What a great year we've been having in '08! It started off at the end of February with the opening of the Rrazz Room in the Hotel Nikko! Jack "Mr. Bongo" Costanzo flew up to play with the *little big band* for our first Saturday night in the hot new club!

We were back in Hollywood with Jack in early March for another packed show at The M Bar, and then back to The Rrazz Room for regular Saturday nights throughJune!

I was in NYC in May for the MAC Awards show where I picked up a nifty little statuette for Best Recording for "Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye!" And what a blast to sing with the band at B.B. King's Blues Club there! I was back stage with Klea Blackhurst, Andrea McArdle, Danny Aiello, Judy Gold, Maureen McGovern and more! My friend Shaynee Rainbolt also won a MAC award that same night for Best Original Song for a piece she co-wrote with the legendary Russell Garcia called "I Remember."

I got to spend a super fun weekend in Guerneville (near Santa Rosa, CA) for the Russian River Women's Weekend where I performed with Max Perkoff and Daniel Fabricant, and also MC'd and hosted the pool party and the wet t-shirt contest at the Triple R! Wet, wild weekend with the ladies!

My friend Shaynee flew out from NYC for the entire month of June. We were both in Shawn Ryan's benefit concert for his Young Actor's Theatre Camp Scholarship Fund at The Rrazz Room and then Shaynee had her own concert there a few nights later. Then it was off to Las Vegas for my birthday! What happens in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas!

At the end of June, the band and I were at the Main Stage at Civic Center Plaza in SF to play for the SF Pride celebration! That was a total kick! Then back to The Rrazz Room where we did a show with my special guest star, KLEA BLACKHURST! You have to see "The Yodeling Muchacha" to believe it!

I had another killer 4th of July party with my neighbor Sally, who just happened to marry Albert that day! And here we are... already halfway through July!

I'll be in Hollywood for another show at The M Bar with Jack Costanzo on bongos and a whole bunch of new players in the band at the end of the month (July 26th) and then we get to play a new venue near San Francisco called Angelica's Bistro (August 15th) and at a gala benefit in the Palace Hotel in SF for the Gay Men's Chorus.

September is going to be awesome too! Shaynee Rainbolt has concerts in L.A., San Francisco, and NYC with the master, RUSSELL GARCIA conducting his 4-trombone orchestra! I'm back at the Rrazz Room on the 20th and then up in Reno at the Peppermill Resort and Casino on the 27th!

October and November are filling up with more concerts in Hollywood and at The Metropolitan Room in NYC, then back to SF for a holiday concert at The Rrazz Room (Dec 13.)

My booking manager is already getting shows on the books for 2009! I can't wait to see what lies ahead for us musically! It's been a great ride so far with more adventures to come! Stay tuned!

Another great show in Hollywood is under our belts and we're back in San Francisco. Hollywood was amazing, with Jack "Mr. Bongo" Costanzo on stage with his awesome drummer (Mikey Holguin) and bass player (Rene Camacho.) We also had Jack's sax man with us this time (Bob Campbell) who was very tasty. We added Kelly Park on piano (of Shawn Ryan and America's Got Talent fame) and one of the hottest trumpet players in LA, (or the world, for that matter!) Anne King. It was truly one of the best bands I've had the pleasure to front and we made some great music for a fantastic crowd at the old school M Bar!

We're back in San Francisco starting Saturday, March 22nd and playing most Saturday nights at 10:30 PM (indefinitely) at the new Rrazz Room in the Hotel Nikko, just off Union Square, in the heart of the shopping and theater district.

I'm super excited about the 3/22 gig. The legendary KEELY SMITH (of Louis Prima & Keely Smith fame...Vegas 1958!) will be at the Rrazz Room starting 3/19 with most of my band on stage with her through her Saturday 8PM show...and then it looks like she may sit in with me on a tune or two at my 10:30 show. Pinch me. Dream come true stuff, kids. You won't want to miss it!

Call the Rrazz Room ticket line to reserve your seats at 866-468-3399 or go online to www.therrazzroom.com for the link to the Ticket Web site. Get your tix right away! We're going to sell this one out!

Also, the super-talented trumpet player and band leader ELLEN SEELING will be on the 3/22 gig and a couple more after that. Our regular guy, RICH ARMSTRONG, is on tour with MICHELLE SHOCKED, so the founder and leader of the Montclair Women's Big Band is going to be my lead trumpet for a few gigs! We'll also have the co-founder of the MWBB, Jean Fineberg, sitting in on tenor sax for a few gigs.

I'll be sitting in with the Montclair Women's Big Band during their dress rehearsal at the Montclair Womens Center in the Oakland Hills...on Monday night, April 7th! Their regular singer, VICKI RANDLE of The Tonight Show band (yes, the one with JAY LENO) is working in LA that night, so I'm pinch hitting for her on a couple of tunes to help the band get their set together - in preparation for their upcoming gig in Washington DC at THE KENNEDY CENTER!

I'm also very happy to be a part of a one-night-only event at the Octavia Music Room in SF on Monday, March 24th at 9:30 PM - I'm opening a hit variety show from NYC called "ON THE ROCKS WITH DANNY LEARY!" Time Out New York Magazine LOVES this kid, and so do I! Funny, funny stuff here with great comedians and other variety type acts. Ya gotta check this kid out!

Oh, and ladies... are you getting ready for the Russian River Women's Weekend? I'm the guest MC at the Pool Party on Saturday, May 17th from noon till 5 PM at the Triple R! And I'll be singing a set later that night in the cabaret room! Hot oil wrestling, wet t-shirt contest, me as the judge... wow. That's going to be a helluva pool party! Bring your best t-shirt and get wet, girls!

One more thing coming up you should know about... and that's the benefit concert I'm in at The Rrazz Room on June 3rd. It's to raise funds for the Young Actor's Theater Camp scholarship fund! I get to teach these amazing kids every six months or so, and it's a cause very near and dear to my heart. The directors are my friends Shawn Ryan and John Ainsworth. They have created the most incredible learning enviroment for young people interested in pursuing a career in music, theater, television, film, etc. Professional, working actors, singers, directors, casting agents, dancers, etc are the faculty. It's the place I wished I could have gone when I was a kid!! Come to this benefit show and help send a deserving and talented kid to camp this summer!

Check out all of the details of my adventures and my calendar on my official website at:

www.teresegenecco.com

I also have a million other websites to surf... so have

We're only ONE WEEK AWAY from our CD release concert at The M Bar in Hollywood on August 30th! I'm totally psyched! I've got the best band ever on this gig! My right hand (and left hand) man, Jack Costanzo, will be smokin' on bongos and congas, just like he used to do in Frances Faye's shows, 50 years ago! Watch the videos of Jack doin' his thing, and you'll see what I mean.

I'll have Mike Greensill sharing duties with me at the piano, coming all the way down from San Francisco to be with us, and then playing with the amazing Wesla Whitfield over the weekend at the LA Jazz Festival! On drums and bass are two of Jack's boys, Mikey Holguin and Rene Camacho. My horns are coming down from San Francisco, so we'll have THE Rich Armstrong on trumpet, Max Perkoff on trombone, and Fil Lorenz on tenor sax.

In the audience will be RUSSELL and GINA GARCIA! Russ was the arranger and conductor on many of Faye's albums, as well as the composer of many film and television scores in the fifties. My friend, NYC jazz singer, Shaynee Rainbolt, is recording an ALL RUSS GARCIA composed and arranged CD this summer in L.A., with Russ arranging and conducting the project. It's gonna be old-school hip, with a four-trombone chorus and some of the coolest side men in the biz on these tracks.

Also in the audience, we'll see Shawn Ryan, of America's Got Talent, plus the "Other Queen of Cabaret," Andrea Marcovicci! Gene Norman of GNP Crescendo Records will also be there. He's the man who recorded Faye with The Jack Costanzo band, live at the Crescendo nightclub in Hollywood 50 years ago, and released "Caught In The Act" volume 1 and 2 on his record label in 1958 and 1963! Emmy-award-winning television comedy writer, Maxine Lapidus, will be with us as well.

We're hoping to see Frances' business and life partner of 31 years, Teri Shepherd, in the crowd. Plus all my buddies in the music and TV biz in Hollywood. A star-studded night to celebrate the release of my debut CD!

Check it out at www.drunkwithlove.com or pick up a copy at www.cdbaby.com/cd/teresegenecco! We're on Apple's iTunes as well!

We're on a helluva ride, kids! We'll be back in NYC at The Metropolitan Room November 7-9. And I'm on stage at Jazz At Lincoln Center, Rose Hall, on November 7 in the Mabel Mercer Foundation's annual cabaret convention. Much more to come. It's an exciting time! Stay tuned for more...

XO
T.