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, June 1st – 4:30-6:30 pm
DSB! The Dwaine Spurlin Band
with vocalist Nina Causey

“The Sax Man” Dwaine Spurlin was schooled at SFSU and was an understudy for saxophone titan Joe Henderson… he brings a dynamic group into Bird & Beckett featuring Spencer Allen on piano, Attila Medvedsky on bass and Stephen La Porta on drums, plus vocalist Nina Causey! This group can handle a wide range of styles from…

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Sunday, June 1st — 2 pm
Latif Harris, Part Two:
A life in beat zen poetry

Continuing where he left off in mid-May, Latif Harris reads more work from the span of his career, and relates stories of what has happened along the way. Latif is one of the survivors of the late 50’s North Beach poetry scene.  He lived on Columbus above the Stella Pastry as the 50’s rolled into…

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Friday, May 30th — 5:30 to 8:00 pm
jazz in the bookshop
special “fifth Friday” session!
The Pacific Jazz Connection

Live recording session tonight! Reed players Jerry Logas (bari sax) and Smith Dobson V (tenor sax) co-lead this quintet that delves into the 1950s West Coast sound that brought beautifully wrought harmonic and rhythmic qualities to the forefront of jazz.  “Bernie’s Tune,”  “Line for Lyons” and much more…   And then they range further afield……

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Thursday, May 29th – 7 pm:
Self-Portrait of the Poet
Suicided by the MFA Degree

a reading by Justin Etc., with Amy K Bell & Jill Tomasetti

per the Press: The Gorillla Press is excited to release our first full-length book, a collection of poems by Oakland poet and SF State grad Justin, Etc. Featuring cover art by SF artist and poet Truong Tran, this little paperback is a beaut and a pleasure to read. Bird and Beckett Books has graciously given…

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Sunday, May 25th – 4:30 to 6:30 pm
The Grant Levin Trio

Grant Levin, piano Glenn Richman, bass Mark Lee, drums Enjoy a group that epitomizes the joy of the piano jazz trio tradition.  Grant Levin is one of the key young pianists on the local scene.  Beginning in July, you’ll find him directing our 2nd Saturday “jazz club” sessions.  Now, catch him in the comfort of…

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Sunday, May 25th – 2:30 pm
Walker Talks! on Albert Camus

The conflict between the intellectual search for meaning in life when no inherent meaning is to be found there spawned the 1950s philosophy of the absurd explored trenchantly by French Algerian writer Albert Camus in his many books — including centrally, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). Each month, save the summer months, Walker Brents III explores a…

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Saturday, May 24 — 8-11 pm
Introducing
JAZZ CLUB Sat. Nights! Join up!
Michael Parsons at the piano,
with Jay Sanders, Charles Thomas & Vinnie Rodriguez

It’s the new thing at Bird & Beckett!  May is the trial run, then we lay low in June and start in earnest in July…  Catch dinner some Saturday at one of the neighborhood’s great restaurants, then come on up to Jazz Club for a couple sets of fantastic jazz ’til 11 p.m The second…

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Friday, May 23rd — 5:30 to 8:00 pm
jazz in the bookshop every Friday!
tonight: The Chuck Peterson Quintet
with vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits

Chuck Peterson and Howard Dudune, reeds; Glen Deardorff, guitar; Dean Reilly, bass and Tony Johnson, drums, make up the regular fourth Friday band at Bird & Beckett, carrying on a long tradition of weekly jazz parties in Glen Park.  No cover charge, but do bring some money for the musicians anyway!  Supporting live jazz in…

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Wednesday, May 21st – 7 pm
Book Event: Mingus Speaks
author/interlocutor John Goodman talks!

Author John Goodman will speak at Bird & Beckett the evening of May 21st on the man, Charles Mingus, and the book, Mingus Speaks: Interviews with Charles Mingus, 1972-1974 (John Goodman, author; Sy Johnson, photographer; University of California Press, 2013). From John Goodman’s website, www.mingusspeaks.com:  What is this thing called Mingus?  Some have heard the name,…

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Monday, May 19th – 7 pm
Sterling Bunnell reads
“Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale Completed”
— open mic follows

Live recording:  Sterling Bunnell will read his long-form poem, “Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale Completed.”  Bunnell retired from a long career in psychiatry some time ago, during which he was particularly known for his 1960s exploration of the use of hallucinogenic drugs in treatment regimens; he’s credited with introducing the first living strain of Salvia divinorum, Diviner’s Sage,…

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