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!
On the 3rd, our 1st-Thursdays poetry session kicks off the 4th of July weekend on a packed schedule that’s 2nd to none, with 5 shows in 4 days! That’s an All-American Independence Day holiday run for ya! Fuck Trump and come out to Glen Park for a minute along the way in celebration of diverse, equitable and inclusive San Franfrisco! We love our town and we love our peeps! This time out, the poetry session on Thursday the 3rd features Alice Rogoff, long-time editor of that All-American rag, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal — righteous, groovy, timeless and timely — presenting Brian Kirven, Keith Gaboury and Sally Love Saunders, contributors to the HALJ’s current issue. Bird & Beckett’s Michael Koch MCs the evening, and troubadour Jerry Ferraz conducts the open mic. Michael and Jerry will both do a poem to open the open, and then we’ll ask Alice to read one…
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Here at Bird & Beckett Books, we’ve always relied on the kindness of neighbors and strangers to make it all work; and we’ve always found that strangers don’t stay strangers long! Your tax-deductible donations to our 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, FEIN 261906810, are the secret sauce. Book sales and cover charges at the shows are crucial, but only go so far to fill the cornucopia of culture that you’ll find here at Bird & Beckett! You can donate through our website using PayPal. Or if you prefer, you can drop off or mail us a check made out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” — write “tax-deductible donation” in the memo line. Cash is fine if you prefer. You can also donate on a recurring, monthly basis through PayPal — which is quite a wonderful way to support us. Bright moments ahead, thanks…
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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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Thursday at 7:30, vibraphonist Gus Hurteau returns with Hannah Mayer on piano and Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass. Gus is just returning to town from dates with Gene Perla’s Tiger Quartet at Blues Alley in Washington, DC and An Die Musik in Baltimore! Friday at 6pm, drummer Tony Johnson brings in his quartet with Smith Dobson on saxophone, Keith Saunders on piano and Eric Markowitz on bass. Saturday at 7:30pm, boogie woogie piano star Wendy DeWitt returns with her trio featuring Takezo Takeda on guitar and Kirk Harwood on drums. Sunday at 5pm, drummer Vince Lateano’s trio with Rumi Abe on piano and John Wiitala on bass hosts the friendliest jam session in town! And at 8pm, two legendary musicians, percussionist Kahil El’Zabar and saxophonist David Murray, return in the last Bay Area stop of their Sonic Motion Tour!
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Vibraphonist Gus Hurteau returns with Hannah Mayer on piano and Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass for two sets of originals and jazz standards.
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Mutual Aid Literary Reading In Solidarity with a Palestinian Family in Gaza featuring writing by Munira El Najar and Dr. Hassan Al Qatrawy. Bay Area writers and educators will read works that have been shared with us by Munira El Najar, one of Palestine’s most highly acclaimed teachers, and Dr. Hassan Al Qatrawy, celebrated author and university lecturer. All funds raised at the event will directly support Munira, Dr. Hassan, and their four children. Donations can be made at our event and also at this link. Doors for the event will open at 7pm for the reading, which will begin at 7:30pm. Reservations are available for those with mobility considerations. Masking is welcome if desired, and masks will be available at the event. Munira El Najar has written the following paragraphs for an online fundraiser that has been established to help her and her family: My name is Munira El Najar, an…
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Chiara Izzi, vocals. Michael Potter, piano. Alan Jones, bass. $20 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Chiara Izzi arrived in New York City from Italy in 2014, three years after Quincy Jones awarded her first prize in the 2011 Montreux Jazz Festival Vocal Competition. Chiara has said of Quincy Jones, “Having him as the judge…was the luckiest moment of my life. As a young singer, his whispered words, ‘Sister, you are very, very talented,’ made me feel like I belonged. His invitation to move to the U.S. to refine my craft opened my mind to bigger possibilities, encouraging me to take that leap; a leap that was anything but easy, coming from a small town where it’s hard to even think of making a living through music or art. Her career has blossomed in America, and she’s well regarded as a refined interpreter of jazz traditions and contemporary styles,…
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Caroline Julia Cabading, vocals. Raymond Bambao, bass. Harold Ohashi, drums. Chris Planas, guitar. Roy Brown, piano. $25 cover charge, cash or venmo / byob. Students and teens $10. Kids free. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. The Autonomous Region was founded in the spring of 2015 as the house band for the International Hotel Manilatown Center’s Club Mandalay, a community-driven pop-up jazz club in San Francisco’s Chinatown/North Beach district built on the footprint of the historic I-Hotel. Established to provide family-friendly and affordable live music, spoken word, and dance performances, the ensemble quickly became a cornerstone of the Center’s cultural programming. Led by vocalist/composer Caroline Julia Cabading, Autonomous is “thrilled to be returning to Bird & Beckett to provide an evening of vocal-driven jazz standard favorites,” and we’re thrilled and honored to host their return! For more information about The Autonomous Region please visit www.theautonomousregion.com and for information about the…
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Music is a universal language, and guitarist Jinx Jones is one of its great polyglots. His rockabilly guitar genius is widely acclaimed and well-ingrained in the West Coast & North Beach San Francisco consciousness, but it’s his abiding affection for jazz that we at Bird & Beckett love most. Audiences far and wide can now find him in either mode these days, with his jazz trio and jazz duo popping up in his regional touring schedule with ever increasing regularity. Check his website at jinxjones.com to find him at a venue near you. With Ken Owen on drums and Kenan O’Brien on bass, Jinx offers gorgeous and spunky glosses on the work of jazz masters including Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessell, Freddie Green, you name ’em. He’s soaked up the jazz canon. And channeling it through his nimble fingers, he’s offered it up time and…
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Art Goodtimes, American poet, farmer and Colorado politician, celebrates his 80th birthday with a reading. No charge; just good will and high spirits.
Read More…..Saturday, June 21st, 5-6pm: Art Goodtimes, American poet, farmer and Colorado politician, celebrates his 80th birthday with a reading. No charge; just good will and high spirits. …..Saturday, June 21st, 7:30-9:30pm: The Jinx Jones Trio. Jinx plays a lot of guitar! He’s a rockabilly guy, Colorado born, and a keen aficionado of soulful jazz virtuosos from Charlie Christian to Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel to Grant Green, whose solid trio relies on the double KO talents of Kenan O’Brien and Ken Owen. You’ll be charmed and mesmerized and more than a little delighted. $20, byob. …..Sunday, June 22nd, 5-6pm: Julie Rogers, Sarah Menefee, Lisbet Bailey, Cathleen Williams – four revolutionary-sassy-sage-activist-service-blessed poets, goils who’ve been around the block and back, who meet to write on a regular basis and will finally meet to read, rant, chant, weep & laugh with you. No charge, donations welcome. Books will be available. …..and…
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The Fred Randolph Quintet! Bassist Fred Randolph summons the troops to occupy your jazz head: Ian Carey, trumpet; Sheldon Brown, saxes/flute; Murray Low, piano; Brian Fishler, drums. 90 high octane minutes of jazz from a clever & nimble composer & first-call bassist cum bandleader, fronting a first-class quintet for the first night of summer! Adults: $25, byob. Teens & undergrads, $10. Kids who aren’t already in bed, free! Reservations, 415-586-3733, as always.
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Henry Hung, trumpet & flugelhorn. Scott Foster, guitar. John Wiitala, bass. Dan Foltz, drums. Adults – $20 / byob. Teens/undergrads – $10. Cash, please! Kids free. For a reservation and information, please call the shop at 415-586-3733. Tonight, the Scott Foster Quartet channels the Jim Hall/Art Farmer collaborations, with Scott on guitar joined by Henry Hung on trumpet and flugelhorn, John Wiitala on bass and Dan Foltz on drums. When not entranced by John Scofield, Scott is helpless before the mastery of Jim Hall, and just as a few dates back he explored the Jim Hall/Sonny Rollins collaborations with the same bass/drums rhythm section and Bob Kenmotsu on tenor, this month he turns his attention to another intuitively perfect and perfectly worked out pairing of Jim Hall with a master of the flugelhorn and trumpet, Art Farmer. Henry Hung digs in to the art of Art, manor born to the…
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Thursday, June 19th, 7:30-9pm: Walker Talks! In his monthly live stream, Walker Brents III plumbs a sliver of Jaime de Angulo’s storied career—cowpoke, daemonic scholar, gatherer of mystic word-lore among the Achumawi around Alturas, he-who-rolled-in-ditches-with-shamans. Legendary bohemian bay area presence, Big Sur hermit and socialite. Aged Chinatown cross dresser, Robert Duncan his amanuensis. Inspirer of free-thinkers, anthropologists and poets across generations. Gary Snyder commends de Angulo as “a lavengro, a language-spirit-master.” His linguistic writings are primary sources of a great deal of material that would otherwise be long lost. He is also one of the greatest storytellers, so far, who has ever lived. His recitations of spoken tales, on KPFA radio in the late 1940s, are classics of their kind, gifting the American vernacular with mythic figures of archaic vitality. No audience in the shop for these talks, though if you tap on the window we’ll likely let you in…
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Noel Jewkes, reeds & flute. Ben Stolorow, piano. Peter Barshay, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. $20 cover (adults) / byob. ~~cash please!~~ teens/undergrads – $10. kids free. To reserve seats, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Noel Jewkes is celebrating his 85th birthday this week, and we’re celebrating his six and a half decades as a force on the Bay Area jazz scene. Vince Lateano, who has a solid six decades in, leads his trio with Noel as special guest today at 5pm. You can catch Vince’s trio at Bird & Beckett on the third Sunday of each month, and they’re also here the last Sunday of each month hosting one of the Bay Area’s most enjoyable jam sessions. Read jazz journalist Andy Gilbert’s recent piece on Noel here: This Richmond barber shop turns into a jazz club after hours
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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," continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it 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.
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We're immensely appreciative of Jazz in the Neighborhood for having stepped in as our temporary fiscal sponsor for a few months, while we straightened out some paperwork to get nonprofit status restored to the BBCLP. We're happy to say that's been done, and all past, present, and future donations made directly to the BBCLP are fully tax-deductible!
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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
