653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
1-415-586-3733
[email protected]
Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six
Live Streams every weekend!
Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Good news! This week, we signed on with a fiscal sponsor–the 501(c)3 nonprofit Jazz in the Neighborhood–and have now resumed offering tax-deductibility for your donations to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (“BBCLP”). Write your check to Jazz in the Neighborhood and note “BBCLP deductible donation” in the memo line, then drop it off at the shop or mail it to us. We’ll forward it to Jazz in the Neighborhood for safekeeping. Cash is fine if you prefer. Or donate through Paypal, once or on a recurring basis. Bright moments ahead, thanks to you! The BBCLP makes it possible for Bird & Beckett to present live cultural events, paying a guaranteed fair wage to the musicians and at least a modest stipend to our featured poets, and also to pursue our publishing activities. Where it stands now: In 2024, Bird & Beckett celebrated a quarter century in business…
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Chinese American revolutionary feminist poet Nellie Wong, a Glen Park resident, grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown and came of age working in her parents’ restaurant there. Tracked into a working class path and following business classes at Oakland High School, she went to work as a secretary at Bethlehem Steel. In her 30s, in the late 1960s, Nellie enrolled at San Francisco State University, taking creative writing, ethnic studies and feminist studies classes and joining the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women, lifelong associations that continue to this day. Her development as a poet and her dedication to the struggle for radical social change took on a focused momentum in those years at San Francisco State which has continued for five decades. In her mid-80s, in tribute to her engagement in poetry and political struggle, students at Oakland High successfully petitioned for a building at the school to be named…
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Dan Richman returns with poems in hand. He read on our first bill of poets back in 1999 or so, and has continued to write all along, taking in the terrain on which San Francisco is built, the birds circling in its skies and wading in the bayshore wetlands, and the people who inhabit the streets and trails, going about their business day to day. Time spent in his company is time well spent. Bring your own work to read in the open mic. Michael Koch, m.c.
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The music kicks off this Friday at 6pm, when piano professor Eric Shifrin brings his In Crowd–Ari Munkres on bass and Mark Lee on drums–to celebrate the songs of Hoosier Hoagy Carmichael, the droll pianist, singer and tunesmith who brought us Stardust, Skylark, Georgia on My Mind and a host of other indelibly memorable melodies. [NO LATE SHOW THIS FRIDAY. The 8:30pm show will be rescheduled, as the leader has sustained an injury that will take awhile to heal. Watch for the announcement of a new date after the first of the year for Keshav Batish, traps drummer and sitar player, in musical conversation with the renowned tabla master Ashwin Batish, broadening to include his ensemble ensemble called EKTA with saxophonists Kristen Strom and Shay Salhov along with guitarists Nelsen Hutchison and Ryan Pate.] Saturday, from 7:30-9:30pm, bassist Amina Scott brings a trio to Bird &…
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Joyce Todd McBride, piano and compositions. Jeff Kaszubinski, saxophone. Todd Larson, bass. Jeff Pera, drums. $20 cover charge, byob. Reservations, call 415-586-3733. A vibrant Bay Area jazz ensemble, Dream Kitchen delivers a captivating blend of improvisation, modern jazz, and Latin rhythms. Led by the soulful piano and compositions of Joyce Todd McBride, the group’s original compositions and dynamic performances showcase their collective musical expertise and passion for pushing the boundaries of modern improvisation. Performance highlights include a live quadraphonic recording at The Dome Center for Art, Music and Dance in 2023. Their performance is best experienced live and in the moment in Bird & Beckett’s cozy bookshop listening environment, but it will also be streamed live on the shop’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for those stuck at home or in an airport lounge somewhere in the wilds of America, or anywhere really… Joyce Todd McBride grew up in…
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The Journal of the Plague Years: A Reading Maxine Chernoff –poet, novelist, UCSF creative writing chair Christine Kiessling –art historian Mike Medberry –essayist, solar installer, environmentalist Hailey Nicole Warner –frontline worker Susan Zakin –journalist, author, magazine founder The Journal: A few days after the Covid-19 pandemic sent us into lockdown, journalist and author Susan Zakin was on the phone with Salon magazine founder David Talbot. They both thought it was ridiculous that so many good writers were venting on Facebook, writing for free simply because they were burning to have their say. Encouraged by Talbot, Zakin posted a rudimentary website. The first story was about Andrew Cuomo. (Remember when he was a hero?) Talbot had planned to combine his efforts with hers, but decided to concentrate on books and film scripts. But others responded to an online magazine that channeled the best of ‘70s journalism updated for the hypertext age.…
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Parakeet, a year-long intensive writing program that helps writers finish their books, is run by Beth Pickens, a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations. She is the Managing Director of LA-based queer press, Dopamine Books, which is led by legendary writer Michelle Tea. Pickens is the author of Make Your Art No Matter What (Chronicle Books, 2021). Her previous book is Your Art Will Save Your Life (Feminist Press, 2018). Her popular podcast, “Mind Your Practice,” is widely available, as is her artist service platform, Homework Club. Today’s reading at Bird & Beckett brings together five writers in the program to read their work: Michelle Ott is a visual artist and writer working on Outer Space is Closer Than Antarctica, an illustrated memoir (with science) about the four seasons she spent working at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Her artists’ book, Current Occupant, was recently acquired by the Smithsonian Postal History…
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We have so many plans, so many commitments and so little to rely on save hard work, luck and fate! Make your mark on the culture by staking us to our plans, schemes, habits and dreams! Jazz and poetry don’t pay well in this alternative reality we call capitalism! It’s the hardscrabble commitment of the average citizen and the largesse of a few that allow organizations like ours to pay the artists AND keep the lights on. Thank you those who have our back! We do it for you and with you, and for and with the artists. If a tax deduction is a priority for you, you’ll be glad to know that we’ve acquired a fiscal sponsor, the incredible organization called Jazz in the Neighborhood, which makes it possible for you to cut us a check and get a tax-deduction, while we wait on the taxing authorities to return…
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From the mouths of babes… and their teachers… we have come to know that Kamala, yes, that Kamala, attended Berkwood Hedge school in Berkeley as a kindergartner. Berkwood Hedge, Berkeley itself, Oakland, the East Bay at large, and all our progressive hearts were represented at the DNC on the 22nd. A Berkwood Hedge 6th grader led the recitation of the pledge of allegiance Thursday the 22nd, nomination night, at the convention. Luna, the student leading the pledge, knows of Mulla Nasrudin, Coyote, gods and goddesses, dervishes, Flintlock the cat and a host of others, stories and insight accrued to her since her kindergarten years. Her imagination has been broadened by these tales. She has drawn circle designs side by side with a gifted teacher, our own resident visionary mystic philosopher-poet, WBIII. The humble work of a storyteller goes on, from sea to shining sea. We are inheritors of Whitman’s democratic…
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Hungry to hear some of Bird & Beckett’s past live streams? On the home page you can scroll down to read the individual posts for the shows we’ve mounted in the past several months, a hint of what’s gone down since the pandemic lock-down began. In more amazing times, it would take you right back to the very first show of the current period, back on March 12, 2020, but that beautiful skein is no longer quite so easily accessed. Still, the evidence is there for those who dig. The March 12, 2020 show that signaled the shift was a Thursday evening performance by New York saxophonists Jessica and Tony Jones, both alumni of the Berkeley High jazz program, with NYC bassist Stomu Takeishi and local hero Deszon X. Claiborne on drums. The quartet’s booking for the night before at the Backroom over in Berkeley had been cancelled. A few…
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Bird & Beckett’s events open to the public have been back since mid-June 2021. Mask up if you’re inclined, and do come in! (Not vaxxed? Please get vaxxed and be safer!) Jazz, poetry & more live in the shop and live streamed Come to 653 Chenery if you’re in town! Doors open at 7:20 for our 7:30 shows. $20 cover for trios and quartets $25 for quintets, $30 for sextets, etc. Cash at the door please! BYOB and BYOglass, and pack out what you pack in! Please feel free to wear a mask in the shop. We trust the science and its processes, and we trust SF’s DPH to keep us up to date on best practices! Advised best practices as of early September 2021 was to wear a mask indoors around people. If that makes you a little more comfortable being inside this winter, then do feel free. Sure…
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The posts that follow show you what’s come and gone. Search the videos on our youtube channel or facebook page to find evidence of what you remember, or what you missed! Then, make sure you catch the next thing that catches your fancy. The live streams are great, but live music in a room with folks you know or ought to get to know, that’s irreplaceable…
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Four jazz combos from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music take the stage tonight! Four 30-45 minute sets starting at 3pm with a 15 minute break between sets. $25 cover charge, byob. No reservations required.
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Hal Richards, saxophones, clarinets, flutes, shawm, crumhorn. Henry Hung, trumpet. Kevin Gerzevitz, piano. Ron Belcher, bass. Akira Tana, drums. $25 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Something old, something new. Something borrowed and some blues. Coming three days before the election, the quintet will perform Lenny Carlson’s piece. “The Toddler,” to provide perspective. Hal Richards, born in New York City, is a versatile woodwind specialist (saxophones, flutes, clarinets, oboe and bassoon). He’s been performing and recording with many of the Bay Areas finest musicians since 1976. Currently performing with Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra and Septet, The Berkeley Saxophone Quartet, The Dave Parker Quintet, The California Pops Orchestra, and the Golden Gate Park Band, Hal has appeared with Carol Channing, Terry Gibbs, Eric Marienthal, Bill Perkins, Bob Florence, Omar Clay, Lenny Niehaus, Fred Radke, and at The North Beach Jazz Festival. As a Bay Area…
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Neil Adler, harmonica and piano. Jeff Buenz, six-string bass. Akira Tana, drums. $20 cover; byob. students and musicians, $10. Also streamed live on Bird & Beckett’s facebook page and youtube channel for those who can’t make it into the shop for the show. Neil Adler has cooked up a collection of uplifting, rhythmic tunes he’s so excited by that this public unveiling can’t wait for their imminent release on cd and all those digital platforms. Wait! He got it done! CDs are here for sale! Be among the first! Jeff Buenz, Carlitos Medrano and Akira Tana, stellar musicians all, collaborated with Neil in the studio to bring the songs to life, and all three will be on hand with Neil to render it live for your ears. You can get a taste of the recordings sessions at this link. Wait! Seems Carlitos had a little mishap involving his bike and…
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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!
Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.
However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail to:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
TAKE OUR SURVEY
To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.
The BBCLP is a [Read More ]
The Independent Musicians Alliance
Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.
https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/
Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site
