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!

Sunday, March 2nd – 4:30-6:30 pm
Jinx Jones & His Jazz-A-Billy All-Stars!
which way west? Sunday concert series

Jinx Jones, king of the hollow body geetar, master of countless genres, avatar of the swing to rock from pure country to hard bop, visits Bird & Beckett as winter fades away with his jazzy little trio that’ll take you from Bob Wills to Thelonius Monk via Charlie Pride, Hank Williams, Hank Garland, Wes Montgomery,…

Read More...

Sunday, March 2nd – 2 pm
Writers Bill Berkson & Elizabeth Block
read new poetry

Bill Berkson is a poet, art critic & corresponding editor for Art in America, who for many years taught literature & art history at the SF Art Institute. Director of Letters and Science at the Art Institute from 1993 to 1998, he taught art history, critical writing & poetry & directed the public lectures program…

Read More...

poems are angels
a solo reading by
Diane di Prima
Saturday, March 1st, 6:30 p.m.
second of two readings
by popular demand!
reservations required–
call the bookshop!

For this fundraising evening to help poet Diane di Prima meet some of her ongoing medical expenses, she will read work from a recent collection,entitled “Poems Are Angels” and we’ll also offer for sale a limited edition broadside produced for the evening as well as several pieces of her art.  Diane will also read some…

Read More...

Sunday, February 23rd, 4:30 pm
Classical guitar concert
Ross Thompson,
with students Harry Trump and others

Ross Thompson, San Francisco-based composer and concert guitarist, is widely known throughout the Bay Area as a passionate interpreter and inspired creative force in the classical guitar tradition.  He has received numerous commissions for original music and has released five recordings, including the acclaimed Winter’s Book.  He recently served as the composer-in-residence for the California Shakespeare Festival, and…

Read More...

Sunday, February 23rd, 2:30 pm
Walker Talks!

Walker Brents III discusses Herman Hesse.

Read More...

Sunday, February 16th – 4:30 pm
Violin & Piano Sonatas

Violinist Drew Cranfill and pianist Manu Petaia perform a program of sonatas by Bach, Mozart and Brahms, in solo and duo format.

Read More...

Sunday, February 16th, 2:00 pm
Third Verse: Jesse Nathan,
Benjamin Paloff, Alissa Valles

A reading and discussion of new work by poets, translators and editors Jesse Nathan, Benjamin Paloff, and Alissa Valles. Jesse Nathan’s poems have appeared in the American Poetry Review, the Nation, jubilat, and elsewhere. He’s a founding editor of the McSweeney’s Poetry Series, and the former managing editor of the Best American Nonrequired Reading. Nathan…

Read More...

Sunday, February 9th,
two extremes of beauty!
rock n’ roll plus a string quartet!
1 pm – The Optimals
4:30 pm – The Temescal Quartet

At 1:00 pm, some neighborhood youths will strap on guitars & all the rest for a set of rock ‘n’ roll — They’re The Optimals & they’re ready to take on the world… At 4:30, we’ll bring it right down to the sweet spot where The Temescal String Quartet will set the bookshop atmosphere vibrating with…

Read More...

Monday, February 3rd at 7 pm
POETS!
Our twice-monthly 1st & 3rd Mondays series of featured poets
plus an open mic

Tonight, poet QR Hands “trades fours” with improvising pianist Walter Earl. Trading fours is a jazz tradition, where members of an ensemble take turns stepping up to the mic for short solo bursts over the length of the standard jazz chorus.  Take our word for it, it’s energized and exciting & these two individuals are…

Read More...

Sunday, February 2nd, 1:30 pm
Tangents Turkey Music Tour Preview

Sixteen Days in Turkey…Ten Nights of Music Dore Stein’s Tangents Turkey Music Tour promo concert & talk Sunday, Feb. 2nd, 1:30-3:00 pm (before you might need to hustle over to Glen Park Station to watch the Super Bowl), come hear Gari Hegedus play Turkish music on oud & baglama, catch a few poems from Clara Hsu, and then hear…

Read More...