Avotcja & Tony are joined by percussionists Louie Romero, Carlos Caro and Vince de Jesus for tonight’s reading!

Avotcja is a profound force on the Bay Area cultural scene — a volcanic poet fluidly fusing English and Spanish in her fiery work; a writer of stories in many genres; an insightful essayist of great clarity; a formidable bandleader, interweaving her words and percussion with the expressive talents of the cavalcade of soulful world musicians that revolve though her band Modúpue; a long-time dj on both KPOO and KPFA, week after week spinning amazing tracks from legendary and emerging artists coming from countless musical traditions; the host and organizer of a long running and crucial poetry series; a fierce advocate for the people, for the mom and pop stores, and for the children.

With Modúpue, Avotcja has played Bird & Beckett the first Sunday afternoon of each year (mark your calendar for January 5th, 4:30pm), and also in July to mark her birthday. But tonight, it’s her poetry at center stage.

And tonight, Avotcja will be joined on the program by Tony Aldarondo, a Puerto Rican poet who’s read his poetry from San Fran to Japan, and in many venues throughout the Bay Area. Tony is an actor and a voiceover artist, and a member of the screen actors Guild, and has toured the state of California with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.

Troubadour-in-residence Jerry Ferraz and San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck host our twice-monthly poetry series.  An open mic follows the featured readers.  All are welcome.

We anticipate that each poet in the open mic will only have two minutes due to the scope of the evening, so please plan accordingly. The reading will start at 7, as we must finish by 9 — so the neighbors will allow us to continue doing what we do here at Bird & Beckett!

Bird & Beckett is wheelchair accessible; please call ahead to reserve a seat or space. We can accept a dozen or so advance reservations. Capacity is 49, with 40 seated and 9 standing.

Donations are encouraged and welcome to help us pay a modest honorarium to the featured poets and the accompanying musicians.

Thank you for your ears, your minds, your activism and your impassioned support for the artists who help to make our shared culture so rich and sustainable!