Headliner: Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks

Topping the bill at The Big Monty will be a post-dinner performance by Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, one of the liveliest, most original bands ever to strike a chord.

Dan Hicks (www.danhicks.net) a former Santa Rosa kid who took up the guitar in 1959, the same year he received his diploma as a member of Montgomery's first graduating class. He played coffeehouses in San Francisco with The Charlatans in the early Sixties and in '68 created Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.

Dan's music is as unique and spirited as the man himself, an energized blend of jazz, Western swing, acoustic folk and pop. He's made the cover of Rolling Stone, he tours the country and he has recorded with the likes of Elvis Costello, Rickie Lee Jones, Bette Midler and Tom Waits. He recorded his signature tune, "I Scare Myself," on his 1972 album, "Striking It Rich."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Joel Selvin once wrote of Dan:
"In a landscape crowded with ersatz bohemians and retro-styled transparencies with cardboard souls, Hicks is the real deal. He is an authentic character, a songwriter with an entirely original slant, a stylist whose sense of cool suffuses whatever he does."

Nearly 50 years after he first picked up a guitar, Dan is a busy, sought-after performer eager come back and play for fellow fans of Montgomery High.

Hilarious, clean, insightful – comic/actor Steve Bruner (MHS Class of 1980) metaphorically leaped at the chance to come back home to Santa Rosa in September and emcee The Big Monty.

Steve's a guy on the go. He's been featured on Showtime, the A&E Network and Comedy Central, and he's appeared at the Comedy & Magic Club, The Improv, Catch a Rising Star, The Punchline and The Ice House.

Steve (www.stevebruner.com) has shared the billing with the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Schnieder, Carlos Alazraqui, Dana Carvey, Richard Lewis, Father Guido Sarducci, Norm Crosby, Oscar Peterson and the Pointer Sisters.

For a taste of Steve's humor, check out a YouTube clip here.

Beyond doing the standup that cracks up audiences at major clubs, on cruise ships and at colleges and corporate gatherings, Steve writes for TV shows and he has provided monologue material for Jay Leno. He sings, dances, juggles (barely, he confesses) and ties his own shoes.

Laugh.com, George Carlin's Website, sums him up this way:"Steve is a great guy. He is also one of the most successful comedians in the business. You can see him regularly in clubs, on television and on cruise ships. Clean, smart and funny define Steve."

He’s looking forward to seeing us and tickling our fancy at The Big Monty.

Included in the lineup of personalities that will appear at The Big Monty is broadcaster and voice professional Cammy Blackstone.

You’ve see her work on TV as sideline reporter for the San Francisco Giants, listened to her on the radio and, whether you realized it or not, heard her voice on the storybook boxes at the San Francisco Zoo.

Check out her Website at: www.cammyblackstone.com

You’ve heard her voice, now you’ll meet her live and in person at The Big Monty.

She appeared on TV as one of "The Mommies" and now she's making ready to come back to Santa Rosa for the celebration of her alma mater's 50th year.

She is 1965 Monty grad Marilyn Kentz, a mom, comic, actress, commentator, author, jewelry maker and authority on parenting and creative aging.

Marilyn didn’t have to be asked twice if she’d come make a stage appearance at The Big Monty.

Marilyn was living on a cul-de-sac in Petaluma in the late 1980s when she met neighbor Caryl Kristensen. There was a spark, and soon the two live-wires had worked up an act – Comedy Camp for Mommies.
It was hit, and soon two national TV networks were vying to sign up Marilyn and Caryl for a sit-com. NBC's "The Mommies" was followed by the ABC talk show, "Caryl and Marilyn: Real Friends."

The pair's highly successful book, "The Mother Load" (HarperCollins) is in its third printing.

Marilyn (www.themommies.com and www.fearless-aging.com) will perform a stand-up routine at The Big Monty.