Sukhawat Ali Khan returns to Bird & Beckett with an ensemble of musicians steeped in Sufi music and Sukhawat’s own family’s 600-year-old Hindustani classical musical tradition, the Sham Chorasi Gharana, best known to contemporary audiences worldwide from the work of his father and uncle, the brothers Salamat and Nazakat Ali Khan. The Sham Chorasi Gharana was established during the reign of Emperor Akbar of India. Sukhawat’s training in both classical raga and Sufi Qawwali singing began at the age of seven under his father, legendary Pakistani/Indian vocalist Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. For three decades a San Francisco Bay Area resident, Sukhawat teaches this musical style and performs concerts for dance and world music lovers everywhere. Sukhawat is a thoroughly modern world musician, with a unique ability to draw from traditional and contemporary musical forms that has helped him develop collaborations that are truly cross-cultural, beautifully demonstrated in the acclaimed group, Shabaz. Sukhawat has…

Celebrate the life of Floyd Salas, with friends and family. Floyd Salas (1/24/31-10/17/21) was a novelist, social activist, boxer and boxing coach. A cofounder of PEN Oakland in 1989, he was a key figure in San Francisco Bay Area literary and social justice circles for six decades. His literary work is highly regarded by aficionados of both Latino literature and 60s era protest literature, and in 2013, he was awarded the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Before Columbus Foundation. On May 15, 2022, friends and family gather at Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco to celebrate his life, read from his work and read poems in his honor. Floyd’s wife, Claire Ortalda, and his song, Greg Salas, are joined by Jessica Loos, Lucy Day, Tate Swindell, Andrena Zawinski and many friends from along the way, reading from Floyd’s work, contributing their own poems in tribute, and…

Please join us for a book launch party! The Witches of Glen Park the second book of Mark Shoffner’s DarkHouse series (after Miriam: The Witch of Glen Park) Author reading & treats; all ages welcome! What’s not normal about a family of… witches? Ruth Levin has settled into a nice routine with her mother Miriam. They share an attic room in their relatives’ San Francisco home. Ruth is now in fifth grade at Glen Park Elementary. Mom and daughter are also busy reading arcane texts and haunting old houses late at night–all part of mother’s training. She’s a witch, and she’d like Ruth to join the family tradition. That’s all fine with Ruth, more or less. But when creepy, crawly spiders enhanced in a Silicon Valley lab invade her dreams, Ruth’s path is unsettled. An impulsive new Glen Park student turns out to be a good friend and a total…

Francis Vanek, tenor sax Randy Vincent, guitar Chris Amberger, bass Jeff Minneweather, drums Francis Vanek leads an all-star quartet, musicians long embraced by Bird & Beckett audiences. Francis is a well known North Coast tenor player. He hails from Pittsburgh, PA, having cut his teeth with such masters as Carl Arter, JC Moses and Roger Humphries. He holds a masters degree in music and taught at the University of Nevada, Reno. He performs regularly at the Mendocino Music Festival, at the historic Benbow Inn, and various venues and wineries from Sonoma to Del Norte county. Francis always enjoys bringing some North Coast vibes to Bird and Beckett. About his colleagues on the date, Francis notes that “Randy Vincent is one of my favorite musicians to play with, so I thought it would be interesting to do a number of compositions penned by great guitar players — Pat Metheny, John Scofield,…

Drummer Pepe Jacobo returns with his terrific quartet featuring Bob Crawford on piano, Ayla Avila on bass and Oscar Soltero on congas. Pepe is one of the Bay Area’s top Afro Cuban drummers and a first call percussionist, with a degree in music from the University of Costa Rica.  He writes and performs original music on both guitar and percussion with many Bay Area bands, and is a master of many genres of music — as reflected by the diversity of the groups he plays with, including The Jorge Santana Band, Latin Funk band Mas Cabeza, Latin Jazz group CALIENTE 2000 and World Music group, Volcan. He’s taught students in both percussion and guitar from beginner to master level at the SF Community Music Center since 1995. Pepe plays music in many styles but with a special emphasis in Afro-Cuban drum-set, Afro-Brazilian drum-set, Latin Jazz and Straight Ahead Jazz. Always…

With B’kongofonic blood at the saxophonic root, well below surface engraving, resonating within its alloy, sounds are gathering to invoke a heroic people: kongo as “gathering”, a Central African people’s homeland; fon as “sound”, a West African people’s language; B’ referring to all “peoples” along the resistance continuum.  Hear ye, the animating force of a strange horn sanctified! Genny Lim – poetry, invocation Hafez Modirzadeh – kongofon, assorted winds Francis Wong – kongofon, assorted winds John-Carlos Perea – electric bass, cedar flute, vocals Keshav Batish – drums, tabla Genny Lim and the ensemble perform Modirzadeh’s epic poem, Ode B’kongofon.  $25 cash cover charge; byob and a mask (optional if vaccinated) Reservations: Call 415-586-3733 during store hours, Tues.-Sun. noon to six. Live in the shop! You can also take it in live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you can!

On the second Monday of each month, Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate 2019-2021, hosts a poetry reading via Zoom (invitation below), featuring major Bay Area poets followed by a vibrant open mic. Find the invitation below. Bring a poem for the open mic, or join just to hear the work. On the fourth Monday of the month, Kim’s reading is all open mic. Bird & Beckett is proud of its association with Kim and her fine series Monday, May 9th, the featured poets are Lisa Rosenberg, pictured at right, and Monica Korde. Poet, essayist, and recovering engineer Lisa Rosenberg is the author of A Different Physics (Red Mountain Press). The recipient of a Djerassi Residency and Wallace Stegner Fellowship, she served as Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, and is a frequent speaker on the confluence of arts and sciences. Her work appears in venues such as POETRY, The…

Pedal steel master Joe Goldmark’s supergroup returns to Bird & Beckett! Joe’s built a solid band that features Mitch Polzak on lead guitar and vocal; Hank Maninger on bass guitar and vocal; and Kenny Owen, the Haiku Cowboy, on drums. Bring a twenty for the band! Also, something to sip if you’re so inclined–we have cups, a church key and a cork screw. Oh yeah, and bring a good mask if you’re feeling squeamish about the public thing. Good live music is worth masking up for! If you’re home, find the stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Instructions on the screen will tell you how you can contribute to the cause. The Seducers have been ripping it up at Bird & Beckett for years… it’ll take more than a pandemic to put a damper on their spirits!  

Michael Gold, saxophone Gerald Beckett, flute Ari Caprow, guitar Ken Lenga, bass Evan Williams, drums $25 cash cover charge. Doors open at 7:20pm for the 7:30 show. BYOB and a mask. Live in the shop!You can also take it in live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you can! Terrific players pulling together a new quintet. To paraphrase Michael Gold, The Deep End is one of those silver linings of the pandemic. With music venues shuttered and both players and listeners hunkering down at home, this bunch of musical colleagues started getting together regularly behind the closed doors of a rehearsal studio. Just to play, for the love of playing. Each of the musicians proposed innovative and challenging tunes that they didn’t often get to delve into at the usual gigs (when there were usual gigs). And delve they did, generating arrangements designed to stretch their musical muscles.…

D L Forbes has, for decades, except for a few poetry readings in London and Vancouver in the late 1970’s, remained contentedly enough in the poetry closet of life; until cajoled once more into reading at Bird & Beckett. When asked why, he whined, “Sarah Menefee made me do it!” Apart from that, he has produced seven volumes of poetry, three novels, and a recent memoir regarding his biological father, Ludwig Wittgenstein – “Wittgenstein’s Son and U. G.Krishnamurti – Ducks or Rabbits.” Sarah Menefee is a San Francisco poet and homeless movement activist, and retired hospital, casino, day care, office and retail worker, currently an occasional artist’s model. She is a founding member of various organizations, including Revolutionaries for a New America and ‘First they came for the homeless’. Her most recent books are ‘Human Star’ and ‘CEMENT’, as well as various chapbooks and self-published volumes. Jerry Ferraz and Michael…

Beau Beausoleil reads poems in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. In Ukraine: Poems Audience welcome. Also live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page.

live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you value Walker’s work! The Pacific Rim is a meeting-place of many forms of life. Oral literatures speak to the mind’s inner structures in ways more basic than time can tell. In his May talk, Walker Brents III will approach further dimensions of this mystery, contemplating the narrative art of the Haida people. Since first emerging from the stacks of Bird & Beckett over twenty years ago, Walker has been regaling audiences here with near-monthly extemporaneous observations on diverse aspects of myth, poetry, philosophy and imagination. When not here, he can be found telling stories in the galleries of the Asian Art Museum or in the classrooms of the elementary school where he works during the academic year. Come summer, he and his wife Joyce, both teachers, ramble for a few months up the coast, then eastward, south to Texas and…

Bird & Beckett, in association with Jazz in the Neighborhood and the Independent Musicians’ Alliance, presents a jazz jam session for young players on the first Sunday of each month, starting always at 5pm with a student ensemble from one of the Bay Area’s many fine jazz education programs, from post-secondary down to the high schools. Students of the music of any age and from any direction are welcome to participate in the jam session that follows — always helmed by a trio of some of the Bay Area’s finest professional musicians. This month, Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland provides us with a jazz combo directed by bassist Fred Randolph, who heads up the band program there. The jam session will be led by bassist Peter Barshay’s trio with pianist Ben Stolorow and drummer Ron Marabuto, three veteran players with deep credentials, all favorites at Bird & Beckett! Students:…

Tony Peebles, saxophone Christian Tumalan, piano Aaron Germain, bass Brian Andres, drums $20 cash cover charge; doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show. BYOB and a mask. Live in the shop! You can also take it in live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you can! With Tony Peebles and Christian Tumalan, both members of the Grammy-nominated Pacific Mambo Orchestra, and the uniquely talented Aaron Germain, drummer Brian Andres has assembled a quartet of the highest caliber to present two sets of Latin inflected jazz. In 2007, after spending his career as a sideman, learning and honing his craft, Brian stepped into the role as bandleader. The San Francisco Bay Area was introduced to The Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel. Featuring Grammy Award Winning  musicians as well as esteemed Music Educators, the group continues the rich heritage of San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz.  Incorporating the rich harmonic and improvisational…

Ben Davis, cello Erik Jekabson, trumpet Jordan Glenn, drums Compositional structures, lines and wild loose grooves are gauged open and explored in impassioned play between instruments—gut-wrenching dissonance to sonorous deep tones. This new Bay Area group was brought together by cellist Ben Davis to probe the thin line between composition and improvisation. The improvs are open thematic, composed material embedded within solos. Each musician plays a role in both leading and accompanying. $20 cash cover charge at the door; doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show. BYOB and a mask (the wearing of which is optional if you’re vaccinated). Live in the shop! You can also take it in live streamed on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate if you can! Ben Davis found a musical community in the F-ire Collective which came together in London in the mid-1990s; his chamber jazz group Basquiat Strings (a string quartet plus bass…