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!
Come out to the neighborhood for the Art Walk! Merchants and cafes up and down Diamond Street between Bosworth and Chenery will feature fine and graphic art for your pleasure, perusal & purchase from noon to five on Saturday. Take a leisurely stroll in the canyon after you’ve stowed your treasures in your trunk, enjoy a leisurely drink at Glen Park Station and catch dinner in one of the neighborhood’s pleasing dining establishments, then trail up to the bookshop to browse awhile and catch the great Larry Dunlap Trio from 7:30-9:30pm. BYOB and a twenty for the musicians! You’ll be pleased that you did. We’ll keep the shop open for you past our usual 6pm closing time, so you can poke around while we set up for the trio. Then at 7:30 we’ll bring the lights down, and voilà, it’s jazz club at Bird & Beckett, a Saturday night tradition…
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Friday, October 4th, 8:30-10pm, you’ll hear Darren Johnston, trumpet; Kai Lyons, guitar; Rob Ewing, electric bass; and Dillon Vado, drums. Darren says the combo, Swerve, is “not a swing thing, more a collective groove band doing each others originals.” It’s always a thrill to hear what Darren and his cohorts cook up. At a simmer or a rolling boil, it’ll be delicious. Saturday, October 5th, 7:30-9:30pm, it’s pianist Larry Dunlap’s trio with Ken Miller on bass and Akira Tana on drums. Larry Dunlap’s tenure on the San Francisco jazz scene and internationally over six decades has included memorable work in long associations with singers Bobbe Norris and Amandio Cabral. As a pianist, composer, arranger and music director, he’s among the best in the business, with wonderful stories to relate. Sunday, October 6th, 5-6pm, Mamboléo, a six-piece latin jazz band out of Ruth Asawa School or the Arts up at the…
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Ava Koohbor is a poet, visual and sound artist. Through sound, words, and objects she seeks to find balance in everyday’s chaos. Her latest works have been exhibited and performed at Audium, APICC Festival 2023: Reimagine Horizons, and as a part of group exhibition at RootDivision: ME in a(ME)rica. Her latest publication, a collection of her poetry, Death Under Construction, has been published by Ugly Duckling Presse. She believes that each artist is a medium to transfer the world of possibilities to what is. She holds an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College. avakoohborarts.com Evidence Trio is an improvisational group whose points of reference are free jazz, dark ambient, and radio emissions from the early universe. Andrew Joron, theremin; Kersti Abrams, sax and flute; Michael Wilcox, electric bass. $20 suggested donation; byob.
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Litquake turns 25! Litquake’s 2024 festival will kick off with the Booksellers Ball, an opening night bash at Club Fugazi in North Beach when the Litquake community comes together to fête San Francisco’s independent bookstores. It’s a catered event with abundant libations and a sizzling lineup of literature-themed drag performances hosted by Joe Wadlington of Happy Endings, a.k.a Jubilee! With festive grooves from Bff.fm DJ Lead Teddy and a reading nook curated by 17 of San Francisco’s best independent booksellers — including Glen Park’s own Bird & Beckett — you’re invited to kick up your heels with local literati and celebrate 25 years of Litquake! $75 tickets available here! Pay $100 and you’ll be sponsoring a bookseller of your choice! Find the schedule for Litquake’s 10-day literary cavalcade of events here!
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Every second Friday of the month, Eric Shifrin brings in a trio to have a little fun with tunes written by some of the master composers of popular music that have become standards played in piano bars, restaurants, clubs and concert halls through the decades throughout the land. This month, he’ll present tunes by the writers behind “Violets for Your Furs,” “Makin’ Whoopee” and “Autumn in New York” and many more. BYOB and a twenty for the band! Featuring tunes by Matt Dennis, Vernon Duke and Walter Donaldson this time out, you’re in for a packed show of wonderful music. Matt Dennis is familiar to you due to Sinatra and Billie Holiday, think Angel Eyes, Everything Happens to Me and Violets for Your Furs. Walter Donaldson was prolific between the two world wars, composing American Songbook chestnuts, often with lyricist Gus Kahn, like Makin’ Whoopee, My Baby Just Cares…
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Empyrea travels the spaceways with thrilling improvisational forays that venture into uncharted sonic terrain. Listeners will experience instrumental combinations rarely heard on this planet. Empyrea is Ian Dogole – doumbek, African talking drum, udu, kalimba, maracas llaneras Richard Howell – saxophones, misc. aerophones & vocals Kash Killion – cello, double bass, sarangi, bolon, masenqo
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Hindustani and Carnatic music of India presented by violinist Krishna Parthosarathy and tabla player Ferhan Qureshi. $20 cover charge (cash or venmo, please), byob. Reservations can be made by calling the shop at 415-586-3733 during regular business hours, noon to six pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Doors open for the show 15 minutes before the concert. Reservations are held only until show time. The classical music of the Indian subcontinent has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as Hindustani and the South Indian classical music known as Carnatic. These traditions were not distinct until about the 15th century, but during the Mughal period, the traditions separated and evolved into distinct forms. Hindustani music emphasizes improvisation and exploration of all aspects of a raga, while Carnatic performances tend to be short composition-based. However, the two systems continue to have more common features than differences. Krishna Parthasarathy began learning violin…
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Bay Area singer/songwriters George Kincheloe, Scott Beynon, Glenn MacPherson and vocalist Nancy Carroll combine their unique talents and instrumental artistry in this popular, harmony-rich band whose music leans toward Americana/acoustic with lots of original material by three accomplished songwriters. $20 cover charge (cash or venmo, please); byob.
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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 high priority for you, you’ll want to wait awhile before cutting us a check. We understand that, and in a few months we’ll have our nonprofit status back, we’re quite sure. Meanwhile, this drive is a pitch for non-deductible donations! The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy…
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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…
Read MoreSara Biel is a social worker and poet in Oakland, CA. She is an editor with Colossus Press and one of the founders of Oakland’s Starting Points open mic series. Her chapbook, Prescribed Burn was published in 2023. Daphne Gottlieb stitches together the ivory tower and the gutter just using her tongue. She is the author of 11 books in at least 5 genres. Daphne is the winner of the Acker, Audre Lorde and Firecracker Alternative Book Awards. She is currently at work on a new collection of poems and a novel about the ocean that features a shark who wants to wear lipstick. An open mic follows. Sign up at the reading. Time limit 3 minutes. Michael Koch hosts.
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https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/videos/563350992916034 sound starts at the 1:42 mark… fabulous to the end! The towering master of tenor saxophone (and many another instrument), Noel Jewkes brings his fine quartet that includes Grant Levin on piano, Chris Amberger on bass and Mark Lee on drums. Exceptional jazz beautifully played. We’re always grateful when any of these four fine musicians crosses the Bird & Beckett stage and most especially when Noel Jewkes, aka Dr. Legato, is leading the charge. $20 cover charge, cash or venmo at the door. byob. reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733.
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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
