When Gavin Newsom took the courageous and politically perilous step of declaring a moratorium on California’s death penalty, he gave Californians an unexpected chance to think about what having a death penalty tells us about ourselves as a society or even as human beings. Michael A. Kroll has spent a significant portion of his life…

It’s his birthday, and we’ll cry if we want too. You should too. But you won’t feel like it. Jerry!!!!

            Heikki “Mike” Koskinen: e-trumpet & piano Steve Heckman: saxes. flutes, clarinet ‘MONK MEETS NORDIC WINDS’. Heikki & Steve will present their latest material, ranging from Nordic traditional songs to straight ahead jazz. Their long collaborative history includes CD projects such as “Midnight Sun”, “Full Moon” and “Northern Winds &…

Todd Melicker regularly communes with the fog of San Francisco’s Outer Richmond. His most recent book, is this the body / if hovers is just out from lyric press. rendezvous, his first book, was published by Rescue Press in 2013 as the winner of the second annual Black Box Prize. He is the author of…

Francis Vanek, saxophone Terry Rodriguez, piano Chris Amberger, bass Mike Quigg, drums Francis is a legend of the North Coast. His quartet this afternoon will be right in sync. He and Terry and Chris go back quite aways. Mike’s a young drummer whose reputation is rock solid in this town and he’s crossed the Bird…

$10 per set donation is much appreciated… whatever you can manage! Flat broke? No problem, pay what you will… Al Molina, trumpet Jerry Logas, reeds, flute & vocals Larry Chinn, piano Dean Reilly, bass Vince Lateano, drums   It’s loose, and it’s deep; at one and the same time. Come out and find out for…

Francis Vanek, sax Grant Levin, piano Giulio Xavier, bass Jeff Minnieweather, drums

SLUGish Ensemble is an amoeba-like musical gathering of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, guitars & rhythm section. It’s music utilizes traditional acoustic instruments to create layers of pocketed-grooves and melodies that blur the lines between pop, rhythm & blues, jazz improvisation & minimalism.         Steven Lugerner – Bass Clarinet & Baritone Saxophone     …

Talk about your San Francisco jazz… On the fourth Friday of each month, our weekly jazz in the bookshop series features The 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band — once known as The Chuck Peterson Quintet — five musicians whose individual histories on the local jazz scene date back to the 1950s. The…

The Agitator: William Bailey and the First American Uprising Against Nazism is Peter Duffy’s account of the 1935 action led by the young Merchant Marine Seaman Bill Bailey when the SS Bremen, the flagship of Hitler’s commercial fleet, arrived in New York Harbor flying the Nazi flag, just days after violent anti-Semitic riots rocked Berlin….