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!

SF Organ Trio – Phil Cousineau – Young/Griesser Accidental Quintet

Monday, September 3 – 7:00 pm

Marsha Campbell
& Sheppard B. Kominars

POETS!

PLUS AN OPEN MIC 1st & 3rd Monday of each month Hosted by Jerry Ferraz

Regarding Marsha Campbell’s Revolutions per Minute (Beatitude Press, 2006), poet Ed Mycue has said “Bright statements emerge from smoky industrial sites or a countryside underwater.  These ideas roam in the mind, as if sounds from military flights, and hover over forbidden feeding areas.  You won’t mistake Campbell’s work for anyone else’s.  A rare flowering of superb poems.”

Long known as a poet of crystalline expression on the North Beach poetry scene and in key venues like Sacred Grounds Cafe, Marsha has received the TallMountain Award, has been included in AgeSong’s recent Gems of Wisdom Anthology, and has to her credit the poetry volumes Dear Daddos, e.g. press, 1983; The Real Fuselli, Deep Forest, 1990; Reply of Our Lady Teresa to the poet Crashaw on the occasion of his having written a hymn for Her Sake a few years after her death, Deep Forest Press, 1992 (reissued by Goddesses We Ain’t, 1995); About My Impotence or Sainthood, Freedom Voices Publications, 1995; and Letter to a Dead Mother and Other Poems, Hospitality House Writers Group, 2002; as well as Revolutions per Minute, Beatitude Press, 2006 (reissued by the poet in 2012 in a volume that includes additional poems grouped under the title, Dedicated to the One I Love).  Her poems have appeared in numerous little mags and journals, including Violent Milk (No. 3, 1983); Exquisite Corpse (Vol. 3, No. 9-10, 1985); and HOW(Ever) (Vol. 2, No. 4, Nov. 1985 and Vol. 5, No. 1, Oct. 1988).  Marsha is a singer and painter, as well as a poet.  She holds a B.A. in anthropology and an M.A. in creative writing, from SFSU.

Sheppard Kominars has lived in San Francisco for the past twenty-five years, and has been writing poetry since 1943.  He has  written 5 novels, half a dozen plays, and an important book on journal writing called, Write for Life: Healing Body, and Spirit Through Journal Writing.  He states that, for him, ”poetry writing has been a vital source of expression…through good times and bad.”  Kominars will also read at Sacred Grounds on Sept. 15, and on Oct. 3 will participate in the “Odd Mondays” group at Noe Valley’s Phoenix Bookstore to talk about journal writing and poetry.  He has published in the New York Times, the San Juan Star, and other quarterlies & journals, and San Francisco Muni Paratransit has selected one of his poems, “Tickets Please!” for publication in 2012.

 

Next Sunday (Sept. 9):  Sufi vocalist & harmonium player Sukhawat Ali Khan and his ensemble — including a second vocalist, a flautist and a tabla player. 

Sukhawat Ali Khan carries on a 500-year family tradition in the music, rooted in his family’s history in the Punjab and then Lahore and incorporating the modern club sounds of the international music scene.

 

_____________________________________________

 Sunday, September 2nd – 2:00 pm

Phil Cousineau

The Painted Word

To untangle the knot of interlocking meanings of these painted words, logophile and mythologist Phil Cousineau begins each fascinating word entry in his new book, The Painted Word (Viva Editions, 2012) with his own brief definition, then fills it in with a tint of etymology and a smattering of quotes for context and a free-associated list of companion words that may range from the commonplace — like biscuit, a twice-baked cake for Roman soldiers — to loan words including chaparral, from the Basque shepherds who came to the American West; words from myths, such as hector; metamorphosis words, like silly, which evolved from holy to goofy in a mere thousand years; and words well worthy of revival, such as carrytale, a wandering storyteller.

Whether old-fangled or brand new, the words included in The Painted Word all possess an ineffable quality that makes them luminous.  In this beautiful book, their luminosity is made all the more manifest by the art of Gregg Chadwick.

As for Phil himself, he’s been busily plumbing the depths of language and consciousness for decades, in the company of such geniuses as Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith.  We’re always pleased to hear from him at Bird & Beckett when he can fit us into his peripatetic exploration of the world, the word and the wild, weird & wonderful…  Click here to visit Phil’s website for a glimpse of his wide ranging investigations into human consciousness.

Sunday, September 2nd
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
(note early start/finish)

Young-Griesser Accidental Quintet

which way west? Sunday concert series.

All ages welcome.

Your donations help us pay the band!

Scott Young, vocals; Scott Foster, guitar; Lee Bloom, piano; Scott Chapek, bass; Dan Foltz, drums.  Tom Griesser, your MC for the evening…

Late ’40 / early ’50s jazz and a taste more — a lovely cocktail of swing, bop & R&B.  Scott Young’s  genuine and disarming vocal style puts you in mind of a trusted friend in a neighborhood bar who’ll always give you the straight scoop.

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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit 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 501(c)(3) non-profit...
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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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