Chuck Prophet and The Make Out Quartet play at Hopmonk Novato in Novato California February 15 2026

It was February 15, 2026, the day after Valentines day and I was back to Hopmonk Novato in Novato, California. This matinee show by KC Turner was Chuck Prophet and The Make Out Quartet. It was a stunning show to say the least.

When Chuck Prophet and The Make Out Quartet walked out on stage, there was a huge round of applause, and they had yet to play a single note. They started out with “Tell Me Anything (Turn To Gold)”, a lovely song that basically said you could tell him anything and he was fine with it. The next song was “Storm Across the Sea,” and that was a bit of a downer, but not every love song has to be positive. Right? “Wish Me Luck” was next. It was a fantastic song, and he even mentioned one of my favorite artists, Henry Rollins, in it. As he welcomed everyone to the show, he also introduced the band. He said this was a tightrope act without a net because the Make Out Quartet was on sheets and the rest of the band was in the streets, so any deviation would throw them into a trainwreck musically, and we didn’t want that. Anyways, the next song was “Love Is the Only Thing” and following that was “Meet Me At the Roundabout”. Following those two up was a fun song, “Castro Halloween”. That song has its roots in San Francisco, and it’s about Halloween in the Castro, the annual freakshow. In the song, there is no clue why two people die in the first verse. Overall, a stunning song though. Following that song up was a cover of a Stephanie Finch song called “Let’s Stay Here”. Stephanie teamed up with Chuck to do a stunning version of it. From there, they did “Fast Kid” and “I Felt Like Jesus”, which they rocked out. Seriously good! After those two songs, they played “High As Johnny Thunders“. A truly awesome tribute to an amazing guitar player. Following that tribute was “The Left Hand and the Right Hand”, which brought up the topic of The Kinks reunion on the patio of Hopmonk. It seemed to be a stirring topic. Anyway, that song was about brothers, and it was a fitting song dedicated to all the famous brothers out there. The next song was “Red Sky Night”. A stirring song about the weather that had a stunning effect on the crowd. With the next song, “Little Girl, Little Boy”, it was a rocking tune. Stephanie joined the vocal mix again, and they had great harmonies as they rocked it. Following that one up, they did two songs, “Womankind” and “Summertime Thing”, two fabulous songs. When they started “Stop! In the Name of Love” by The Supremes, Chuck went electric. It was a great duet between Chuck and Stephanie, and they rocked it. “He Came From So Far Away (Red Man Speaks)” was a great song as they played through it. They were coming to the end when they started “Willie Mays Is Up At Bat”, another great tribute song. It was special. They ended it with a huge round of applause, and KC was urging it on. So, Chuck and the gang came back up on stage and introduced the Make Out Quartet. From there, they played a Flamin’ Groovies song called “Shake Some Action”, and in Chuck’s words, it was the Mona Lisa of power pop. It was a great song, and there is a slight possibility that Chuck was right. For the final song of the day, they played “No Other Love”, which he dedicated to his mom, who couldn’t be there that Sunday. It was a slower song, but very passionate, and with the end of that one, they were done until next time.

Follow Chuck Prophet and the Make Out Quartet band members on social media

Chuck Prophet – guitar, vocals

Stephanie Finch – keyboards, vocals

Vicente Rodriguez – drums

Mike Anderson – upright bass

Shana Evania – 1st violin

Ariel Wang – 2nd violin

Christy Simpson – viola

Lewis Patzner – cello