653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
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this evening at Bird & Beckett! Jazz at the bookshop jazz every Friday evening, 5:30 to 8:00 pm Singer Dorothy Lefkovits with the “230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band” aka, the Chuck Peterson Quintet Tenor sax player Chuck Peterson inaugurated our weekly jazz party in the neighborhood back in late 2002, and it’s still going strong. Dorothy’s been singing in here almost as long… all the musicians on the bandstand tonight have long experience in the music, and swing in the best west coast post bop tradition… join your friends and neighbors for a fine, convivial summer evening… Beside Chuck, the band consists of reed player Howie Dudune, guitarist Glen Deardorff, bassist Dean Reilly and drummer Tony Johnson. A fine outfit indeed…
Read MoreThursday, 7/21 at 7:00: Poets pay tribute to the late carol lee sanchez hosted by Bill Vartnaw, with readings by Avotcja, Duane BigEagle, Judy Grahn, Gail Mitchell, Kim Shuck, and others Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised in the village of Pagute, carol lee sanchez passed away in Sedalia, Missouri on April 6, 2011 at the age of 77. Her cultural heritage was largely Laguna and Lebanese-American; the Laguna tribal name given her at birth translates as message bringer woman, and indeed so she was, in a long life as a poet, educator and activist. This memorial reading has been organized by poet Bill Vartnaw, who established his small publishing concern, Taurean Horn Press, in 1974 to publish carol lee’s poetry, having first encountered her at the Coffee Gallery on North Beach’s Grant Street, where she ran the a weekly open reading series regularly frequented by Bob Kaufman (then…
Read MoreSunday July 17th – 4:30 pm Faisal Zedan Ensemble Which Way West? Sunday Concerts Percussionist Faisal Zedan, from Syria, is joined by violinists Husain Resan, from Iraq, and Younes El-Makboul in a program of pan-Arab music. These three expert musicians have all graced the Bird & Beckett stage in the past, and can be counted on to provide a rich and delightful musical experience. Faisal Zedan is acclaimed for his virtuosity on the derbakki, the riqq and the framedrum and for his deep knowledge of the complex Arabic musical structures, with a repertoire that ranges from classical muwashshahat to regional folkloric styles. Husain Dixon Resan learned the oud at Baghdad’s Bayt-al-Fann school and joined its orchestra at age 16; he is considered a master violinist, and is also a fine vocalist. All three musicians are associated with Aswat, a very large vocal ensemble based on the Peninsula.
Read MoreSunday, July 17th – 1:00 pm LaborFest Writers’ Group Each year, LaborFest hosts writers in a reading and workshop at Bird & Beckett. Come to listen and, if you like, to participate. LaborFest is in its 18th year, and this year, in addition to commemorating the 1934 San Francisco general strike, it will commemorate and have events around the 150th anniversary of the US civil war and the role of slavery in California, the 125th anniversary of May Day and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Fire In New York where 146 mostly immigrant Jewish and Italian garment workers perished in a fire. Go to this link to get the full schedule of events. Sunday July 17th – 3:00 pm Laurie Barkin – The Comfort Garden Tales from the Trauma Unit As a psychiatric nurse consultant working in SF General Hospital’s Trauma Unit, Barkin routinely evaluated and treated patients with…
Read MoreMonday, July 18, 7:00 pm Michael Koch & Willie Lizarraga followed by an open mic POETS! 1st & 3rd Mondays Willie Lizarraga, shown here, was born and raised in Peru, arriving in the Bay Area as a teenager in the 1970s. He teaches at Berkeley City College, and has won awards for his prose fiction. Read at this link an account of a recent reading by Lizarraga at Counterpulse, where he recounted the 1978 beginnings of San Francisco’s annual Carnaval celebration. As for Michael Koch, more soon… we heard him here last year, and were mightily impressed, but we’ll have to track him down for a photo and biographical details. In any case, a good reading is assured, and you’re welcome to join in the open mic. Jerry Ferraz is our host, and Carlota del Portillo and Priya Kailath have pitched in to allows us to offer the poets a…
Read MoreSunday, July 10th, 4:30 pm Sukhawat Ali Khan Ensemble A “which way west?” concert from the Sham Chorasi gharana tradition of Sufi music Sukhawat Ali Khan‘s music is rooted in the 600-year-old Sham Chorasi traditional school of music, established by his direct ancestors during the reign of Emperor Akbar of India. His training in both classical raga and Sufi Qawwali singing began at the age of seven in Lahore, Pakistan under his father, legendary vocalist Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, widely considered the preeminent classical vocalist of his generation and famed as half of the revered Ali Brothers, who reigned supreme in the music beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1970s. The video at this link features Sukhawat and his brother Shafqat performing with their father. The video linked to Sukhawat’s name at the top of this paragraph hints at the ease with which he travels with this profound…
Read MoreSunday, July 10th, 2:00 pm TEN YEARS THAT SHOOK THE CITY: SAN FRANCISCO, 1968-1978 A reading by editor Chris Carlsson and contributors Pam Peirce, Andrew Lam and Mary Jean Robertson Though the starting and ending dates of this anthology may be mere signposts in a much more extended, impossible to define continuum, the period of intense political and cultural churn that began with the general strike at San Francisco State University and that came to a bonechilling halt with the twin events of Jonestown and the City Hall murders engendered countless life-changing realizations for those who found themselves here for any part of that era… and rippled through the entire American and international societal fabric. In Ten Years That Shook the City, many such pivotal circumstances are described and explored by individuals who lived through the dream and the reality in all their sobering, frightening, beautiful and inspiring aspects. Peirce…
Read MoreSunday, July 3rd, Doubleheader 4:30 & 5:30 pm (two sets) The Buena Vista Jazz Band A “Trad Jazz†celebration of Independence Day & a nod to the birth of the great Louis Armstrong (often cited as July 4, 1900 — which makes for a good story regardless of whether it is absolutely accurate). Regardless of Louis’ precise actual birthday, for most of us there could be no better epitomization of America, its idea, its essence and its existential reality. This date with the Buena Vista Jazz Band, a joyous annual tradition at Bird & Beckett, features Chris Bradley, cornet; Don Neely, clarinet; John Hunt, trombone; Duncan James, guitar; Larry O’Leno, piano; Mike Kenny, bass; and Steve Apple, sitting in for Greg Gotelli on drums. With a front line comprising Bradley, Neely and Hunt, this band boasts some of the most acclaimed players of early jazz that the Bay Area can claim,…
Read MoreThursday, June 30th, 7:00 pm The Songs of Order / Lie In Disorder Poet Neeli Cherkovski: a reading and a conversation with Gary Gach Poet Neeli Cherkovski’s new book, From the Middle Woods, branches out from The Confucian Odes to espouse a renewed natural politics for the 21st century. With this book, Neeli has blended the sacred and the profane as well as the essences of pristine nature and concrete commerce, bringing to life such landscapes and sensations as the pungent odors of ocean and pine needles along the tree-studded coast of northern California. East meets West and politics meets wilderness head on, but gently, in “Cherkovski’s capable and caring sculptor’s hands.” In his afterword to the book, Neeli writes “These poems began as a communion with The Confucian Odes as rendered into English by Ezra Pound… (poems) ripe with the spirit of the ‘common folk,’ the world of nature,…
Read MoreSunday, July 10th, 2:00 pm TEN YEARS THAT SHOOK THE CITY: SAN FRANCISCO, 1968-1978 A reading by editor Chris Carlsson and contributors Pam Peirce, Andrew Lam and Mary Jean Robertson Appropriate that ten days following our reading with poet Neeli Cherkovski, we present a conclave of contributors to this newly published anthology of essays on some of the momentous events and movements of an era that ended with the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone… appropriate in that Neeli came to San Francisco specifically to work for Moscone… appropriate in that he remembers getting to know well an old Russian poet some years before in Los Angeles, a man who had lived through the October Revolution of 1917, the “ten days that shook the world” which American journalist John Reed so vividly depicted in his book of that name.
Read MoreSunday, June 26 – events at 2:00 and 4:30/5:30 Sunday Double Header 2:00 pm – The Poems of Richard Hugo A Staged Reading by PUS Theatre Company Richard Hugo was the poet of the barroom, the open road, and the river, his work laced through with mystery, sadness and regret. Hugo (1923-1982) gave us several very fine books of poems (“The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir”, etc.) and memoir (“The Real West Marginal Way”) and taught a generation of writers at the University of Montana. PUS is the theatre company known as Performers Under Stress, expert interpreters of the work of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, and creators of striking original works… in an upcoming production, they will present a one-man meditation on Hugo’s work by Turk Muller. This afternoon, Turk will try out some of that material on you, the suspecting audience… it will be a gratifying encounter with…
Read MoreFriday, June 24, 5:30 to 8:00 pm The Chuck Peterson Quintet with vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits jazz in the bookshop every Friday When Chuck carried his tenor saxophone down to the Bay Area from Portland’s Reed College in about 1950, he fell in with a lot of young cats who were mad to play bebop, congregating around San Francisco State College (that would have been at the old campus, on Buchanan at Market Street). Dean Reilly (pictured here) was one of those youths… Chuck has assembled a like-minded crew of jazz veterans, including Howie Dudune on reeds, Glen Deardorff on guitar, Dean on bass, and Tony Johnson on drums. And each month they invite the wonderful Dorothy Lefkovits to the bandstand to sing a few of the tunes that she does so well… The fourth Friday of every month is their date to swing like mad, and to swing so sweetly,…
Read MoreThursday, June 23, 7:00 pm Eminent Authors’ Birthdays Open Reading A monthly conclave of literature devotees Each month, we gather to read aloud from the works of authors we admire– or suspect we might admire. The organizing conceit is that the author should be born in the month at hand… June in this case… Check with us at the store if you’d like suggestions as to who’s a candidate for this month (we keep a list of birthdays)… This month, the celebrated writers might include talents as diverse as Nikki Giovanni and William Butler Yeats, plus Dorothy Sayers, Allen Ginsberg, Federico Garcia Lorca, Djuna Barnes, Aleksandr Pushkin (Blanche has him covered, we’d bet), etc., etc., etc. Do come!
Read MoreDouble header Sunday / Poets Monday Novelist at 2:30 Sun. Middle-Eastern Ensemble at 4:30 Sun. Poets at 7:00 Mon. Sunday, June 19th – 2:30 pm Frank Bergon reads from his novel, Jesse’s Ghost A novelist, critic, and essayist, Frank Bergon’s focus has been on the history and environment of the American West. His Nevada trilogy consists of three novels spanning a century from the Shoshone massacre of 1911 to the current battle over nuclear waste in the Nevada desert. His new California trilogy, set in the Central Valley in the latter half of the 20th century, begins with the novel he’ll read from today at Bird & Beckett, Jesse’s Ghost — a novel about a man haunted by his murder of his best friend decades before, and his realization that the ghosts of his past will always haunt him. Bergon’s characters are the sons and daughters of the people portrayed…
Read MoreJazz in the bookshop Logas / Pilorz / Prell / Aran Friday, June 17, 5:30 to 8:00 pm Bassist Don Prell put this one together, using his usual resourcefulness and enthusiasm for the task at hand… when Chuck Peterson, Scott Foster & Ron Marabuto all found they had conflicts for their usual 3rd Friday, Don didn’t have to think too hard how to assemble a band.  He’s been doing that every Tuesday at the Bayview Boat Club for many, many years. And this will be a top notch aggregation with a unique sound… no piano or guitar; hence, no “chordal” instrument laying the ground for the horns (sax and trombone) and the bass… it’s not unprecedented, but it’s unusual and promises a fresh, intricate sound… come hear for yourself… The musicians will have fun… and so will you…
Read MoreBeneath San Francisco’s streets lie the skeletons of ships… detritus of a mid-19th century “Armada of Golden Dreams” Hear from writer-contributors to the new Invisible City Audio Tour, with guest Jim Nelson previewing his upcoming “Everywhere Man” tour. Thursday, June 16, 7 pm Hundreds of vessels sailed for San Francisco in the mid-1800s, bringing countless dreamers in search of gold, and schemers looking to profit from them. Dozens of these vessels were ultimately scuttled and abandoned, or ingeniously incorporated in the construction boom of a new metropolis, and were ultimately buried under as San Francisco’s land mass was extended to accommodate the burgeoning city. Read a bit of that history at this link. Now, an enterprising and creative crew of writers, artists, cartographers, musicians and sound designers have devised a fascinating key to this era, in the form of…
Read MoreRuth Keady sings and her trio swings which way west? Sunday concert series Sunday, June 12, 4:30 & 5:30 pm (two sets) She’s a mighty vocalist in a diminutive frame, Ruth is… and for this date she’s assembled a trio of crack instrumentalists, to provide the field and the direction for her excursion through some of the classic songs lodged in the hearts and souls of generations of jazz lovers. Mad (Madaline) Duran is a superb tenor sax player particularly well known for her long musical partnership with her mate, guitarist Eddie Duran. With or without Eddie, she can wail for hours without repeating a thought. She’s well balanced on this date by pianist Si Perkoff, who learned his chops as player and composer in New York in the ’50s and has been on the San Francisco scene since the early ’60s, starting with a two-year stint as house pianist…
Read MoreBassists in town! The Jimmy Ryan Quintet with guest bassist Charles Thomas jazz in the bookshop every Friday Friday, June 9, 5:30 to 8:00 pm With Jimmy’s regular bassist, Bishu Chatterjee, off to Kolkata this month, we’re pleased to welcome Charles Thomas to the stage — and also a brief cameo appearance during the second set by naturalist / bassist Thor Hanson, whose book Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle has just been published by Basic Books. To top it all off, Putter Smith is up from L.A. for the huge harmonic bass convergence (read below), and will likely stop in. You might remember him as an assassin in the Bond film “Diamonds are Forever”, but jazz aficionados know him for his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Thelonius Monk. By the way, if you see hundreds of folks lugging those giant fiddles around town in the next…
Read MoreQR Hand, Jr. — Kim Shuck — Bill Vartnaw POETS! reading series with open mic Jerry Ferraz, m.c. 1st and 3rd Monday of every month Monday, June 6, 7 pm Q. R. Hand, Jr.’s poetry, according to his late, great compadre Reginald Lockett, “traverses the terrain of form, music, and language. This is an inspired, well crafted poetry that is political in intent and spirited in execution and defies any comparison to any literary precursors or contemporary schools of thought. Q.R. Hand is an entity unto himself; a true visionary walks among us.” We couldn’t have said it better, except simply to emphasize how completely hip Q really is… It’s always a pleasure to see him walk through the door of the shop, and to hear what he’s got to offer. Kim and Bill, as well, are terrifically thoughtful and well-spoken poets, each a long-time tiller and toiler in the…
Read MoreMisisipi Mike all by his lonesome which way west? Sunday concert series Sunday, June 5th, 4:30 & 5:30 pm (two sets) Mike Wolf moved out west from Pass Christian, Mississippi, a punk rock kid filled with frustration, lived the life, hit the bottom, and climbed back up again, with a lot of help from his friends… and he’s been writin’ terrific country tunes, and quite a bit more, all along the way. He’s the go-to guitarist for about a zillion bands, and the leader of many of ’em… but here’s a chance for him to sit on the stage by himself with his guitar and a microphone, and maybe a few friends in the audience down front singing back-up, dusting off a couple dozen tunes from his deep catalog… As Mike would have it, he’ll be “singing original songs of whimsy and weary, for waltzing and whistling, from his many…
Read MorePOETS! Stewart Florsheim and Tom Centolella read their work Sunday, June 5th, 2:30 pm Two practiced and well published writers at the top of their game. To get a fuller picture of these two poets, read the write-up on our “Events” page (click here or on the link on our navigation bar above). Stewart’s newest book is A Split Second of Light (Blue Light Press, 2011). And to experience their poetry in real time and real space, bring your ears and your intellects to Bird & Beckett, and enjoy a literary Sunday afternoon.
Read MoreThe Redwood String Quartet which way west? sunday concerts Sunday, May 29th – 4:30 pm Violinist Janice MacIntosh, a Glen Park resident, brings in three compatriots for a program of classical music. Janice has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, since 1983, playing 1st violin throughout her career there; and is Associate Concertmaster for the Ballet Orchestra. Our Sunday concert series presents a variety of music genres, from jazz to bluegrass to music of the world to western classical music; kids are always welcome and we encourage you to remember that your donations at the events form the base of what we’re able to promise the musicians for their efforts and for the musical gifts they bring us. Special thanks go to the Conner Family Trust, which specifically helps fund the Sunday afternoon “which way west?” series. which way west? is a project of the Bird &…
Read MoreTales of Ghostly Japan Walker Talks! Sunday, May 29th – 2:00 pm Each month, until he breaks for his summer ramble through the western states, Walker Brents III presents a spellbinding set of musings on topics mythological, literary and historical. This month, the supernatural folktales and legends of a country that has recently had its quotidian roots most tragically shaken by nuclear disaster.
Read MoreThe Mark Levine Trio which way west? sunday concerts Sunday, May 22nd – 4:30 pm Mark wrote the book on jazz piano… specifically, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 2005 — but originally published in 1989) has been instrumental in the education of many thousands of jazz pianists… and he himself studied in Boston and New York with legendary figures Hal Overton, Herb Pomeroy and Jaki Byard. Along the way, Mark has shared the bandstand and recording studio with, among others, Woody Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Wallace Roney, Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Harris, Stefon Harris, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Clark Terry, Ingrid Jensen, Charlie Rouse, Bobby Watson, Chet Baker, Philip Harper, Mark Murphy, Art Pepper, Julian Priester, Bobby Shew, Steve Turre, Madeline Eastman, Enrique Pla and Poncho Sanchez… with particularly fruitful and intense extended stints with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and…
Read MoreSufi Poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore with musical guest From a Fountain Sunday, May 22nd – 2 pm Born in 1940 in Oakland, California, Daniel Moore’s first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, San Francisco, in 1964. In 1972 his second book, Burnt Heart, Ode to the War Dead, was also published by City Lights. When he became a Muslim in 1970, Moore took the name Abd al-Hayy, and began traveling extensively in Europe and North Africa. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote of this period, “Moore [became] a Sufi and, like Rimbaud, renounced written poetry.†After ten years of not writing, however, Moore “renounced†his renunciation, and he has since been very active indeed, publishing and offering public readings widely, ranging far afield from his home in Philadelphia, where he has resided since 1990. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to host him for…
Read MoreRichard Froude Jennifer Denrow Jesse Morse POETS! Monday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm Three poets, passing through — two out of Denver, one headed that way… Richard Froude — born in London, raised in Bristol — lives now in Denver. He is the author of The History of Zero, The Margaret Thatcher Trilogy, and FABRIC, brand new from Horse Less Press. Jennifer Denrow, as it happens, is editor for Horse Less Press and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Denver. She is the author of A Knee for a Life, From California On, and most recently, California, published by Four Way Books. Jesse Morse lives and writes in Portland, OR, where he curates the Smorg Reading Series. Contemplating an imminent move, Denver is his destination. We suspect it’s no coincidence that the three poets are converging here at Bird & Beckett. Come glimpse the passing parade…
Read MoreJon Frank Quintet which way west? Sunday concerts Sunday, May 15th – sets at 4:30 & 5:30 pm Trumpeter Noah Frank is featured with drummer Jon Frank’s fine group, which includes seasoned veterans Ken Rosen (sax), Terry Rodriguez (piano) and Ron Crotty (bass). Noah is the product of a musical family (his father Jon has led the orchestra program at Hoover Middle School for years), with training at the Community Music Center on Capp Street, School of the Arts at the top of Glen Canyon, and at Berklee School of Music in Boston. He’s back for a visit, and another exciting gig at Bird & Beckett. Bassist Ron Crotty played with Dave Brubeck’s first quartet, and joined Brubeck again for a stint later in a long career of top-flight performing associations — which has included memorable work with pianists Vince Guaraldi and Bliss Rodriguez. The album pictured here, with the…
Read MoreHappy Mothers Day! Here’s a wonderful clip of the mother of all poets, and mother of five beautiful children, Diane di Prima… a reading at The Band’s Last Waltz, Thanksgiving Day, November 1976, Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco. click here!
Read MorePugsley Buzzard headed this way! catch him at Bird & Beckett on Sunday, May 8th, 4:30 pm…Â HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! He boasts an unlikely name and a voice like gravel on a treacherous road, and he’s coming out of Australia for a foray into the Bay Area that’s bound to be talked about for some time to come…Â oh, yes, and he plays a mean stride piano… if you can’t make it to the show, then check him out at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOQLVM018qw
Read MoreA BARD & A PHILOSOPHER Jerry Ferraz & Sterling Bunnell POETS! featured readers + open mic, twice monthly Jerry Ferraz was born and grew up over in Eureka Valley some years ago, let’s say in the early 1950s, round about this time of year… a San Franciscan to the core… though a much broader expanse of time and geography reverberates through him… Through the years, he’s recited his winding and enigmatic fables in verse and sung his lovely flamenco inflected songs in the cafes and bars, at the bus stops and construction sites, in the parks… trading in the poetic coin of the realm of philosophers and seers. There really are precious few like him, and they’re scattered like jewels over centuries of tradition, across the seas and the continents. He’s a poet for the ages, and we’re not hesitant to characterize him thus. After ten-plus years of Bird &…
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Your donation to the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project helps us pay for a multitude of operating expenses necessary to present, promote and preserve local music, poetry, and more.
Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!
The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.
However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.
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Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.
The BBCLP is a [Read More ]
The Independent Musicians Alliance
Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.
https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/
Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site
