HopMonk Tavern Hopes For Full House After Canceling Michelle Shocked Show

When a venue suddenly loses a headliner with a solid following, the results can be financially awful. So when HopMonk Tavern in Novato canceled a March 29 Michelle Shocked performance, there was no way to guess that they’d be getting ready for a sold-out show in its place.

“We had a bunch of people step in,” said HopMonk’s Bill Decarli. “They just wanted to help.”

Singer-songwriter Shocked made news last week when she rattled off a few derogatory comments aimed at homosexuals. She soon saw her concerts being canceled, including the one slated at HopMonk.

HopMonk owner Dean Biersch said Shocked’s apology, three days later, “wasn’t’ very satisfying.”

Left with a Friday night with no entertainment, Biersch first heard from Johnny Steele.

“He said, ‘Let’s get some laughs out of this,’” Biersch said. With that, the Comedy for Equality show was born.

Along with Steele, Marga Gomez will headline the show.

All of the proceeds will go to the Spectrum LGBT Center.

“We figured we should take a difficult decision and make it good,” Biersch said.

As of Thursday afternoon, the 125-seat Session Room at HopMonk Tavern was about halfway to being sold out. Biersch said the venue gets plenty of sales at the door, so it could very easily turn out to be a full house for a show that was pulled together within a week.

Gomez is a triple winner of SF Bay Guardian’s “Best Comedian” award. Steele plays at the nation’s top clubs and has logged more than 20 national TV appearances. Karinda Dobbins and Pippi Lovesticking round out the performers, but Biersch said there may be other special guests.

HopMonk is located at 224 Vintage Way in the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center.

Tickets for the Fri., March 29 show are $20 (online) or $25 at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show starts at 8 p.m.