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!
Bassists in town! The Jimmy Ryan Quintet with guest bassist Charles Thomas jazz in the bookshop every Friday Friday, June 9, 5:30 to 8:00 pm With Jimmy’s regular bassist, Bishu Chatterjee, off to Kolkata this month, we’re pleased to welcome Charles Thomas to the stage — and also a brief cameo appearance during the second set by naturalist / bassist Thor Hanson, whose book Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle has just been published by Basic Books. To top it all off, Putter Smith is up from L.A. for the huge harmonic bass convergence (read below), and will likely stop in. You might remember him as an assassin in the Bond film “Diamonds are Forever”, but jazz aficionados know him for his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Thelonius Monk. By the way, if you see hundreds of folks lugging those giant fiddles around town in the next…
Read MoreQR Hand, Jr. — Kim Shuck — Bill Vartnaw POETS! reading series with open mic Jerry Ferraz, m.c. 1st and 3rd Monday of every month Monday, June 6, 7 pm Q. R. Hand, Jr.’s poetry, according to his late, great compadre Reginald Lockett, “traverses the terrain of form, music, and language. This is an inspired, well crafted poetry that is political in intent and spirited in execution and defies any comparison to any literary precursors or contemporary schools of thought. Q.R. Hand is an entity unto himself; a true visionary walks among us.” We couldn’t have said it better, except simply to emphasize how completely hip Q really is… It’s always a pleasure to see him walk through the door of the shop, and to hear what he’s got to offer. Kim and Bill, as well, are terrifically thoughtful and well-spoken poets, each a long-time tiller and toiler in the…
Read MoreMisisipi Mike all by his lonesome which way west? Sunday concert series Sunday, June 5th, 4:30 & 5:30 pm (two sets) Mike Wolf moved out west from Pass Christian, Mississippi, a punk rock kid filled with frustration, lived the life, hit the bottom, and climbed back up again, with a lot of help from his friends… and he’s been writin’ terrific country tunes, and quite a bit more, all along the way. He’s the go-to guitarist for about a zillion bands, and the leader of many of ’em… but here’s a chance for him to sit on the stage by himself with his guitar and a microphone, and maybe a few friends in the audience down front singing back-up, dusting off a couple dozen tunes from his deep catalog… As Mike would have it, he’ll be “singing original songs of whimsy and weary, for waltzing and whistling, from his many…
Read MorePOETS! Stewart Florsheim and Tom Centolella read their work Sunday, June 5th, 2:30 pm Two practiced and well published writers at the top of their game. To get a fuller picture of these two poets, read the write-up on our “Events” page (click here or on the link on our navigation bar above). Stewart’s newest book is A Split Second of Light (Blue Light Press, 2011). And to experience their poetry in real time and real space, bring your ears and your intellects to Bird & Beckett, and enjoy a literary Sunday afternoon.
Read MoreThe Redwood String Quartet which way west? sunday concerts Sunday, May 29th – 4:30 pm Violinist Janice MacIntosh, a Glen Park resident, brings in three compatriots for a program of classical music. Janice has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, since 1983, playing 1st violin throughout her career there; and is Associate Concertmaster for the Ballet Orchestra. Our Sunday concert series presents a variety of music genres, from jazz to bluegrass to music of the world to western classical music; kids are always welcome and we encourage you to remember that your donations at the events form the base of what we’re able to promise the musicians for their efforts and for the musical gifts they bring us. Special thanks go to the Conner Family Trust, which specifically helps fund the Sunday afternoon “which way west?” series. which way west? is a project of the Bird &…
Read MoreTales of Ghostly Japan Walker Talks! Sunday, May 29th – 2:00 pm Each month, until he breaks for his summer ramble through the western states, Walker Brents III presents a spellbinding set of musings on topics mythological, literary and historical. This month, the supernatural folktales and legends of a country that has recently had its quotidian roots most tragically shaken by nuclear disaster.
Read MoreThe Mark Levine Trio which way west? sunday concerts Sunday, May 22nd – 4:30 pm Mark wrote the book on jazz piano… specifically, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 2005 — but originally published in 1989) has been instrumental in the education of many thousands of jazz pianists… and he himself studied in Boston and New York with legendary figures Hal Overton, Herb Pomeroy and Jaki Byard. Along the way, Mark has shared the bandstand and recording studio with, among others, Woody Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Wallace Roney, Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Harris, Stefon Harris, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Clark Terry, Ingrid Jensen, Charlie Rouse, Bobby Watson, Chet Baker, Philip Harper, Mark Murphy, Art Pepper, Julian Priester, Bobby Shew, Steve Turre, Madeline Eastman, Enrique Pla and Poncho Sanchez… with particularly fruitful and intense extended stints with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and…
Read MoreSufi Poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore with musical guest From a Fountain Sunday, May 22nd – 2 pm Born in 1940 in Oakland, California, Daniel Moore’s first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, San Francisco, in 1964. In 1972 his second book, Burnt Heart, Ode to the War Dead, was also published by City Lights. When he became a Muslim in 1970, Moore took the name Abd al-Hayy, and began traveling extensively in Europe and North Africa. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote of this period, “Moore [became] a Sufi and, like Rimbaud, renounced written poetry.†After ten years of not writing, however, Moore “renounced†his renunciation, and he has since been very active indeed, publishing and offering public readings widely, ranging far afield from his home in Philadelphia, where he has resided since 1990. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to host him for…
Read MoreRichard Froude Jennifer Denrow Jesse Morse POETS! Monday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm Three poets, passing through — two out of Denver, one headed that way… Richard Froude — born in London, raised in Bristol — lives now in Denver. He is the author of The History of Zero, The Margaret Thatcher Trilogy, and FABRIC, brand new from Horse Less Press. Jennifer Denrow, as it happens, is editor for Horse Less Press and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Denver. She is the author of A Knee for a Life, From California On, and most recently, California, published by Four Way Books. Jesse Morse lives and writes in Portland, OR, where he curates the Smorg Reading Series. Contemplating an imminent move, Denver is his destination. We suspect it’s no coincidence that the three poets are converging here at Bird & Beckett. Come glimpse the passing parade…
Read MoreJon Frank Quintet which way west? Sunday concerts Sunday, May 15th – sets at 4:30 & 5:30 pm Trumpeter Noah Frank is featured with drummer Jon Frank’s fine group, which includes seasoned veterans Ken Rosen (sax), Terry Rodriguez (piano) and Ron Crotty (bass). Noah is the product of a musical family (his father Jon has led the orchestra program at Hoover Middle School for years), with training at the Community Music Center on Capp Street, School of the Arts at the top of Glen Canyon, and at Berklee School of Music in Boston. He’s back for a visit, and another exciting gig at Bird & Beckett. Bassist Ron Crotty played with Dave Brubeck’s first quartet, and joined Brubeck again for a stint later in a long career of top-flight performing associations — which has included memorable work with pianists Vince Guaraldi and Bliss Rodriguez. The album pictured here, with the…
Read MoreHappy Mothers Day! Here’s a wonderful clip of the mother of all poets, and mother of five beautiful children, Diane di Prima… a reading at The Band’s Last Waltz, Thanksgiving Day, November 1976, Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco. click here!
Read MorePugsley Buzzard headed this way! catch him at Bird & Beckett on Sunday, May 8th, 4:30 pm…Â HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! He boasts an unlikely name and a voice like gravel on a treacherous road, and he’s coming out of Australia for a foray into the Bay Area that’s bound to be talked about for some time to come…Â oh, yes, and he plays a mean stride piano… if you can’t make it to the show, then check him out at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOQLVM018qw
Read MoreA BARD & A PHILOSOPHER Jerry Ferraz & Sterling Bunnell POETS! featured readers + open mic, twice monthly Jerry Ferraz was born and grew up over in Eureka Valley some years ago, let’s say in the early 1950s, round about this time of year… a San Franciscan to the core… though a much broader expanse of time and geography reverberates through him… Through the years, he’s recited his winding and enigmatic fables in verse and sung his lovely flamenco inflected songs in the cafes and bars, at the bus stops and construction sites, in the parks… trading in the poetic coin of the realm of philosophers and seers. There really are precious few like him, and they’re scattered like jewels over centuries of tradition, across the seas and the continents. He’s a poet for the ages, and we’re not hesitant to characterize him thus. After ten-plus years of Bird &…
Read Morean original beat… ruth weiss w/trio at bird & beckett friday night may 6th at 8:30 pm poetry and jazz… a book release celebration! can’t stop the beat: the life and words of a beat poet ruth weiss was born in germany as the nazis came to power; her family fled to austria in 1933. forced to flee again, this time to america, in 1939. new york, chicago. a brief, two-year return of the family to germany postwar, 1946, schooled in switzerland, then returned to “the states,” to chicago. her first reading to jazz in chicago in 1949; the rest is (more) history… new york, new orleans, chicago again, hitchhiking, then san francisco, 1951. 1010 montgomery street; that poem is in the new book, along with “i always thought you black” and more. the cellar, a life amidst the beats and their progeny. an important poet, a vibrant poet. here…
Read MoreThey’ll be dancin’ in the streets! Glen Park Festival All day Sunday May 1st 10 a.m to 4:30 p.m. there’ll be music… sweet, sweet music… Come out to the Glen Park Festival for the fun, the sun and the beautiful neighborhood vibe, and a cavalcade of great bands mc’d by man-of-all-seasons Misisipi Mike. Dozens of Glen Park volunteers have put this festival together for your pleasure, and you’ll find Diamond and Wilder Streets lined with art, food and a panoply of other booths. Activities for the kids on Wilder, including our own Walker Brents telling stories at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Bands on the mainstage will include Orange Sherbet, Los Train Wreck, Misisipi Mike and the Midnight Gamblers, Jinx Jones and the High Tones and Valerie Quevedo and her Cincopaters. It’ll be a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Call friends and tell them to come see Glen Park at…
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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
