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!

Friday, August 21 – 7:30 pm
Scott Foster, solo guitar
live streamed jazz from the bookshop

Scott Foster plays from the sheaf of compositions he’s been producing during this “special period.” This is a special opportunity to get inside the workings of his mind and the play of his creative impulses. Our live streams are now accessed on both YouTube and Facebook! Suggested cover charge: $20 / sliding scale – $2 to $200 Support live music & the musicians who play it! Bird & Beckett pays a guaranteed fair wage and supplements it as your donations allow. Use the links below: Take in the show on YouTube or Facebook Pay your cover charge / make your donation Subscribe to our YouTube channel Subscribe to our newsletter

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Thursday, August 20 – 7:30pm
The Flying Salvias K. N. Right Experience

Nothing says something like this amalgam of charm! Say the Flying Salvias, themselves, “Being locked up since March has provided much time to ponder.  The Flying Salvias are therefore finally acknowledging that what was previously described as a “lack of focus” is actually two separate identities masquerading as The Flying Salvias.  So, along those lines, we will be presenting “The Return of K. N. Right” (Country) and “Pop Goes the Jazzle” (Not Country).What you will hear: A set focusing on K. N. Right material.  We’ll revisit a couple tunes from our original Kathy N. Right country CD from years ago, add in several new tunes, and remember our dear friend Kathi Kamen Goldmark by doing the song Kathleen wrote with her, “Older Than Him”  aka “The Slut Song.”Pop Goes the Jazzle starts off with “Henry’s Hideaway” which will set the tone and mood for the rest of the set; we’ve…

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Live streamed events Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

Wednesday, 8/19* at 7:30 [postponed to 8/26] Walker Brents III on Albert Camus (part II). Thursday, 8/20 at 7:30 The Flying Salvias – words fail us!  Friday, 8/21 at 7:30 Scott Foster plumbs the Covid file – solo guitar, new compositions. Our live streams are now accessed on both YouTube and Facebook! Use the links below: Take in the show on YouTube or Facebook Pay your cover charge Subscribe to our YouTube channel Subscribe to our newsletter As for Scott Foster’s show on Friday 8/21 at 7:30 Scott began composing a tune a day from the start of the lockdown in March, and so has a thick sheaf of material. Towards the late summer, he began laying down recordings of some of that material. We’re looking forward to seeing where he is in the process. He’s been a Bird & Beckett stalwart, in many ways the heart and soul of…

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Hey, it’s not June any more!!

Whither goeth jazz?! We haven’t resigned ourselves to live without live audiences We’re cooking up a new idea for when jazz club opens back up. Stay tuned! Especially you members of the Jazz Philanthropists Union– you know who you are. Your country will be calling on you to make it work for all the peoples of jazznationsf. Ask not how, but when! Remember, what works for all makes it work for each. Jazzwise, and in life. And remember the African roots of jazz, and specifically the African-American creation, development and future of jazz! Especially now.

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Now open for business at the storefront six days a week!

We’re now open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. We can fill your requests for specific titles and help you find the books you don’t know you need. Upon request, we can admit you to the shop to browse. Walk down, take a bus or find a parking space — and visit our storefront! Do us all a favor and keep your six feet of distance inside and outside both. Please wear a mask when you approach the door, and at all times inside. And use hand sanitizer (we have that) before you come in and when you leave.   It’s all for the public good, and for you and our staff as well. Welcome to the neighborhood! To order ahead for take out, call us at 415-586-3733, and then duplicate the contact with an email to us at [email protected] (with “book order” in the subject line, please). If…

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Friday, August 14 – 7:30pm
Kasey Knudsen / Eric Vogler Duo
live streamed jazz from the bookshop every Friday evening

Due to difficulties with the live stream technology, this performance has been postponed. Watch for their return on a Friday in a month or so. Despite the postponement, Kasey & Eric played two bebop tunes with elan before we decided to pull the plug for the evening–so our 18-year streak of consecutive weekly jazz dates at Bird & Beckett continues uninterrupted! Kasey Knudsen and Eric Vogler have a long history of playing music together in various configurations. They have worked together frequently with the “Holly Martins” trio, along with vocalist Lorin Benedict. For this special Bird and Beckett livestream concert, they will bring you their favorite Holly Martins repertoire in duo format, along with a few choice standards, lots of rhythmic twists and turns, and a few free improvisations.   Listen here to a sample of their interplay on the tune SubconsciousLee: Suggested cover charge: $20 / sliding scale –…

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Thursday, August 13 – 7:30pm
Guitarist Tom Huber

Tom Huber embarks on a solo journey across a wide swath of genres and eras, playing classic tunes and original compositions. When you drop by for our live stream, if you’re not squeezing every dime, please donate generously — $20 suggeseted — so we can meet and exceed our guarantees to some fine Bay Area musicians in a time when paying gigs are hard to come by — consider it your cover charge! This evening, Tom has chosen to pass his guarantee along to some musicians feeling the economic pinch, and Bird & Beckett is matching his generous gesture. Suggested cover charge: $20 / sliding scale – $2 to $200 Use the links below: Take in the show on YouTube or Facebook Pay your cover charge Subscribe to our YouTube channel Subscribe to our newsletter

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Friday, August 7 – 7:30pm
The Sandy Poindexter Trio
jazz from the bookshop, live streamed every Friday!

Sandra Poindexter, born and raised in Oakland,  studied classical violin from early childhood, and her musical experience flourished over the years to jazz, Cuban, mariachi and flamenco. For fifteen years, from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s, she recorded and toured with alto saxophone giant John Handy ‘s group, John Handy with Class, performing before adoring audiences at the great jazz venues and festivals of the world. She currently plays with Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion, Avotcja & Modupue, and Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids, and teaches mariachi performance at Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy in San Pablo. Sandy is the recipient of the Premerio Artistico all Violinista award for the 2017 Novara Jazz Festival in Novara, Italy, as well as the Bay Area’s Jazz Institute Lifetime Achievement Award. Joining Sandy this evening are bassist Skyler Stover and drummer Sage Baggott. Skyler tours alongside Sandy with Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids;…

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Thursday, August 6 – 7:30 pm
Valerio
solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar

As an acoustic player, Valerio’s repertoire spans from the classics of blues fingerpicking and the golden era of Chet Atkins to contemporary artists such as the legendary Tommy Emmanuel, Franco Morone, Pierre Bensusan, and Daniele Bazzani incorporating sounds from the Irish tradition, American folk, jazz, ragtime, and world music. In his hour of fingerstyle at B&B he will touch popular tunes such as cannonball rag and deep river blues, play fresh compositions of contemporary steel-string composers, and won’t forget to pay a few tributes to rock and pop music. Please join us for an hour of fast-moving strings, rhythm, melodies, and entertainment! Suggested cover charge: $20 / sliding scale – $2 to $200 Use the links below: View/Listen – YouTube or Facebook Pay your cover charge Subscribe to our YouTube channel Subscribe to our newsletter  

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Friday, July 31 – 7:30pm
Andrew Stephens + Dexter Williams play trad to bop & beyond

Missed the show? You can view it and hear it here. Jump in at 5:40 and enjoy it. Up ’til then, it’s the logo and silence… This show was worth every penny! You’re indebted to the kind folks who donated to make it possible for these musicians to get a nice paycheck! Trumpeter Andrew Stephens & bassist Dexter Williams — two sets of trad, swing, bop & more. No audiences allowed in the shop these days, just the musicians and the proprietor, but thousands of you can listen & watch from home. If you can drop by for our live steam this Friday evening at 7:30, and you’re not squeezing every dime, please do donate so we can meet and exceed our guarantee to these musicians in a time when paying gigs are hard to come by — consider it your cover charge! Use the links below: View/Listen     …

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coronavirus considerations – the proprietor is in and out, taking orders and making deliveries, seven days a week.

Live music on the bookshop’s stage every Friday and occasional Saturdays & Sundays, live streamed to the world, without an in-store audience

5/5 update: Slow down, people! Just kidding, but really, the onslaught of orders is hard to handle. We’re in it for the long haul, so we need to slow it down. Twenty years and counting now… When the City announces that you can come to — though not into — the shop, we’ll ask you to grab a clipboard and an order form and a stubby little pencil to give us your order. We’re getting way too many emails to handle. That said, we’ll continue to do our best. Once you’ve placed an order, wait 24 hours for confirmation, then check on it. All you really need to say is, “checking on my order.” That’ll git it! Two days later, check on it again. With luck, and our diligence, it may already have arrived. Orders are mostly available three days after they’re placed — on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We…

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Friday, July 24 – 7:30pm
jazz from the bookshop, live streamed to you!
Santiago/Cetto Duo
Javier Santiago, piano + Giulio Xavier Cetto, bass

Tune in for two sets of jazz classics & originals by two of the Bay Area’s stellar young musicians, captured for you by rising star Nico Mesa — the man who made our last live stream with this duo shine so brightly. Want to quickly get to the heart of the matter? Go to the 22 minute mark, and catch their treatment of Wayne Shorter’s “United” — you’ll be dazzled and ready for tonight’s show. Giulio Cetto / Javier Santiago duo Giulio Cetto / Javier Santiago duoThe bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto and the pianist Javier Santiago, both prominent figures on the San Francisco jazz scene, share an apartment here in San Francisco; fortunately, that cohabitating status allows us to book them as a duo for our live stream series, and we welcome them back! Posted by Bird & Beckett Books on Friday, May 29, 2020 For obvious reasons, pianist Javier…

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Wednesday, July 15 – 5:30 pm
Emily L. Quint Freeman, with her memoir
Failure to Appear: Resistance, Rebellion and Identity
a live stream

The New York Times, June 6, 1970   10 Foes of Draft Guilty in Chicago: Convicted of Burning Files — 3 Absent from Court On May 25, 1969, Linda Quint, now Emily L. Quint Freeman, with a number of others, broke into the South Side Chicago draft board office. dragging 40,000 files of draft-eligible young men into the street and destroying them by fire. She and two others walked away from their trial during a court recess and she spent the next 19 years underground. She has written a memoir, Failure to Appear, which traces her youth, development and maturity and addresses the complex of societal and personal factors that have accompanied her and shaped her in those intervening years.  

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Tammy Lynne Hall Duo with Mads Tolling on Friday, July 17
Karl Evangelista/Rei Scampavia Duo (Music of Alice Coltrane) on Sunday, July 19

Friday, July 17th at 7:30pm Rest in Peace, John Lewis the art of the duo Tammy Lynne Hall, piano Mads Tolling, violin watch it here Sunday, July 19th at 7:30pm The Music of Alice Coltrane duo explorations by Grex Karl Evangelista, guitar Rei Scampavia, keyboards watch it here   We cannot yet host in-store audiences for our events, and thus your donations are crucial and hugely appreciated so that we may adequately compensate the artists for their talents and their labors. Suggested “cover charge” for our music live streams: $20 for duos / $25 for trios for book events and talks, we suggest $10-20 ~~~sliding scale $0 to $100~~~ pay what you can but please don’t fail to pay something! drop a check or cash by the shop, or use Paypal at this link: https://tinyurl.com/Donate-B-and-B or use the Venmo app, sending your funds to @birdandbeckett Why patronize Bird & Beckett’s…

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Thursday, July 16 – 7:30pm live stream
Walker Brents III retells the story spun by Albert Camus in his 1947 novel, La Peste (The Plague)

When “you” becomes “we” is where absurdity transitions into meaning. Facts are cold; truth is warm. Such literary masterpieces as The Plague, by Albert Camus, offer our human souls awareness of this. And so, as if to answer a demand of the age, Walker Brents III offers a re-telling, composed before your listening eye, of this profound tale.  *  *  *  *  * No in-store audience is allowed due to the pandemic, but you can find the facebook live stream link by clicking here. Scroll down to find the video screen with the red “live” rectangle. Refresh your screen if you don’t see it–you might just be a little early to the party! You can, and we hope will, reward Walker for his prodigious intellectual investigations by sending $5 or $10 or $20 his way via PayPal at this link. or by Venmo @birdandbecket

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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

To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

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

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