Trombonist Rick Brown! It’s a birthday bash! Rick Brown, trombone; Grant Levin, piano Carl Herder, bass Pepe Jacobo, drums

$15 suggested donation. Dave Tidball, clarinets; Galen Grant, percussion Dave writes, “The name Slug Teacher is derived from a line in the poem Here In This Spring, written in 1933 by iconic Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. I’ve long been fascinated by his work, not least for the sheer musicality of the rhythms, textures and timbres of his creations. Slug Teacher takes off on musical explorations directly inspired by the poems. “My accomplice in these adventures is the master percussionist Galen Grant. I will be reading six of my favourite Dylan Thomas poems. Spaces which occur naturally in the poems (between verses sometimes, but also at other times) will be augmented by spontaneous improvisations by myself on clarinet and bass clarinet along with Galen on drums. Please join us for what promises to be a unique experience.”

$20 cover charge. The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents…   Russian Telegraph Beth Custer – clarinet, voice David James – guitar, voice Diana Mangano- voice Chris Grady – trumpet Jordan Glasgow – keyboards Keith McArthur – bass John Hanes – drums The brainchild of Beth Custer (Trance Mission, Club Foot Orchestra) and David James (Afrofunk Experience, Spearhead, The Coup), who had the inspiration to merge a couple of their separate bands into one. It’s a blend of Beth Custer Ensemble, with their Art Song, their clarinets, and their trumpet; David James’s GPS, with it’s quixotically “political” instrumentals; mixed with a dose of Curtis Bumpy’s uniquely funky bass and soulful keyboards. RT plays music from the catalogues of each of these entities, along with originals written expressly for this group, and choice covers of music from composers ranging from Nelson Cavaquinho to Chris Cornell.

It’s the Lost Trio plus One! The One is venerated leader, guitarist Scott Foster. And the Trio, lost and once again found? None other than Philip Greenlief on reeds, Dan Seamans on bass and Tom Hassett on drums. Together, they reprise a July 2015 encounter on the bookshop stage that was nothin’ but thrilling! and so shall it be again! Get down to the shop and find out for yourself! Says Scott,  “We’ll be exploring Monk’s recorded works. By that we mean not only his compositions but also the wide range of standards and other music he recorded and performed during his legendary career. As you know this is a combination of of my favorite musicians playing my favorite music. I will be having a blast I hope it will be fun for others as well.” We don’t doubt that! And remember to BYOB and a $20, or whatever you…

While we finalize another fistful of posts on upcoming events, here’s a little round up of the next two weekends. You can always click on the “Events Calendar” link in the navigation bar above to see what’s on tap going forward. Full posts on the next eight or ten events coming soon where you can get all the detail you crave! But for now, we can tell you that on the weekend starting out Friday 9/20 with Scott Foster + the Lost Trio doing Monk’s Works,  you’ll also hear Beth Custer and David James’ project called Russian Telegraph on Saturday the 21st & Slug Teacher with Dave Tidball and Galen Grant on Sunday the 22nd at 2pm followed by the Rick Brown Quartet featuring Grant Levin at 4:30… Thursday 9/26, you’ll hear a reading by poets Mark Statman and Arturo Mantecon, then Denise Perrier with the 230 Jones Street on…

Lenore Weiss reads poems from Barcelona and Prague, and flash fiction from her chapbook, “Holding on to Fringes of Love.” Sharon Doubiago reads from her recent works, Naked to the Earth and The Visit. Lenore Weiss’ poetry collections are a trilogy about love, loss, and being mortal: Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island (West End Press, 2012); Two Places (Kelsay Books, 2014), and The Golem (Hadassa Word Press, 2017). In addition, she has published a collection of flash fiction and a children’s story, “The Glimmerine.” Lenore tutors middle-school and high-school students in reading and writing and volunteers at Chapter510 in Oakland, California Her blog can be found at www.lenoreweiss.com. Sharon Doubiago is a prolific writer of memoir and poetry, whose latest books are Naked to the Earth, “a wide-ranging, lyrical, jarring, playful, elegiac, dissonant, amazing quest to understand who we are and how we became who we are…”…

Todd Swenson, guitar Derek Evans, vocals Ian Ratzer, pianoPaul Olguin, bass Justin Berthiaume, drums The best time you could imagine on this Sunday afternoon! ’tis true!

Chuck Poling, country & bluegrass raconteur incomparable, delivers a personal history of a Precita Park childhood in the 1960s and ‘70s through spoken word and song, with an able assist from his wife, Jeanie. In a journey that took him from Catholic school and kickball to rock stars and revolution, Chuck was just a kid trying to make sense out of it all. He credits his always-in-play gift of gab with helping him avoid trouble from larger, tougher schoolchildren, or pretty much everybody. The longer he kept them laughing, the more likely he was to keep his lunch money. Chuck was born and raised and stubbornly continues to reside, with Jeanie, in San Francisco. He spent his childhood years living on Precita Park and now lives in the Inner Richmond. As a marketing professional, he’s worked for iconic San Francisco institutions including the Chronicle and the Gap. Chuck is also…

Noel Jewkes, reeds Grant Levin, piano Charles Thomas, bass Rick Rivera, drums

The classic sound of the Hammond B3 organ trio… Wayne de la Cruz, organ Ray Scott, guitar Jim Chanteloup, drums