653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood

1-415-586-3733
[email protected]

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Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six

 

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But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!

Paula Hackett & Connie Crothers

Poet Paula Hackett
with pianist Connie Crothers

Monday, August 15th – 7:00 pm

POETS!  1st & 3rd Monday
of each month
Featured readers
followed by an open mic
Jerry Ferraz hosts

Paula Hackett writes from a long, ongoing love affair with literature and jazz both.  Her father was a noted novelist, and at a young age, growing up in Berkeley, Paula and her brother John became avid devotees of the American popular song, particularly as mediated through the work of the great jazz instrumentalists of the 50s and 60s.  Paula attended SFSU in the late 70s and 80s, coming under the sway of the African-American intellectual and activist  Angela Davis, jazz historian and writer Grover Sales and the poet John Beecher.  While there, Paula gave a poem to jazz saxophonist John Handy, who in return gave her some of his compositions and set her the task of writing lyrics to the tunes.  Soon, she and her brother John began to write lyrics in earnest, working together to craft songs of rapturous yearning with just the right leavening of mischievous spunk, and finding willing collaborators among a number of top flight jazz composers, including Max Roach, Cedar Walton, Teddy Edwards, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and others. Vocalist Diane Witherspoon recorded an entire album of songs with music composed by Cedar Walton and lyrics by Paula and John.

At Bird & Beckett tonight, Paula will read poems accompanied by the improvising jazz pianist Connie Crothers, who she met through drummer Max Roach.  Connie is in town for a solo engagement at the prestigious Chez Hanny jazz salon.  Connie’s astonishingly inventive work can be heard on this link to her site.  Of course, you’ll get a better feel for what she can do by coming to Bird & Beckett for her date with Paula…

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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit 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.

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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

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