jazz in the bookshop / Happy Hour! – Fridays 6:00-8:00 pm

San Francisco’s longest-running neighborhood jazz party! Ever since 2002, when saxophonist Chuck Peterson pledged to field a group every week, if we made space for them to play, we’ve missed so few Friday night jazz Happy Hours you can count them on one hand! You can still catch the 230 Jones Street Literary Jazz Band, named in honor of the erstwhile Local 6 Musicians’ Union Hall and now lead by drummer Tony Johnson, on the 4th Friday of every month. On 3rd Fridays, guitarist Scott Foster brings in an ever-evolving cast of musicians, as he has for nearly as long, and on 2nd Fridays, it’s Eric & the In Crowd, led by pianist/vocalist Eric Shifrin. 1st Fridays feature a different band each month.

jazz in the bookshop / Nite Cap! – Fridays 8:30-10:00 pm

Twenty years and one pandemic later, in 2022, we added a second, entirely separate Friday series so we could really kick the weekend off in style. Come for the first band, from 6-8, stay for the second, from 8:30-10! Our Jazz Nitecap features bands that may sometimes stray from “jazz” – it might be blues, soul, or rock‘n’roll – but it’s always high-octane music of the sort that turns out hip and hungry audiences not ready to cash their chips too early.

jazz club! when lights are low... – Saturdays 7:30-9:30 pm 

Somewhere along the way, circa 2014, we hung a curtain at the back of the stage and took the lights down low for a listening crowd hanging on the performers’ every musical phrase and verbal aside at our Saturday night Jazz Club.

which way west? / You Name It! – Sundays 5:00-7:00 pm

Back in 2007, we increased our regularly scheduled programming from a single weekly series to two – a slippery slope, that! – allowing us to significantly broaden our jazz offerings and also to begin to accommodate a number of traditional forms beyond jazz. A number of cultures and musical disciplines have been richly represented over the past decade, often by musicians who call the Bay Area their home, carrying with them musical traditions from the places where they were born, grew up and came of age. We called it “which way west?” for a while, now “You Name It!” Many thanks are due Jean Conner for her very generous support of this series over the years.

canyon moonlight – occasional Thursdays and second shows some Sundays, usually from 7:30 to 9:30 pm

This concert series allows a little room in our calendar to present music of various types – from country to cabaret, western chamber to classical traditions from the rest of the world. At present, this includes a series of concerts of music from the Indian subcontinent curated by Ferhan Qureshi, a series of classic/outlaw/honky tonk country bands led by pedal steel guitar player Joe Goldmark, and occasional other outfits, stitched together into an umbrella that we put to use when it's raining culture in San Francisco and we need a catch basin to not let those precious fluids go to waste!

& Lest we forget the Literary events:

POETS! featured readers + open mic – 1st Thursday of each month, 7:00-9:00 pm

Jerry Ferraz and Michael Koch host a poetry reading that showcases local legends, poets passing through and folks from around the Bay – typically two featured poets followed by an open mic. We can count on a warm group of poets and poetry fans eager to hear the features and the potpourri of poets of every stripe who come out to read and keep the open mic scene alive. Drawing on the generosity of our neighbors and patrons, we're able to pay a small honorarium to the featured poets, a rarity in reading series off the college campuses… your additional dollar or two tossed in the bucket at the readings makes it that much sweeter.

Virtual POETS! Featured readers + open mic ONLINE – 2nd Monday of each month, 7:00-9:00 pm

Kim Shuck hosts an online series likewise with featured readers followed by an open mic, too!

Walker Talks – 3rd Thursday of most months, 7:30-9:00 pm

Walker Brents III has been holding his audience spellbound with wide-ranging investigations into topics literary, mythological and otherwise from the B&B stage and streamed online for many a year now. In the past, his subjects have ranged from William Blake to Bob Dylan, Shakespeare to the Shahnameh, the Kalevala to the story of Layla and Majnun…. Who knows what he’ll regale us with next?