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!
Thursday, October 16 – 7:30 pm
Litquake at Bird & Beckett!
Poets Amos, Cherkovski,
Dunagan, Lazzara, Loos
“Generations” – a Bird & Beckett Litquake reading!    Five San Francisco Poets, 27 to 69:                       A gathering of decades, born on the fog banks over Twin Peaks. Seth Amos, Neeli Cherkovski, Patrick James Dunagan,…
Sunday, October 12th — 4:30-6:30 pm
sitar and tabla duo play
classical music of North India
a concert of Hindustani (North Indian) Classical Music. Joanna Mack, sitar. Ferhan Qureshi, tabla. Joanna Mack began her study of Indian Classical sitar in 1997. She spent eight years in Kolkata studying under Pandit Deepak Choudhury, and returned to the U.S. where she has had the honor to study under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Sarodia Bruce Hamm and…
Saturday Night Jazz Club!
The Grant Levin Quartet
featuring Noel Jewkes
October 11th – 8-11 pm
Pianist Grant Levin has become appreciated as among the very finest young pianists on the local jazz scene, and his collaboration with seasoned tenor sax player Noel Jewkes has paid dividends for both of them, and for audiences all around the Bay Area.  Tonight, they’re joined by veteran bassist Chris Amberger, one of Grant’s very earliest proponents,…
Friday, October 10th – 5:30-8:00 p.m.
The Bird & Beckett Bebop Band
plays jazz in the bookshop
Drummer Jimmy Ryan leads a stellar rotating crew of musicians on the 2nd Friday of each month — usually two horns on the front line, piano, bass and drums.  This week, he’s got Stu Pilorz on trombone; Stephen Norfleet on tenor sax; Don Alberts on piano; and Bishu Chatterjee on bass.  Each time out, there’s a slight adjustment in the…
Sunday, October 5 – 4:30-6:30 pm
Duocracy: Ian Carey and Ben Stolorow
Duocracy, a project of trumpeter Ian Carey and pianist Ben Stolorow, focuses on classic tunes from the rare to the familiar, ranging from Gershwin and Gordon Jenkins to Thelonious Monk and Henry Mancini, plus occasional original tunes. Within that repertoire, they aim for interplay, unpredictability, and surprise. (You can see them performing one of their…
Sunday, October 5th – 2pm
Taurean Horn 40th Anniversary Reading
Taurean Horn Press 40th Anniversary Reading — Publisher Bill Vartnaw and a roster of fine poets celebrate one of California’s key small presses.  Poets Q. R. Hand, Gail Mitchell, Jeanne Powell, Kim Shuck will be joined by other alumni of the press to be announced.
jazz club: Saturday, Oct. 4th – 8-11 pm
The Smith Dobson Quartet
with Ben Goldberg
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg has been playing at the top echelon of American progressive jazz for a couple of decades and has recorded prolifically, including a recent session with tenor sax player Smith Dobson, the leader of our 1st Saturday “jazz club” sessions.  Drummer Hamir Atwell and bassist Eric Markowitz, two key and wonderfully creative players on…
First Fridays jazz in the bookshop!
Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble
5:30 to 8:00 pm
The first Friday of every month, it’s always Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble — a fixture in San Francisco’s longest running neighborhood jazz party! Don has had a six decade love affair with the string bass and jazz, beginning back in the 1950s. That’s when he first made his mark as a mainstay of the Bud Shank…
Sunday, September 28th – 4:30-6:30 pm
El Guajiro! Johnny Escobedo
Cuban son, boleros y guajiras from a three-piece ensemble led by singer and guitarist Johnny Escobedo, with Norman Downing, percussion and vocals; Roberto Razon, tres cubano and vocals! The sounds of Havana and the Cuban countryside! Read more on El Guajiro site: Â click here!
Sunday, September 28th – 2:30 p.m.
Walker Talks!
Eriugena’s theology of the logos
Walker Brents IIIÂ weaves a fascinating web of insight, association, speculation and delight the last Sunday of every month, following his muse where it takes him on topics divers — from epic literature to mythological tales to the enigmas of poetry and the profundities of philosophy and religion. Today at 2:30, join his many devotees to…