Events at Bird & Beckett: F.A.Q.

The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project presents twenty-odd events every month in the bookshop, including at least 3 live concerts each week, plus poetry readings, talks, and all manner of cultural happenings.

Click here to view our calendar.

If it's your first time attending an event at B&B, or just need a refresher about how it all works, here's the routine:

Reserve a seat:

We’re a small space, so it’s a good idea to call the bookshop at (415) 586-3733 to reserve a seat for our shows. Reservations are held until showtime, then unclaimed seats are released to others, so plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before the appointed hour.

We don’t sell tickets in advance. Please bring cash for applicable cover charges. (Venmo works in a pinch, but cash is vastly preferred.)

Cost of attendance:

Most literary events are free, though contributions for poets, etc., are always welcome. For concerts, cover charges vary, but in general, $5-7 per musician is a good rule of thumb. The typical cover for a trio or quartet is $20; quintets are usually $25; sextets $30; etc., with some variation. Full time students pay just $10; younger kids are welcome and admitted free of charge. Financially challenged? Just let us know, and pay what you can.

Our Sunday Happy Hours have no cover charge, so pay what suits you or what you're able to afford. Feel free to drop in for a few tunes and leave a few bucks, or stay for the whole show and throw in more.

Please do keep in mind that all the professional musicians who we book to entertain our Glen Park patrons are guaranteed a fair wage, regardless of audience contributions, so we appreciate your support!

Historically, audience contributions have covered about 85% of our payments to performers, and don’t cover any of the ancillary expenses, so if you’re feeling flush, consider making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit to help us fill the gap between show revenue and the cost of doing all this!

Refreshments:

Bird & Beckett is strictly BYOB. We do have a corkscrew, a bottle opener, cups, and water, but if you’d like something else to sip while you listen to the music, poetry, or whatever the performers have to offer, please bring it with you. Pop into Buddies Market down the block or Canyon Market around the corner on your way to the bookshop.

No food, please, and take care not to spill on the books!

Performers:

If you are interested in presenting your work at Bird & Beckett, please reach out via email to [email protected] to start a conversation. FYI:

Musicians:
We primarily present professional working musicians--early, late, and mid-career--who call the San Francisco Bay Area home, but we do make room for student ensembles and traveling musicians when we can. Our regular concert series take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, with a limited number of additional shows mixed in each month. Demand for dates if always far higher than our schedule can accommodate, and we're often booked out several months in advance, but if you're interested in playing at Bird & Beckett, please send an email to [email protected].

Writers:
We present local writers and the occasional visiting one, generally on weekday evenings, a few times a month. If you are interested in reading at Bird & Beckett, please email [email protected] with a proposal. Writers needn't have a new book to be considered for a reading, but if you do have one you'd like to present, it's helpful to send a copy to the shop for review, as well. Our regular poetry series, with featured readers followed by an open mic, falls on the first Thursday of each month, hosted by Michael Koch and Jerry Ferraz and booked by Michael, to whom we are happy to relay inquiries.

Others:
While most of our events are either musical or literary in nature (and sometimes both!) we also host cultural events of other kinds from time to time, so don't be shy to reach out with your ideas!