondes seem to have more fun! Mother Nature granted them a beautiful, flaxen mane that puts them instantly in their own category. And when a blonde can sing too – like our celebrated divas from this show – that is a winning combination for FABULOUS. I absolutely love living in the music of each one of these great entertainers. Be on the lookout for BLONDES IN A BAR II!

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