In conversation with Alice Adams’ son, the San Francisco artist Peter Linenthal — and indulging in a slide show that captures Adams through the years — Adams’ biographer, Carol Sklenicka, brings the towering fiction writer back to life. Alice Adams, born in Virginia in 1926, raised in North Carolina, educated at Radcliffe and a long-time…

$20 cover charge / sliding scale available A JitN Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund date Without question, Calvin Keys is one of the greats of Bay Area jazz guitar, with a worldwide reputation and a long career under his belt. He’s released at least a dozen albums as a leader since his 1971 debut, appears as…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Five spectacularly talented players bring the passions of youth to the romance of Valentine’s Day.

Two poets, long-time friends, descend on Bird & Beckett this evening. Timotha, from her home a stone’s throw away and Bob, from elsewhere. Timotha, chodpa, gate player, has pilgrimaged in Tibet, Nepal and India following the footsteps of Machig Lapdron, an 11C female Buddha/saint. She has climbed to 14.8 thousand feet to sit in ancient,…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Riley Bandy & James Mahone, saxophones Matt Clark, piano Caroline Chung, bass Ruth Price, drums Citizens Jazz is a revolving collective of some of the Bay Area’s best up-and-coming and veteran musicians led by bassist Caroline Chung, who has been gigging professionally for over a decade playing in bands…

$10-20 suggested donation. $5 for students/musicians/fixed income. The Seducers have had a monthly gig at Bird & Beckett for three years, playing classic, outlaw and honky tonk songs by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Bobby Bare, plus originals and a few from left field. Look for the Seducers every second Sunday…

$25 cover charge / $15-40 sliding scale Mark Wright, trumpet Mack Rucks, trumpet Aaron Bennett, alto sax Jim Grantham, tenor sax Muziki Roberson, piano Joe McKinley, bass Alexie Berlin, drums Bay Area composers/arrangers/performers with over 20 years of collaborative experience, the Grassroots Ensemble has been gathering weekly in one configuration or another in pianist Muziki…

$20 suggested donation; any amount appreciated Nora Stanley, saxophone Omree Gal-Oz, piano Luis Salcedo, guitar Owen Clapp, bass Matthew Buckner, drums Saxophonist, bandleader and composer Nora Stanley was born in San Francisco and raised in Berkeley. Growing up in a musical family, she attended Berkeley High and participated in the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and…

$20 cover charge; sliding scale available DjangoSphere returns to Bird & Beckett! Howard Alden, a formidable guitarist with an international reputation, is in the midst of a second West Coast tour with violinist Kit Eakle,  well known as an historian of the violin in jazz, in Kit’s project called DjangoSphere — exploring the music of Django…

Bird & Beckett is proud to present a San Francisco poet of exquisite talents and profound dedication to humanity. Beau Beausoleil’s long history as a bookseller and his many years leading the Al-Mutanabbi Street Project speak to his dedication to to the word, to the world and to the heart. Tonight, Beau will read from…