BIRD & BECKETT CULTURAL LEGACY PROJECT
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.
See below for info on our next several events, or click here to view our extended calendar for details on events a bit further out.
Seating is limited! For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. BYOB.
This month, Walker considers Thich Nhat Hanh: The timeless simplicity of his teaching defies our surfaces even as it nourishes our depths. A skillful conveyer of the great lucidities: poetry, art, parable, history, myth; he was also a disciplined expositor of ancient meditative techniques. A stranger in a strange land, a voice for the voiceless, and a humble monk. Martin Luther King nominated him for the Nobel Prize, back in 1967. He credited Nhat Hanh’s influence as one of the factors in his decision to publicly oppose the war in Vietnam. Walker Brents III’s talks, which take place most months during the academic year on a mid-month, mid-week schedule, are presented by live stream on our YouTube channel and Facebook page, which can both be accessed via the video window at the top of our website’s home page. The talks remain available and accessible after the fact on both platforms.…
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Sir Kahil El’Zabar, voice, trapset, cajon, kalimba. Corey Wilkes, trumpet. Kevin Nabors, tenor saxophone. $35 at the door, cash or venmo please! Teens and students $15; kids free byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Sir Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is touring the United States and Canada this February on its 2025 Heart & Soul tour! Catch the EHE’s 7th Black History Month appearance at Bird & Beckett since February 2017, the year that core trio mates Corey Wilkes and Alex Harding joined the Ensemble. Alex is committed to dates with the Sun Ra Arkestra this time out, but Kevin Nabors, a Chicago phenom, has joined up for the 2025 tour. The EHE’s 2025 Bird & Beckett performance will be the first of just three West Coast stops on the 2025 Heart & Soul tour–their 14th stop in 19 shows scheduled from the East Coast to…
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Idris Ackamoor, saxophone. Bobby Cobb, guitar. Heshima Mark Williams, bass. Randy Merritt, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. Cash or venmo at the door please; no plastic! For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Premiere performance of Idris Ackamoor’s new quartet, presenting new material and kicking off a series of performances by Idris in multiple configurations — his recently formed trio with Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau (Feb 19 at the Chapel), his long-running (since 1972), internationally acclaimed touring band, the Pyramids (April 19 at The Lab), and his Ankhestra (June 15 at SFJAZZ). The Ankhestra’s debut album “Artistic Being” is soon to be released! It all started with the Pyramids in Paris and Africa, continued in San Francisco with Cultural Odyssey, his amazing, long-running collaboration with Rhodessa Jones, and continues on with the trio, quartet and Ankhestra! Don’t miss this quartet stop at Bird & Beckett! In honour of…
Read MoreBen Stolorow, piano. Peter Barshay, bass. Vince Lateano, drums. with guest Erik Jekabson, trumpet $20 suggested donation, or what you can afford. byob. Come for a tune, or come for two sets… whatever fits your life, you don’t want to miss out on one of the great pleasures of San Francisco life and San Francisco jazz. Vince has been a mainstay in this town since he rousted out of the Army and stayed put here in the mid-1960s. He took what he’d learned in his Sacramento youth and became the go-to drummer in North Beach and all around town, especially after Johnny Markham subbed out to him when JM hit the circuit. Vince toured with Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Woody Herman and Stan Getz, was the house drummer in Jazz at Pearl’s Columbus Avenue heyday, led memorable sessions in Dogpatch, over at Pier 23 down at the 7 Mile House…
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Marina Crouse, vocals. Danny Caron, guitar. Ruth Davies, bass. Mark Lee, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733. With two albums to her credit, Marina Crouse is an astonishingly talented singer in Spanish and English both, whether it’s a jazz classic, a scorching blues number, a soulful Mexican ballad or an irresistible and clever original. Blessed with a deeply expressive voice early in life, her early classical training underlies her powerful vocal delivery. She traverses a wide range of material, delivering an emotional authenticity that consistently cuts deep. “When I sing,” she says, “I feel like I break myself open and let a little piece of myself come out. I’m reaching out to people with hopes to connect on a personal level. And when we do, that to me is better than anything else.” Plus, she’s a lot of fun to hear, especially with…
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Pat Wilder, guitar and vocals Ryan Pesce, guitar Kirk Bowman, bass Thatcher Nine, drums $20 cover; byob. Blues guitarist and singer Pat Wilder brings it all back home with love for you on Valentine’s Day! Sultry blues like you love it from the likes of Etta James & Barbara Lynne. Pat Wilder was born into a family of artists. San Francisco in the sixties was the backdrop of her childhood. As a hub for the Civil Rights Movement and the home to Haight-Ashbury hippies, SF’s rich culture laid fertile ground for becoming an artist herself. “Music was in my blood,” she recalls. She danced between the piano, the congas, and the plastic guitar her mother bought her from Woolworth’s, jamming with her harpsichord-strumming, harmonica-humming grandmother. The bluesman Taj Mahal, a family friend, bequeathed Pat her first electric guitar, and taught her his “Ain’t Gwine Whistle Dixie (Anymo’).” The rest is…
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It’s the second Friday of the month, and lucky for you, you’re about to get lucky on Valentine’s Day! Charm your crush with an easy-going evening of jazz standards and chestnuts played with a Latin flare. Pianist Eric Shifrin and percussionist Raul Ramirez are here to entertain you with a couple of sets of lovely tunes. You’re always in with the in crowd when you’re at Bird & Beckett for a second Friday with Eric & the In Crowd. BYOB and a twenty for the musicians. No reservation necessary, but feel free to call for one anyway – 415-586-3733.
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Jim Campilongo, guitar. Andrew Higgins, bass. David Rokeach, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. For reservations, call 415-586-3733. Billboard Magazine calls Jim Campilongo “an American treasure,” an accolade which this guitarist’s artistry and influential career has richly earned him. Time Out NYC describes Campilongo perfectly: “New York has no shortage of guitar heroes but few cover as many bases as Jim Campilongo. Campilongo reveals a range that extends from seductive country-swing to atmospheric jazz and well beyond.” New Yorker magazine says, “There it was again: the stinging treble, the spooky overtones, the strings snapping and booming under his hands, the sound of a Tele being played as skillfully and exuberantly as it can be played. It sounded like nothing and nobody else sounded like Jim Campilongo.” With fifteen albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings–from his significant contribution on Cake’s million-selling “Prolonging the Magic” to (most recently)…
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Doors open at 6:30pm to socialize with Charlie Haas prior to his reading at 7pm. Novelist, essayist and screenwriter Charlie Haas presents his new book, The Current Fantasy (Beck & Branch, 2024), his second novel. Charlie’s debut novel The Enthusiast (HarperPerennial) was published in 2009. Highly regarded as a screenwriter, Charlie’s credits include Over the Edge, Gremlins 2, and Matinee. His writing has appeared in Esquire, New West, The Threepenny Review, and Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, among many other journals. He lives in Oakland with his wife, the writer and editor B. K. Moran. The Current Fantasy begins with the Lanz family in Berlin in 1914, stressed and alarmed as the city’s populace is stirred by an ugly nationalist fervor. Seeking a brief respite from the growing madness they sense around them, they’re drawn to a community a train ride away in the nearby woods — a countercultural…
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Maurice Tani, guitar and vocals. Henry Salvia, piano. Greg Kehret, bass. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. This week we’ll be celebrating the 1529th running of the Valentines since Pope Gelasius I ordered Cupid to fire his starting bow in the streets of Rome in 496 AD. Times have changed… or have they? Join singer-songslinger Maurice Tani, pianist Henry Salvia and bassist Greg Kehret as they explore the darker corners of timeless romance in the modern world. Oh, what is beauty? Deception or truth? What is love crushed? Destroyer of youth. You had to flirt with disaster until It finally fell for you. Please note that, yes, we realize this is also a religious holiday for certain sports fans, though our local team will not be playing. Ask your clergy or sacred text if this concert is right for you.
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James Yeary makes poems, art objects, performances, readings, books and the like. For the last couple years he has worked in a surgery-adjacent laboratory turning human tissue into colorful pictograms, very occult and ethically suspicious but presumably for a good cause. He will eventually do something else but presumably still will make poems. Chris Ashby is a poet, writer, and musician living in Portland, OR by way of Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho. They are the editor and publisher of Couch Press, and a co-organizer of the Spare Room Reading Series since 2014. They’ve worked with artist Nate Orton on his multi-decade MY DAY project situated in the Pacific Northwest, and on several collaborations with James Yeary. Their most recent chapbook is From Tiered Walls with art by Joe Galván (Vesta/Couch Press). They work in public service. Julien Poirier teaches poetry in the San Francisco public schools and at San…
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Sukhawat Ali Khan – Vocal and Harmonium Swapan Gandhi – Bansuri Flute Ferhan Qureshi – Tabla $20 cover charge; byob. For reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Sukhawat Ali Khan is the son and disciple of the legendary vocalist Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of the Shaam Chaurasi Gharana. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Sukhawat is a versatile singer based out of the San Francisco Bay Area and has performed internationally in a career spanning nearly 50 years. In addition to presenting North Indian and Pakistani traditional music, he has recorded and performed extensively with several world fusion music ensembles. This concert will feature presentations of classical and light classical forms including khayal, thumri, ghazal and sufiana kalam. Sukhawat’s ensemble for this evening’s performance will include Swapan Gandhi on bansuri and Ferhan Qureshi on tabla. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyvx4iXUwm0
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Francis Wong, saxophone. Karl Evangelista, guitar. Chris Trinidad, bass. Jimmy Biala, drums. $20 cover charge; byob. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Modern jazz with a Filipino folk inflection. Top players all, collectively engaged in the music at this juncture in our urgent historical moment.
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Doug Goodkin – piano. Marty Wehner – trombone. Sam Heminger – bass. $20 suggested donation per adult; byob. Teens and students – $10 suggested. Kids, free. Celebrating Doug’s new book Jazz, Joy and Justice. Doug Goodkin, as well as being a wonderful musician himself, is a celebrated educator, loved for his work by generations of young San Franciscans and students of all ages, far and wide. His Orff-oriented work that taps children intuitively into the roots of music within them has always revolved around the joy it evokes and the innate talent and understanding of the world that it reveals. He wonders, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all American school children learned something about our great American art form of jazz? If they not only listened to and played their music, but also learned the stories of our American jazz geniuses? If by hearing these stories, they also came to…
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In Spoken Duets, Chris Kammler and Susan Dambroff collage words into a riff, a rumble, and a rant, and speak them in syncopated and unsyncopated time. They surf through the day-to-day of these tsunami times with poetic and improvisational collaborations. They attempt to untwist and untangle language weaving in and out of the personal and the political, engaging the audience with their fierce honesty and delightful artistry. They offer prayers, love, and humor, as they nurture our collective resilience to garner our humanity back. CKammler is a writer, director, performer, and drama therapist working in a psychiatric hospital. She and Susan Dambroff have spun words together since the 90s. Her written work has been performed in Europe and SF. She practices Qigong and energy arts to anchor the light in these turbulent times. Dambroff is a poet, performer, teacher, and mother. She is drawn to the detailed placement of words,…
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Donate!
Your tax-deductible donations to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project help us pay the performers and cover a myriad of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Make a one-time or recurring donation via Paypal, by clicking below, or make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it to:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
