Pearl Ubungen dances in the intimate space of Bird & Beckett within the sound envelope of the San Francisco ensemble led by saxophonist Salim Washington — Scott Foster on guitar, Charles Thomas on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. An opportunity to absorb Washington’s “new synoptic vision of what jazz can be and do,” as Dr. Cornell West puts it. Dr. West goes on to say that “the fundamental spirit behind this music…lives on in new ways and novel sounds.” This event bringing together Ubungen and Washington unfolds in anticipation of the melding of movement and sound Ubungen has envisioned for an immersive community-based residency exploring the theme of Sacred City: Winter in America. Ubungen and Washington will mark the transition from winter into spring culminating in a ritual performance amongst the ruins of Sutro Baths at Lands End, at 6 pm on March 20th. Audience capacity is limited; for a reservation,…

Tonight’s reading features Olivia Soule and Brian K. Turner, with an open mic to follow. Olivia Soule completed her M.F.A. in poetry at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2018.  She has a B.A. in English and Italian from UCLA. Her poems have appeared in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Pudding Magazine and Q/A Poetry, among other publications. She has also written about Italian literature in translation. Brian K. Turner grew up in California, fascinated by its natural diversity. He worked in a variety of manual labor jobs after high school, then enlisted in the military and was sent to Iraq, was made a Sergeant and manned an M1A1 tank as a gunner. He now operates an animal sanctuary, is a born-again heretic and an avowed neo-Marxist. His collection of poems, The House of Wolves, was published in 2020 by Blue Light Press. Fifty of his poems have been published…

Jonah Raskin has invited Steve Wasserman and Garrett Caples to join him in a bookshop celebration of the centennial of Jack Kerouac’s birth, March 12, 1922. Jonah’s recent novel Beat Blues: San Francisco 1955 is an evocative take on that era and the way it felt here when the Beats were tuning into a whole new sense of society and finding the words and the rhythms to express it.         Garrett Caples is a poet who lives in San Francisco. His most recent book of poems is Lovers of Today (Wave Books, 2021). He’s an editor at City Lights Booksellers and Publishers, where he curates the Spotlight Poetry Series, and has worked with Beat Generation legends like Michael McClure, Diane di Prima, David Meltzer, and Joanne Kyger. He occasionally served as Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s personal assistant. He has edited several books by Philip Lamantia. Jonah Raskin, is a professor emeritus…

Back at last! It’s been a few months’ hiatus, but the time has come. America’s favorite honky tonk band returns to their bookshop home for a couple sets of outlaw & classic country music. Mitch Polzak, Hank Maninger, Joe Goldmark and Kenny Owen deliver rave-up joy every time out! And tonight, Seducer emeritus Eddie Kendrick is dropping by! $20 cash cover charge. Doors open 10 minutes before showtime. Reservations, call the store at 415-586-3733. Capacity is limited. BYOB, proof of vaccination and a mask. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate!  

Christie Aida, vocals Laura Harris, piano Greg Kehret, bass Mena Ramos, bata & hi-hat with special guest, San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin ____ BYOB, a mask and $20 cash for the cover charge Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. _____ Free Press is a San Francisco based Filipina-led music collective. FPM will perform some songs from their new EP, (expected 3rd quarter release date), reflecting the diversity of San Francisco from everyday experiences of immigrants living in the Tenderloin to housing/human rights issues. This edition of Free Press features talented female artists, two of which are of Filipina descent. FPM future events include Kapwa Gardens, events for SOMA Pilipinas, Parks Alliance, the SF Library and women/POC owned businesses. Please check the FPM website for event and EP updates at www.thefreepressmusic.com Free Press has played at…

Darren Johnston’s Double Detour will be at Bird & Beckett twice in two months–tonight and April 9! Catch both dates! Darren Johnston – trumpet Ben Goldberg – clarinet Jeff Denson – bass Gerald Cleaver – drums $20 cash cover charge; BYOB; proof of vaccination, a mask. Reservations, call the shop at 415-586-3733. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. What’s the music gonna be like? It’s gonna be like fabulous. Serious fun!  

SORRY, THIS  MORNING’S LIVE STREAM CONVERSATION IS POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS. GET ON THE STORE’S MAILING LIST TO HEAR ABOUT FUTURE SF LIVES CONVERSATIONS AND TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN THIS PARTICULAR CONVERSATION IS RESCHEDULED. San Francisco journalist Denise Sullivan hosts a live-streamed series of monthly morning discussions with The City’s arts and cultural leaders and everyday workers, the people who help make this place we call home, Sundays at 10 am from Bird & Beckett Books in Glen Park. This month’s guest is choreographer, dancer, founder of Mud Water Theatre, and director of the film, Mudwater, which screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Find the stream on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. My-Linh Le is a second generation Vietnamese American dancer, award winning choreographer, multidisciplinary storyteller, and former environmental attorney. As a competitive freestyle dancer, My-Linh has taught workshops, competed in, and judged battles around the world, and has…

The Oaktown Strutters celebrate the golden age of American swing and song in all its elegance, sophistication and optimism. Led by Richard Chon on violin and vocals (Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks), the band features John Nichols on guitar, Bing Nathan on bass and Mark Lee on drums. Their music is by turns buoyant, suave, heart-stirring and romantic. They’re known as one of the Bay Area’s hottest swing bands, with an upbeat style of syncopation and classic repertoire aimed especially at swing dancers, and know exactly how to get a dance floor moving! In the salon setting of Bird & Beckett, you’ll feel that joyous pulse without risking tangled limbs & crunched toes, though there are aisles if you need ’em! $20 cash cover charge. Doors open 10 minutes before showtime. Reservations, call the store at 415-586-3733. Capacity is limited. BYOB, proof of vaccination and a mask. Can’t make…

A student combo from the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, coached by pianist Matt Clark, kicks off the evening with a set at 6pm, followed at 7pm by a student-friendly jam session. CJC Combo: Richard Benitez, trumpetWill Shannon, tromboneSean Chen, guitarJonny Kaminek, bassSheldon Alexander, drums Session Trio: Akira Tana, drums David Udolf, piano Chris Amberger, bass No cover charge for students $10-20 cover charge requested from the audience. Donate what you can. The California Jazz Conservatory, founded in 2009 to incorporate Berkeley’s famous Jazzschool, is the only private music conservatory in the United States solely devoted to jazz and related styles of music, offering degrees in jazz studies at the masters, bachelors and associate levels. Jazzschool, a community jazz education institution, was established in 1997 and continues within the CJC, a nationally accredited institution of higher learning. For 25 years, Jazzschool/CJC has given aspiring musicians a path to deep knowledge…

Each year, to welcome the new year of the Chinese zodiac, the pianist, composer and educator Betty Wong hosts a wonderful variety of musicians, including Shirley Wong with the Flowing Stream Ensemble and a handful of wonderfully talented student musicians, all drawing on a number of rich cultural traditions and always culminating in a set of jazz by her long-time friends Ken Rosen, Joe DeAndreis in absentia, Randy Craig and Richard Saunders, on saxophones, piano and bass. Always a sweet way to pass a Sunday afternoon in Glen Park. Betty has long taught at San Francisco’s Community Music Center, and these musicians are all associated with that august and most valued institution. Thank you most sincerely for your support of the arts! The arts can only flourish with the help of the community that our artists serve so brilliantly. $20 cash donation requested. Seating available 10 minutes before showtime. Reservations,…

Noertker’s Moxie CD release for the Billville trilogy Annelise Zamula – saxes, flute Brett Carson – piano Jason Levis – drums Bill Noertker – bass, compositions $20 cash cover charge. Doors open 10 minutes before showtime. Reservations, call the store at 415-586-3733. Capacity is limited. BYOB, proof of vaccination and a mask. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate! Bassist/composer Bill Noertker has been active in the Bay Area jazz and avant-garde scene since the late 1980s. Since 2001, he has lead his own ensemble, Noertker’s Moxie, as a forum for compositions inspired by visual art, architecture, poetry, cinema, and sculpture. These compositions provide a framework for improvisation that is both melodic and textural; with an emphasis on creative, free-ranging interplay amongst the musicians. Moxie has released sixteen CDs on the Edgetone Records label, including the…

Al-Mutannabi Street in Baghdad, a nexus of booksellers for a thousand years, was decimated by a car bomb on March 5, 2007. Fifteen years on, poets around the world read on the anniversary of that sad day, to imagine a better world. The Shabandar Cafe on Al-Mutannabi Street, which opened as a cafe in 1917 on the premises of a printing press, was destroyed in the attack though later rebuilt. Five sons of the cafe’s owner, Mohammad al-Khashali, were killed in the blast. The Shabandar has been a gathering place for writers and intellectuals for generations. It continues thus. And the booksellers have returned to their trade. Time and again, culture has won out over the greed for power and for domination of the individual and the community. It will be ever thus. Diane di Prima wrote, “The only war that matters is the war on the imagination.” It’s a…

The SticklerPhonics is some special kind of Modern Micro Brass Band… Jazz, Groove, Funk and much more! Drums, saxophone and trombone? Why not? With each player in The SticklerPhonics, the concept of working as a unit is crucial. Playing in the pocket, giving each other space, getting the audience to move… Like nothing you’ve heard. Playing original music. Let’s DO this. Scott Amendola – drums/percussion/electronics Raffi Garabedian – tenor saxophone Danny Lubin-Laden – trombone $20 cash cover charge. Doors open 10 minutes before showtime. Reservations, call the store at 415-586-3733. Capacity is limited. BYOB, proof of vaccination and a mask. Can’t make it to the show? Check it out in the live stream on our YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate! We go to considerable effort and cost to bring you the livestream and we use your donation to help pay the musicians a guaranteed fair wage. No project better…

Agneta Falk, a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1946. She’s a poet, visual artist, translator and editor, who’s lived in England for thirty years where she taught Drama and creative writing. She was also a co-director of Word Hoard, a literature development agency, promoting writing in the community and organizing poetry festivals. For the past twenty years, she’s lived in San Francisco in San Francisco, USA. She’s has four volumes of poetry, as well as the co-editor of several anthologies, and is represented in many anthologies world wide. Her work is translated into many languages, and she’s participated  in International poetry festivals in Italy, Colombia, Peru, Iraq, Sarajevo, San Francisco, China, Switzerland, Vietnam. With the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, she organizes events to raise awareness of social and political conditions at home and in the world. She’s also a member of the co-ordinating commmitee…

Such a month, February. The careful, and the brave knew & know that there’s nothing like live taking in some live music and poetry alongside a few friends and companionable strangers. Audience capacity is 20 in the shop for the time being, so call ahead if you want to be sure of a seat, then wash your hands, check for your vax card, grab your mask and come to the little village that is Glen Park to enjoy another fine night of San Francisco culture in one of the City’s sweetest listening environments! Bring cash for the talent, as well as something to sip! It’s BYOB at Bird & Beckett. Catch our live streams on Bird & Beckett’s YouTube channel or Facebook page. Donate per the information on the screen if you can. The stream is a crucial artist/audience lifeline in a tough time, and the support of the home viewing audience…