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 16 – 4:30 to 6:30 pm
The Jesse Foster Quartet
Jesse’s vocal style has evolved from a deep immersion in the work of musicians like Wes Montgomery, Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane, Smokey Robinson, David Ruffin, Nat “King” Cole and Miles Davis.  He has developed an original composition and arranging style that conveys deep and personal messages through songs crossing a wide range of musical genres. For…
Sunday, March 16th – 2:00 pm
Ivan Arguelles, Jack Foley and Clara Hsu: a Presentation of Poetry Hotel Press
Three titles from this new press will be presented by their authors, the poets Ivan Argüelles, Jack Foley and Clara Hsu. Of the press and its intentions, co-publisher (with Clara Hsu) Jack Foley puts it well indeed: ¶The point of “publication†is to make something public:  “the song of me rising from bed and meeting…
San Francisco Neighborhoods
on the Brink: A Panel Discussion on Displacement, Gentrification, Rising Rents & the Loss of Affordable Housing
Wednesday, March 12th – 7:00 pm
Alejandro Murguia (SF Poet Laureate) leads off a panel discussion with John Avalos (District 11 Supervisor), Gen Fujioka (Public Policy Director, Chinatown Community Development Center) and Sarah Brant (SFUSD teacher & Ellis Act target). Join us to discuss the dilemma facing long-time residents and renters of modest means — and the gutting and gentrification of…
Sunday, April 6th at 2:00 p.m.
Finishing Line Press:
six poets read from their books
Poets Judy Bebelaar (Walking the Pacific), Raffi Del Bourgo (Inexplicable Business), Ellaraine Lockie (Wild as in Familiar), Kathleen McClung (Almost the Rowboat), Laura Schulkind (Lost in Tall Grass) and Zara Raab (Rumplestiltskin, or What’s in a Name?) read from their work.
Sunday, March 9th – 4:30-6:30 pm
Betty Wong & CMC Friends
in a transcultural musical celebration of the Year of the Horse!
Happy New Year! Â Celebrate with us the Chinese Year of the Horse — and the advent of Daylight Savings Time: Â come and enjoy a multicultural concert featuring faculty and friends of San Francisco’s Community Music Center! Yi Ming Li, guqin (ancient Chinese zither) Peter Frentzel, shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) Betty Wong, huluxi (Chinese folk…
“Basic Mysteries”
David Meltzer seminar
on poetry & poetics
Tuesday, March 4th – 7-10 pm
Call the bookshop for reservations – 415-586-3733. $40 tuition David Meltzer, a poet whose roots are in the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat eras, will explore some of the “basic mysteries” of poetry & poetics in three sessions spaced over five weeks. David’s thoughts on the poetic calling range from the discipline’s roots in oral culture…
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,…
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…
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…
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…