653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
1-415-586-3733
[email protected]
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Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six
Live Streams every weekend!
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Sunday, August 7th Poets double header (split by jazz!) Two major poetry readings this Sunday, at 2:00 and at 7:00– At 2 pm, a 2-hour showcase of poets gathering under the banner of Philippine American Writers & Artists, Inc. Barbara Jane Reyes hosts Tina Bartolome, Bonne Marie Bautista, G. Justin Hulog, Cheena Marie Lo and Michael Medrano. TINA BARTOLOME is a San Francisco native and daughter of immigrants from the Philippines and Switzerland. Her solidarity with people’s struggles for self-determination has taken her to the Philippines, Cuba and GuÃ¥han (Guam) with a steady commitment to return to working class neighborhoods in San Francisco and Oakland and facilitate radical spaces for young people to develop leadership and artistic voice for making social change. BONNE MARIE BAUTISTA was born in Daly City, raised in Quezon City, Philippines and grew up in San Francisco. She earned a BA in English Literature from Mills…
Read MoreFriday & Saturday Jazz and more jazz! Friday, August 5th, 5:30 to 8:00 pm jazz in the bookshop This week our regular Friday evening weekly jazz party continues unabated, as Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble, our regular first-Friday-of-the-month group, holds forth pulling out tunes associated with Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and all the cats that made modern jazz modern!  Jerry Logas is on saxes, clarinet and flute; Michael Parsons is on piano; and Chris Bjorkbom is on drums — all anchored and inspired by the experience and vitality that Don Prell brings to the bass as he continues a long career rooted in his early years on the Los Angeles jazz scene of the 1950s, when he was a key member of the Bud Shank Quartet… Saturday, August 6th, 7:00 to 9:00 pm a benefit for Global Citizen Year Mitchell Mankin and friends play jazz…
Read MoreMonday, August 1st, 7:00 pm Kevin Killian & Ed Coletti, plus open mic POETS! Hosted by Jerry Ferraz Featured poets plus open mic 1st & 3rd Mondays each month Kevin Killian is, by all indications, one interesting cat. Plenty of you know that. If, like us, you’ve been woefully uniformed, we suggest a quick perusal of the most fascinating Wikipedia entry we’ve read in a very long time and attendance at this evening’s reading to begin to take stock. His writing, whether in poetry, prose or drama, is obviously quite solid, witness his lengthy publication history and prodigious output, and his Lambda Literary Foundation Award for the recent prose collection entitled Impossible Princess. Edmund White characterized Killian’s work as exhibiting “a kind of mandarin American casualness that is peculiar to … West Coast writers … a school of refined but deceptively offhand stylists.” Killian co-founded Small Press Traffic here in…
Read MoreBBCLP’s which way west? Sunday concert series together with Outsound Presents: Outfest! 5 consecutive Sundays of jazz on the avant side Sunday, July 31, 4:30 & 5:30 (two sets) Kicking off a run of dates of free jazz improvisation, the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, together with Outsound Presents, is pleased to offer five weeks of spontaneous improvised music, starting with the unit that got us thinking in this direction a few months ago… “Time is Now, Not Money” comprises scat vocalist Lorin Benedict, pianist Scott R. Looney, bassist Bishu Chatterjee and drummer Bryan Bowman. Musically, they go where their ears, heads and heartbeats take them, shifting time signatures and keys with a spontaneity and intuitive complexity that makes the music a series of startling revelations. Four supremely creative musicians, completely in the moment, and far outside the bounds of conventional jazz structures. Join us for the entire series…
Read MoreSunday, July 31, 2:30 pm Clive Matson, Jayne MacPherson & Lonner Holden Poets read their work
Read MoreFriday, July 29nd – 5:30 pm George Cotsirilos Trio Jazz in the Bookshop 5th Friday Special Guest George Cotsirilos, guitar; Robb Fisher, bass; Ron Marabuto, drums A “blue collar jazz trio†with an impeccable sense of swing, celebrating the recent release of its cd entitled “Past, Presentâ€â€¦Â noted by one reviewer as being “happy in its collective skin… the music is correspondingly relaxed, confident and elegant.â€Â Cotsirilos played a lot of rock and blues back in Michigan, but has become an assured jazz player working in the classic style associated with players like Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall. Fisher and Marabuto have been well-respected jazz players for decades as well, and have played extensively alongside artists of huge stature including Cal Tjader, Pharoah Sanders, Pepper Adams, Tommy Flanagan and many others. Marabuto plays at Bird & Beckett as part of our regular third-Fridays group, and was the one who brought…
Read MoreFriday, July 29nd – 5:30 pm George Cotsirilos Trio Jazz in the Bookshop – 5th Friday Special Guest George Cotsirilos, guitar; Robb Fisher, bass; Ron Marabuto, drums A “blue collar jazz trio†with an impeccable sense of swing, celebrating the recent release of its cd entitled “Past, Presentâ€â€¦Â noted by one reviewer as being “happy in its collective skin… the music is correspondingly relaxed, confident and elegant.â€Â Cotsirilos played a lot of rock and blues back in Michigan, but has become an assured jazz player working in the classic style associated with players like Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall. Fisher and Marabuto have been well-respected jazz players for decades as well, and have played extensively alongside artists of huge stature including Cal Tjader, Pharoah Sanders, Pepper Adams, Tommy Flanagan and many others. Marabuto plays at Bird & Beckett as part of our regular fourth-Friday group, and was the one who…
Read MoreSundays, July 31st – August 28th Outfest! Five Consecutive Sundays of Spontaneous Improvization Bird & Beckett’s Which Way West? concert series, in association with Outsound Presents: July 31 – TIME IS NOW, NOT MONEY: Lorin Benedict, voice; Scott R. Looney, piano; Bishu Chatterjee, bass; Bryan Bowman, drums August 7 – FORWARD ENERGY: Jim Ryan, sax, flute, trumpet; Rent Romus, saxes; Scott R. Looney, piano; Eric Marshall, bass; Timothy Orr, drums August 14 – CHUCK MANNING/STU PILORZ OUTFIT: Chuck Manning, tenor sax; Stu Pilorz, trombone; Ollie Dudek, bass; Omar Aran, drums August 21 – TIME IS NOW, NOT MONEY REDUX: featuring Kasey Knudsen, sax August 28 – LORDS OF OUTLAND: Rent Romus, saxes; C.J. Reaven Borosque, trumpet & electronic feedback; Ray Schaeffer, electric bass; Philip Everett, drums
Read MoreThis Sunday! 4:30-6:30 pm Vocalist Suzanne Kramer + Trio which way west? Sunday concert series Suzanne’s assembled a sharp outfit of musicians to back her in this foray into the classic jazz songbook. Michael Parsons on piano; Doug Pohorosky on bass and Wally Schnalle on drums. She’s a Glen Park denizen with a solid following for her varied musical projects, from the pop band called the Stone Ponies to the present swing into classic jazz territory. Bring your kids if you’ve got ’em… her’s will be in attendance…
Read MorePOETS LIVING, AND LIVING ON… Sunday, 7/24 at 2:30 “Roads of Bread” Poets pay tribute to the late Eugene Ruggles hosted by Martin Hinkle, with readings by Clive Matson, Jack & Adele Foley, Doreen Stock, Carl Macki and Dela Moon (from a 2004 SF Chronicle article): Eugene Ruggles’ overriding sympathy for victims of injustice that led him to develop large-venue political poetry benefits in San Francisco during the early 1970s. “Anyone who knows Gene knows his most astounding characteristic is his heart,” said longtime friend and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, former San Francisco poet laureate and owner and founder of City Lights Bookstore. “He really empathizes with the downtrodden and the down-and-out. ” The poetry benefits Ruggles organized attracted hundreds of people, which was unusual for a poetry reading. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, Ruggles organized about 20 benefits that raised money and generated publicity for organizations such as Amnesty…
Read Morethis 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…
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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.
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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
