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!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Michael Koch, born in New York City of Slavic and Jamaican heritage. He is a painter, poet, translator, amateur percussionist and avid salsero. Gerald Nicosia is a biographer, historian, poet, playwright and novelist. His biography of Jack Kerouac, Memory Babe, won the Distinguished Young Writer Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters and was called a “great book†by Allen Ginsberg and “by far the best of the many books published about Jack Kerouac’s life and work†by William Burroughs. It is still widely regarded as the definitive work on Kerouac. His book Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans’ Movement won numerous honors and was named one of the Los Angeles Times “Best Books of the Year†in 2001. He is currently at work on a biography of Ntozake Shange. Nicosia lives in Corte Madera, California.
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Steven Ash (coauthor and editor) will present this new edition (Taunton Press, 2013) of the valuable book by William Olkowski, Sheila Daar and Helga Olkowski — who pioneered the non-toxic alternative “Integrated Pest Management” approach. IPM provides an environmentally friendly approach to controlling insects and diseases that can afflict lawns, edible and ornamental gardens, and shade trees, including:Â aphids, slugs, moles, root maggots, cutworms, powdery mildew, crabgrass, Japanese beetles, gypsy moths and a host of other pests. IPM relies on a combination of common-sense practices — using current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment. The IPM approach can be applied to both agricultural and non-agricultural settings, such as the home,…
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Little Kabul comes to San Francisco! 2:00 pm – “Secrets of Little Kabul: The Inside Scoop on Afghans in America” A panel discussion with journalist Fariba Nawa, memoirist Atta Arghandiwal and poet/fiction writer Nahid Fattahi. 4:30 pm – A concert of music by Afghan-American vocalist Abu Sofyan with tabla accompaniment performing modern and traditional music Fariba Nawa is a journalist, speaker and author. She reports on various issues, including immigrant communities, women’s rights and the global drug trade. Her work has been published in numerous publications, including The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, the Daily Beast, the Sunday Times Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Mother Jones. She is an expert on Afghanistan and has been interviewed by prominent news organizations from MTV to NBC to FOX. Her book Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey through Afghanistan (HarperCollins, 2011) is a mix of memoir and reportage focused on women’s roles in…
Read MoreThis week’s subject of discussion is Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Anyone can come and join the discussion, and take part in choosing future books… Following are some thoughts on the book by one of the regulars in the group, Dwight Smith: The Righteous Mind I think this book has enough arguments and evidence to leave liberals, conservatives and libertarians uncomfortable if not in angry denial.    Why are the people we elect to public office today so partisan. The author says because Americans have become more politically partisan. The author asks, why, is this the case?  His book, The Righteous Mind explores this issue from the view point of the author’s academic discipline, moral psychology. One of our problems is that we in the educated western European and American world have bought into a narrow view of rationalism. We fail to…
Read MoreAn evening with writers Seth Harwood and Jim Sidel - the first in a series featuring prose writers with emerging careers, who will read from their work and discuss matters of craft, process and getting one’s work published. Seth Harwood, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, was born in Boston and has lived in Cambridge, New York, St. Louis, and Iowa City. He currently lives in San Francisco, where he teaches writing at Stanford and CCSF. Author of three previous works of fiction, his latest novel, In Broad Daylight, is just out from Thomas & Mercer. Seth has also written for publication in the Cambridge Chronicle & TAB, contributed to the Open Culture blog, and written for the San Francisco Chronicle, where he regularly reviews crime fiction. Marilyn Stasio, reviewing Seth’s debut, Jack Wakes Up, for The New York Times, praised its “vitality and a…
Read Morewhich way west? Sunday concert series. All ages welcome! No cover charge, but your generous donations make it possible for us to pay the musicians. Sunday, August 4th – 4:30-6:30 pm: Vocalist Ruth Keady with Madaline Duran, sax; Keith Saunders, piano; Scott Chapek, bass. Ruth Keady has a powerfully swinging way with jazz standards that’s gained her ample respect among some of the top jazz musicians on the San Francisco scene. She’s joined on this date by Mad (Madaline) Duran, a superb tenor sax player particularly well known for her long musical partnership with her mate, guitarist Eddie Duran. With or without Eddie, Mad can wail for hours without repeating a thought.  Also on the bandstand, pianist Keith Saunders, recently transplanted from New York and now a highly valued fixture on the scene, and Scott Chapek, whose association with Ruth goes back to the days when the legendary Vince Wallace held down a regular session at the bar…
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DOUBLE BOOK RELEASE READING Jackson Meazle joins Jason Morris and Sunnylyn Thibodeaux in reading to mark the publication by Bird & Beckett of Morris’ Local News and Thibodeaux’s 88 Haiku for Lorca by Morris’ PUSH Press. Meazle’s Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Spades was published by Bird & Beckett in 2012. Sunnylyn Thibodeaux is the author of Palm to Pine (Bootstrap, 2011) and many small books including 20/20 Yielding (Blue Press, 2005), Room Service Calls (Lew Gallery, 2009) and United Untied (Private Edition, 2008). Her poems have recently appeared in AMERARCANA, Back Room Live, Drunken Boat, Galatea Resurrects, Generación, Lit, TH.CE, and Truck. She is from New Orleans and lives in San Francisco with her husband, Micah Ballard. Together they co-edit Auguste Press and Lew Gallery Editions and have a daughter, Lorca Manale Ballard. Jason Morris grew up in Vermont. His poems & essays have appeared in TRY!, AMERARCANA, Jacket, Forklift…
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Donnelle McGee is the author of Shine (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012). He earned his MFA from Goddard College, and is now on faculty at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. Donnelle’s work has appeared in Controlled Burn, Colere, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Home Planet News, Iodine Poetry Journal, Permafrost, River Oak Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, and Willard & Maple, among others. His work has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Donnelle lives in both Sacramento and Turlock, California and is the proud father of two beautiful kids. Joining Donnelle for this reading will be two friends — and poets — Jess Duong and Louise Hammond. read more on Donnelle and Shine at: www.donnellemcgee.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Donnelle-McGee/155484897264
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“Don’t Discuss State Affairs” (a sign mounted on the wall of the Yutai Teahouse — 1898, 1917, 1945) Lao She’s Teahouse is a classic of the Chinese theatre from the late 1950s, an episodic observation over the decades from the turn of the 20th century through the 1940s, set in a milieu where the common preoccupations of the day — not so very different from era to era – waft through the air. Written in 1957, the play premiered in Beijing in 1958, mounted by the Beijing People’s Art Theatre. It ran for a remarkable and unprecedented 100 or more performances. Teahouse was brought back to the stage on the eve of the Cultural Revolution in 1963; however, it was removed from the repertoire once that period set in.  Lao She was interrogated roughly and publicly humiliated as were many, and died in an apparent suicide in 1966. Teahouse was revived by the Beijing People’s Art Theatre in a 1979 production which toured…
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which way west? Sunday concert series. All ages welcome! No cover charge, but your generous donations make it possible for us to pay the musicians. Sunday, July 21st – 4:30-6:30 pm:  Noel Jewkes/Grant Levin Duo. Noel Jewkes is an acknowledged master of the jazz saxophone in Northern California, a musician’s musician with decades of top flight professional experience under his belt. And now, after just a few short years on the San Francisco jazz scene, Grant Levin is coming on strong as the young piano player everyone wants to hear. We’ve been proud to present both Noel and Grant many times at Bird & Beckett over the years, and now are particularly excited to hear them work as a duo. Not to be missed!
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We’re proud to announce that beginning in July, our “jazz in the bookshop” series will now feature a group led by guitarist Scott Foster on the third Friday of each month. Scott is a founding member of Bird & Beckett’s live jazz tradition, having played guitar on our Friday night dates ever since the series began back in late 2002. He’s also our favorite local jazz guitarist, bar none, and we’re pleased to now be able to present him with his own group on a monthly basis as part of the regular rotation in our Friday jazz in the bookshop series. For the July 19th debut of Scott’s regular monthly appearance as a leader at Bird & Beckett, he’ll be bringing in a trio featuring Adam Shulman on organ and drummer Dan Foltz, playing in a classic bluesy, groove that will thrill you to the core. Each and every month, we present Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble on the first Friday,…
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 which way west? a weekly concert series at Bird & Beckett every Sunday afternoon, 4:30 to 6:30 there’s no cover charge, but your generous donations at the gigs and to the non-profit “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” make it possible for us to pay the musicians!  Pianist Grant Levin has made a name for himself in short order since moving to the Bay Area, and we’ve been hearing from him at Bird & Beckett in a number of contexts with more coming up — sitting in with our regular Friday bands, playing as a member of the groups called Hawkeye and Homespun, adding crucial flavor to projects with seasoned bassist Peter Barshay, renowned reedman Noel Jewkes and vocalist Sandra Aran. Each time, it’s a pleasure to experience the rich, inventive language that Grant Levin brings to the keyboard. This weekend — Sunday, July 14th — we’re pleased to present Grant leading a trio of his…
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which way west? Sunday concert series. All ages welcome! No cover charge, but your generous donations make it possible for us to pay the musicians. Sunday, June 30 – 4:30-6:30 pm: The Matt Renzi Quartet Matt Renzi on sax and oboe Misha Khalikulov, cello John Wiitala, bass Smith Dobson V, drums Based now in New York City and Rome, Renzi grew up in San Francisco — where his father, Paul Renzi, was principal flautist for the San Francisco Symphony until his retirement in 2004, having joined that organization at the age of 18. Matt’s grandfather, Paolo Renzi, was principal oboist for Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra. Matt studied with the late saxophone titan Joe Henderson as well as South Indian vocalist R. A. Ramamani. Renzi’s sidemen for this date are among the most talented jazz players on the San Francisco scene.  Come early if you need to snare a seat!             …
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Please join us for a celebration of the work of two photographers with deep roots in San Francisco. Charles Wong’s photo essays of Chinatown in the 1950s make a good starting point and the striking black and white work that both he and Irene Poon have done through the decades evoke much that is at once familiar and unique about the City and its populace, while ranging much wider as well. A small selection of photos by Wong and Poon will remain on display at Bird & Beckett through the end of July. Both have recent monographs available for sale as well – Wong’s Black & White/Sweet & Sour and Poon’s Point/Counterpoint. Visit www.velvetlenscap.com for a preview of the work of both photographers. Charles Wong was born in San Francisco in 1922.  After finishing high school he received a scholarship to the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) in…
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Sunday, June 23, at 2 pm, Bruce Neuburger will present his book, just published by Monthly Review Press, that details his immersion in the life most of us have only viewed through the windows of our cars as we hurtle along through the agricultural heartland of California. Bruce was and remains a committed radical politically, and worked long and hard in the fields, a milieu occupied predominantly by people who by virtue of the color of their skin are consigned to the work. The book has been praised for the vividness of the writing, for the humanity of the writer, and for the scope of its observation.
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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," 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.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, 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
Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.
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We're immensely appreciative of Jazz in the Neighborhood for having stepped in as our temporary fiscal sponsor for a few months, while we straightened out some paperwork to get nonprofit status restored to the BBCLP. We're happy to say that's been done, and all past, present, and future donations made directly to the BBCLP are fully tax-deductible!
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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
