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!
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But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Inspired by the western swing and early country boppers of the late 1940s and early 1950s, The B-Stars bring the golden age of country & western swing back to the dancehalls and dental parlors, barrooms and bookstores, so hold onto your hats and bring your dancin’ shoes & your complete set of Zane Grey! The B-Stars wrote the book on western retro, so they might as well sign for Zane. We’re sure he wouldn’t mind! The B-Stars are: Greg Yanito – Vocals – Guitar Eric Reedy – Vocals – Upright Bass Larry Chung – Vocals – Steel Guitar – Fiddle Hank Maninger – Vocals – Guitar Billy Ze – Vocals – Drums Fixtures on the San Francisco scene for a decade, The B-Stars have performed from Seattle to San Diego, have toured the Great Lakes and East Coast region, and have played to enthralled crowds from Chicago to Nashville, Tennessee.…
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From 4 to 6 pm, the remarkable jazz pianist Grant Levin invites a his long-time jazz associate, bassist Chris Amberger to the stage for two sets as a duo, and then returns at 7:30 to lead a quartet featuring sax player Lyle Link, recently arrived on the Bay Area jazz scene from Washington, D.C., with Chris on bass and Rick Rivera on drums — once again defining jazz as it is played in San Francisco in 2016!
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Two sets of jazz by top Bay Area players Henry Hung, trumpet Jordan Samuels, guitar Hans Glawischnig, bass Eric Garland, drums San Francisco’s longest running neighborhood jazz party runs on!
Read MoreJerry Ferraz hosts a poetry reading here at Bird & Beckett twice a month, with an open mic following two featured readers. He’s done it for years, and Bird & Beckett has become known as a particularly rich and welcoming environment for experienced poets and those just beginning to test the waters. Carlos Suarez has known his mind as a writer for decades, and his volume called “Between Rivers” has long been a favorite — evoking a contemporary and timeless landscape of urban and conceptual human habitation. As for Jerry Ferraz, a native of this soil – Eureka Valley born – a wandering bard of the San Francisco back lanes – painter of the zen comedy - he’s kept Glen Park and Bird & Beckett on his peripatetic route for many years, tuning the space twice a month for pairs of featured poets and a revolving and ever expanding cast of open…
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Who on earth is Robert Vye, you might wonder. He hasn’t gigged or toured in years, has no CDs for sale. He doesn’t even busk on the street or play at farmerʼs markets. Vye picked up the guitar at the age of nine influenced by Jimi Hendrix, and at the age of thirteen he started gigging in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. But in his early 20s, he walked away from gigging to pursue work as a hired studio hand for many producers around the Bay Area. After that, Vye mostly stayed home to play his guitar, and enjoyed a somewhat normal life style. At age 25, Vye stopped playing the electric guitar, concentrating instead on the classical guitar. His repertoire reveals a wide range of interests, spanning all the idioms of music. His playing style shows a fusion of harmonies and classical guitar technique, with a very…
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Who knew surf guitarists might have an axe to grind! Lee says plenty with his guitar, and Jamie Lease and Ed Ivey have no problem surfing his wake! We dig ’em unconditionally! But Lee’s also got this to say! SOMETIMES WORDS JUST GET IN THE WAY. THEY CAN OBSCURE AS OPPOSED TO CLARIFY. THIS CAN BE THE CASE WITH MUSIC & LYRICS. WORDS MAY GET IN THE WAY OF WHAT ‘S REALLY TRYING TO BE SAID. I DON’T LIKE WORDS IN MUSIC ANY MORE THAN I LIKE A STRANGER TELLING ME THEIR MEDICAL HISTORY WHILE WAITING FOR THE BUS. WORDS CAN BE HURTFUL. THEY CAN CUT LIKE A KNIFE AND BURN LIKE A FLAME. I’VE HEARD ENOUGH WORDS. MY FAVORITE SONGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INSTRUMENTALS, ESPECIALLY WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY IMAGES, FILM SCORES IN PARTICULAR….MUSIC THAT EVOKES A SCENE, SOUND AS A PRELUDE TO ACTION AND MOVEMENT. I WANTED TO ASSEMBLE…
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Elsa Marley will be reading from her new book of poetry, Never Forget, which brings together 27 years of poems about the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 in China.  Elsa is a painter who also writes poetry.  The Tiananmen poems derive from her presence in China at the time of the massacre, after being resident in China for three years. Elsa will be joined by Bill Glassley, who is coming in from New Mexico and whose new book on Greenland will be published soon. Elsa and Bill Glassley have a long-running collaboration in which they look at Greenland for evidence of the effects of climate change demonstrated in Bill’s scientific data and Elsa’s paintings and poems. Also sharing the stage at Bird & Beckett for this occasion will be poet and painter Sherrie Lovler. Sherrie’s paintings are inspired by her poetry, and the core influence on her art has been calligraphy. Her recent…
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The Smith Dobson Trio explores the music of Bill Evans Adam Shulman, piano Eric Markowitz, bass Smith Dobson, drums
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The first Friday of the month is the province of one of our elder statesmen of bop and west coast jazz, Mr. Don Prell, bassist. He learned his trade in L.A. in the 50s and has stories to tell, and bebop lines to play! Â Jerry Logas on reeds and Vinnie Rodriguez on drums lend able support!
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Join us Thursday, June 2nd from 7–9pm for the opening reception of Life After Death: Hand Lettering and Book Arts in the Digital Age featuring work by students from City College of San Francisco. The show will run through mid July, open daily from 11–7.
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They’re fierce, they’re funny, and they’ll make your head spin while your toe’s tappin’. Plus, the Moby Dick album is deep. The rest is beyond category. Two sets, so you’ll get a generous helping of both. Â No cover charge per se: $10-20 donation suggested and appreciated. After you’ve supped, you’ll want to feast on the leftovers, so put El Rio’s Shit-Kickin’ Memorial Day show on your calendar for Monday.
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Trumpet player George Spencer pianist Grant Levin and drummer Mark Lee join bassist Charles Thomas for two sets of jazz Sunday afternoon, 4:30-6:30 pm, at Bird & Beckett Books That’s Charles and Grant in the photo, with drummer Omar Aran, at a previous Bird & Beckett date. Â This one? Expect a transcendent afternoon. Things won’t be quite the same after this one.
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Walker Brents III never fails to spin a fascinating account of some aspect of philosophy, history, mythology, some poet, a cultural moment… This afternoon, Walker’s subject is novelist and essayist Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, The Doors of Perception, The Art of Seeing and more.
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Saturday nights, the vibe shifts at Bird & Beckett as we put the lights down low and welcome to the stage an array of great jazz players from the Bay Area’s deep talent pool. Drummer Vinnie Rodriguez’s quartet this Saturday night features trumpeter Jay Sanders (aka Jay Standards, ’cause he’s ready to play any tune, in any key, at any tempo, any time!), Keith Saunders on piano and Mike Bordelon on bass. Â Jay has helped Vinnie assemble a set list heavy on music associated with trumpet greats Kenny Dorham and Donald Byrd, with a generous sprinkling of other favorites. Â Promises to be a great show, as usual! Next month (June 25th), Vinnie’s bringing in two great Scotts– Larson (trombone) and Barnhill (sax). Â It’ll be swinging for sure! Â Vinnie leads the band on the fourth Sunday of each month. As for next week in our Saturday night jazz club series (June…
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Twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Saturday afternoons, 2 pm to 4 pm, pianist Grant Levin invites another fine Bay Area jazz musician to the stage for two sets of jazz. Always a fascinating and rewarding experience for the Bird & Beckett audience. Â This week Charles Thomas plays the date. And keep in mind, Charles returns Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm leading a quartet with Grant on piano.
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SUPPORT BIRD & BECKETT - DONATE TODAY!
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.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations through our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, send or drop off a check made out to our fiscal sponsor, Jazz in the Neighborhood, with BBCLP in the memo line. Our mailing address is:
Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
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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
