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!
Legendary alto player Bishop Norman William passes away, December 8, 2010 We’re saddened to note the passing of Bishop Norman Williams, a much loved and respected alto player born in Kansas City in 1938, and a fixture on the San Francisco scene since 1961. He played with top-flight musicians from Phineas Newborn to George Coleman to Max Roach, and countless others, and was a teacher on the bandstand to a whole generation of bop-inclined San Francisco musicians who are among the finest of the young players around today. Read more on Bishop on our tumblr blog.
Read MoreAutobiography of Mark Twain One of the really big books of the season. Stands to reason! Twain dictated this material (which will run to three volumes when publication is complete) in the last four years of his life- charging his executors with the instruction that it was to remain unpublished until he’d been dead a hundred years. One of a handful of America’s greatest writers, handling material he’d been anxious to compile for three decades or more- during which time he’d made numerous false starts. Beginning in January 1906, however, he dictated to a stenographer almost daily, working in as well some of the earlier attempts, and declared the job done in December 1909. Here’s the first third, in all its glory!
Read MoreBooks for the holidays, and for the moment! Patti Smith‘s new memoir about her youthful times with Robert Mapplethorpe, Just Kids, went to paperback in late September and won the National Book Award in mid-November. It’s been a moving and gratifying reading experience for dozens of people we’ve talked to in the shop. And then there’s Keith Richards‘ biography, published last month in hardcover, called Life. Keith’s lived a baker’s dozen of them already – lives, that is – and writes about them with terrific narrative drive and humor. Rock stars, both- and as it turns out, prose writers to the core. Keith had more help than Patti, we understand, but proved his mettle as an editor with this one.
Read MoreBenjamin Aaron Goldberg, William Altrist Bernard, Scott Anthony Amendola Serving you since the 1900’s
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$20 cover/sliding scale available. Featuring the renowned country blues singer, Uncle Joe “Lucky†Beckett, and backed by the most dangerous backing band west of the Sacramento River, the Hardly Strictly Family Band plays a mix of your favorite country blues, folk, and Americana music. The Hardly Strictly Family Band features: Uncle Joe “Lucky†Beckett: Vocals Henry Hung: Trumpet Kristen Strom: Tenor Sax James Mahone: Alto Sax Scott Sorkin: Guitar Brandon Essex: Bass Though Uncle Joe may get lost on the way to many of his shows, the rest of the Hardly Strictly Family Band can always be relied on to keep the place rocking ’til he arrives. The Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund will be supporting this one, with $150 going to each musician, to help them keep their families shod and shorn in this expensive City by the Bay. Your $20 cover charge at the door is a crucial…
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They come from beyond! What do you make of that? More to the point, what does Walker make of that?? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
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Raffi Garabedian, saxophone Richard Sears, piano Miles Wick, bass Tim Bulkley, drums Just jazz. Like you think it should be, and more. $20 cover charge; sliding scale available
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Francis Vanek, saxophone; Randy Vincent, guitar; Chris Amberger, bass. The Jazz Happy Hour, 22 years running! Every Friday save two since 2008! $20 suggested donation for adults. Kids free — teens/students $5-10. Francis Vanek is a legendary North Coast tenor player who hails from Pittsburgh, PA. There, he cut his teeth as a youth with such masters as the 1940s tenor player Carl Arter, himself a peer of Mary Lou Williams, Ahmad Jamal and Billie Eckstein, as well as the drummers J.C. Moses and Roger Humphries. Francis holds a masters degree in music and taught at the University of Nevada, Reno, and performs regularly at the Mendocino Music Festival, the historic Benbow Inn, and various venues and wineries from Sonoma to Del Norte county. Francis asserts that he always enjoys bringing some North Coast vibes to Bird & Beckett. His friendship with bandstand mates Randy Vincent and Chris Amberger, major…
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Two shows on Friday, April 12th, with Eric & the In Crowd rolling out tunes by Arthur Schwartz and Jule Styne in the 6-8pm segment and the Erik Jekabson Quartet bringing the jazz up to the moment, from 8:30 to 10pm. Bassist Bing Nathan and drummer Mark Lee are pianist Eric Shifrin’s In Crowd this time out, while trumpeter Erik Jekabson has recruited guitarist Jeffrey Burr, bassist Dan Feiszli and drummer Jon Arkin. Bring $20 for whichever band you want to hear, or catch them both for $30. Kids are always free, and teens and students pay $5-10… Donations to our nonprofit Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project help us guarantee the musicians a fair wage. If it’s in your means, please donate! Author Elijah Wald joins us Saturday, April 13th at 6pm before Pamela Rose and Wayne De La Cruz take the stage at 7:30. Wald is rolling out…
Read More“The only war is the war on the imagination” – Diane di Prima. Poets read to commemorate the March 5, 2007 destruction by car bomb of Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad’s bookseller’s street named for the 10th century Iraqi poet. This tragedy, in which 26 died and a great many bookshops and stalls were decimated, marked a sad and vivid turn in the second Iraq war, which began with the American invasion in 2003. Ever since that event, with the motto “Al-Mutanabbi Street starts here,” poets, writers and artists across the world have sought to show solidarity with the Iraqi people by endeavoring to keep the memory of that terrible event alive through their words and art. Readings are being staged far and wide on March 5th and the days immediately around it, including ours on Monday, the 6th, in which many of our most politically committed poets will address the tragedy and…
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We tend to think of Girl Fry as a Latina punk band from L.A., but perhaps that’s simplistic. We’re given to understand that Girl Fry or Girl Friar is a music project that is harvested semi-annually (though sometimes quarterly). The species is a hybrid descended from both the South and Central American Vaquero and the Iberian Guitarrista. Girl Fry may be identified by bright electric motifs on black or dark gray background, or by signature wailing. Any measure of mass has been reportedly inconsistent; therefor, girl friyae is traditionally identified via visual and auditory cues. They are often confused with other species within the Punk, Riot girl, Folk, Latin, and Queer genera. The proper classification of Girl Fry has been subject to much debate. Come by the shop and we’ll play you the recording from last August, when they last passed through Bird & Beckett. You’ll begin to understand… Do endeavor…
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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.
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.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail 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.
TAKE OUR SURVEY
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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
