Rocky Winslow, trumpet Grant Levin, piano Chris Amberger, bass Mark Lee, drums Grant Levin leads a quartet through two sets of originals and standards on the second Saturday of each month.  He’s just one of the very top young jazz pianists on the local scene, and he never fails to assemble a quartet of top Bay Area talent. Rocky Winslow?  Read up on him here, and get ready!  Here’s a clip of Rocky & Grant working out on Bird’s Scrapple from the Apple.

An informal late afternoon date with the pianist and bassist that will make up half of our evening quartet program.  Grant Levin is a rising star of jazz piano, especially in the Bay Area– with a reputation that has spread like wildfire.  Bassist Chris Amberger has been a stalwart of the scene for decades, had a stint with Art Blakey, and is largely responsible for getting Grant established in the San Francisco jazz scene.  The two of them have often worked as a duo, and know each other’s musical language well. Every 2nd and 4th Sunday, from 4-6 pm, Grant brings in another musician to play in this duo context.  A real treat!  Not a formal concert setting, but we have a scattering of chairs out, and the bookshelves can be browsed at will while you listen — it that’s what you’re after. We love this jazz and books world…

Come to the shop Wednesday night at 7 to hang with photographer/artist Cecilia Cacciatore, whose work will grace Gallery Ex Libris for the next month.  Poet (and B&B keystone) Jenna Littlejohn provides poetic monograms to go with the photos.  She’ll be here too.  You’ll have fun.  Don’t stay home!

Join us in hearing two new, young, and vibrant poetic voices! As usual the readings will be followed by an open mic. Casey Elizabeth Newbegin lives in Austin, Texas where she attends the UT School of Information. She holds a BA in English from Lewis & Clark College. She was born and raised in California.  Some of Casey’s work can be seen at http://www.ncls.us/ Jenna Littlejohn hails from Redding, CA and recently received her BA in Creative Writing at SFSU.  She received the Piri Thomas Award for Poetry from the Academy of American Poets and SFSU.  She can be found working at Bird & Beckett, part of the time. Some of her work can be viewed at http://jennalittlejohn.blogspot.com/ Our 1st & 3rd Mondays poetry series is hosted by Jerry Ferraz.  

Context is everything! Three generations — the beatniks, the hippies, the punks – tied together by one who has been riding through it with his eyes open & his heart big. Dave is the guy who hipped Dylan to Woody Guthrie back in Dinkytown, hard by the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis/St. Paul and he’s a near legendary figure in these parts, though easy to find and authentic in his intentions and actions Bring your own hipstory, and help Dave fill in the gaps.

As serious as your life! And the happiest you could ever be!   Richard Sears, piano, is up from L.A. for the date, joining local heroes John Wiitala on bass and Evan Hughes on drums, under the capable, nay, inspired leadership of Smith Dobson V on vibes. Does it get any better? Nah, it’s just magnificent. Do come! We’ll turn the lights down low for you.

Hear Patrick James Dunagan read from his new poetry chapbook, from Book of Kings, Tuesday evening, 7pm.  It’s a beautiful piece of work from Bird & Beckett, designed and printed at Impart Ink, an errant press. Inscrutable on the surface, but completely approachable at the same time. And he’s joined by two marvelous compatriots in the word, Jackson Measle and Julian Poirier. It’s a poetry microclimate you’ll be happy to have happened into, though many know full well what they’re in for! Rich loam to nourish your hungry soul.

A program of short film documentaries on Afro-Cuban culture by Juanamaria Cordones-Cook. Professor Cordones-Cook (Romance Languages, University of Missouri) is an award winning documentary filmmaker who has filmed over 100 hours of events in Cuba, the USA, and Canada on topics related to the Afro-Romance Diaspora culture and literature, such as conferences, interviews, ritual dances, and theatrical performances. She has also filmed a series of living histories of Afro-Hispanic intellectuals -33 already- and is as well directing and producing documentaries in Cuba and the United States. She has completed La silla dorada: antología audiovisual (Havana 2010); Cimarroneando con G.H. (Havana 2011); a series of five documentaries on Ediciones Vigía, Un libro único de Estévez / A One-of-a-Kind Book by Estévez; Poéticas visuales / Visual Poetics; La Habana expuesta, un diseño de Estévez / Havana on Display, a Design by Estévez; Entre la palabra y la imagen / Between the Word and…

A new anthology of social justice essays, edited by radical poet and Glen Park neighbor Nellie Wong, will be showcased at Bird & Beckett this Sunday, with readings by contributors on critical issues of the day — education, racism, immigration, LGBT, the penal system, feminism. 50 essays grouped in sections that include: Reading, Writing — Resistance! Crimes of Punishment Sisters Doing It Speaking From the Heart A Global Lens Shaking It Up In Their Footsteps  

Each July, LaborFest floods the City with programs in venues all over town.  Haven’t been paying attention?  Turn to their website and see what you’ve missed and what is coming up in the next ten days or so.  It’s at this link. Tonight, it’s Bird & Beckett’s turn to share the labor movement’s vast riches with you, as the LaborFest Writers Group gathers to share their essays exploring our present cataclysm of outrageous rent hikes, Ellis Act evictions, phony owner move-ins, all indicative of a de facto cultural cleansing that’s going on in the pursuit of a shiny and shallow present whose worth is measured in terms of fat cash flows unavailable to most of us. We’d say it’s important to realize that “most of us” is the key, and that solidarity — a time-honored labor principle — is the only way we’ll win the day. LaborFest programs this month…