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Bird & Beckett's cultural programming! Read more
New in the shopMonday – 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tuesday — 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday – closed
Thursday – 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday – 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday – 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Glen Park local Bill Maginnis sitting in with the regulars on a recent Friday evening. Bill started his professional career at age 14, and had to get a permit from the ABC, since he was well underage, in order to play jobs at the Yreka Inn, aka "The Snake Pit". Along the way, he's played with everyone from John Cage to Peanuts Hucko, Wingy Malone & Wild Bill Davidson.
Folks from all over town converge at Bird & Beckett on Friday evenings, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm, for one of the most enjoyable jazz sessions you’ll find.
Back in late 2002, tenor player Chuck Peterson proposed that he’d make sure we had good musicians every week if we’d just promise to make the venue available. We took him up on his offer and he made good– recruiting bassist Don Prell and guitarist Scott Foster and adding more players along the way, many of whom have become fixtures on the scene.
Meanwhile, vocalist Dorothy Lefkovits found her way to the shop with guitarist Henry Irvin and drummer Jimmy Ryan for a monthly Sunday session. Jimmy was quickly added to the Friday roster to fill out the basic working unit there, and when we lost Henry a few years back, Dorothy became a regular on the Friday nights as well.
The band grew to eight pieces on occasion in the old store, and eventually we settled on the current rotation of four groups — Don Prell brings in his “Seabop Ensemble” on the first Friday of the month; Jimmy Ryan brings in a quintet on the second Friday; Scott, Don and Chuck with drummer Ron Marabuto take the third Friday; and Chuck leads his own quintet on the fourth. All in all, a smash success that’s going strong.
This Friday and next, on December 23rd and 30th, it’s the Chuck Peterson Quintet, featuring series founder Chuck Peterson on tenor sax, his confrere Howie Dudune on tenor, alto and clarinet, Glen Deardorff on guitar, Dean Reilly on bass and Tony Johnson on drums, with the wonderful Dorothy Lefkovits on vocals.
Bassist Dean Reilly
All five of these instrumentalists have long histories in professional music on the coast, dating back to the early 50s and Dorothy’s performing history dates back to about the same time, when she appeared on the stage at the Apollo Theatre more than a few times in their fabled Amateur Nights.
Dean Reilly was in Vince Guaraldi’s first trio from ’63 to ’67, with guitarist Eddie Duran, and later traveled for years as bassist with the Kingston Trio– that may not have been a jazz gig, but it sure put his kids through college!
The Chuck Peterson Quintet, aka The 230 Jones Street Local 6 Literary Jazz Band, is a terrific group– swinging hard and sweet in a West Coast bebop mode at every session! Don’t miss this terrific two-Friday run…
Then, in January, it’s Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble on the first Friday, Jimmy Ryan’s Quintet on the second Friday, a quartet with Chuck Peterson, Scott Foster, Don Prell and Ron Marabuto on the third Friday, and back around to the Chuck Peterson Quintet on the fourth Friday. And so it goes!
Always a good time at Bird & Beckett! Meet your friends here & enjoy the music!
Category: B&B Events, jazz in the bookshop, Music eventsTags: community, jazz, music events | Comments (0)
Providing just a bit of a counter to all that Xmas mania, trombonist Rick Elmore, a musicological genius if we’ve ever known one, has collared some top local players with decades of musical collaboration under their collective belt for a klezmer & yiddish music extravaganza at Bird & Beckett!
Mandolinist Gerry Tenny has been a cornerstone of the Yiddish music scene here for decades, and he joins Rick and Mike Perlmutter on clarinet, plus accordionist Ilya Cremer, fiddler Mike Hayes and cellist Leo for a roaring celebration of Jewish music and culture, two days in advance of Hanukkah (which begins this year on December 20 and runs to the 27th).
Rick started at age 10 in 1964, and sat in as a teenager in L.A. with Rosy McHargue and Pete Daly at The Cliff House, and various jazz clubs up and down Central Ave. At age 20 in New Orleans he worked with Murphy Campo & Connie Jones. From ’76 – ’82 in San Francisco, he played with Dick Oxtot & Jack “Jive” Shaefer. Then it was back to New Orleans till ’88, playing with Banu Gibson, The Dukes of Dixieland & The Creole Rice Jazz Band. In Sacramento from “88 to “90 he played with Dutch Deutch, Jimmy Rivers, and The Silverado Brass Band. Since 1990 he’s been back in the Bay Area playing with Don Neely’s Royal Society Orchestra, Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, American Heritage Jazz Band, a brazilian ragtimeband called Choro Time, California Klezmer, and various latin and eastern european bands. He’s pictured here as ”Professor Gizmo” — a one-man-band.
Category: B&B Events, Music events, which way west? Sunday concertsTags: music events | Comments (0)
Patti Smith is an icon and a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of us… from the arrival of “Horses” in 1975 to the 2010 release of her memoir, Just Kids, and her HSBG appearance that same year, and the many stops along the way…
In 1992, a talismanic little book bearing her name and called Woolgathering appeared on the counter at places like City Lights & Moe’s, on cafe tables at the Trieste, in squalid rooms at the Chelsea Hotel… places where the tribe tended to gather to muse, to share a meal, to conceive of new modes of expression…
Woolgathering was one in a series of small (3″x4″) handmade books put out by Raymond Foye & Francesco Clemente’s Hanuman Books, printed at Kalakshetra, near Madras (now Chennai), India, under the supervision of George Scrivani. Like Patti herself, the gem-like Hanuman books comprise a cultural touchstone… along with the mid-70′s Capra Chapbooks and Sparrow pamphlets, 1950s doo wop 45s… so many little artifacts of our cultural commons.
New Directions Press has been traveling this cultural trail all along the way, and New Directions has now brought this book back to the fore in a small and beautiful volume that’s bound to be treasured by those who resonate with its message and its creator.
Woolgathering is a pastiche of prose and poetry… a meditation on Patti’s own tribe, a race of cloud dwellers… on the “fierce, vital pleasures” of cloud watching, stargazing, wandering… A scattering of her own photos and a new autobiographical piece, “Two Worlds,” have been added. It’s the kind of treasure that reassures us that the book — the thing itself, and the spirit it can contain — will always hold sway over and fuel our imaginations, dreams, aspirations and hopes… like the clouds themselves…
Category: BooksTags: books | Comments (0)
The community that’s grown up around Bird & Beckett has been a delight to be part of. Glen Park has been hugely supportive of the bookshop and our programs. As individuals, you’ve helped by buying books, of course– and also by coming to the shows and underwriting the cost of putting them on.
For many years now, this community has been providing a sweet venue, a welcoming and appreciative environment and generous monetary support to writers, musicians and other performing artists by way of Bird & Beckett. We can all be very proud of that fact!
Friends of the bookshop helped us establish a 501(c)3 nonprofit several years ago — the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” — which is charged with accomplishing the cultural programming that we do. And individuals can take a full tax deduction for any direct contributions they make to the organization.
Between the individual donations you make, the money folks put in the “kitty” at the shows and a few small grants, we’ve been able to fund an ambitious schedule of programs. That money also helps defray the rent on the shop and pays for some advertising and publicity. All told, the establishment and funding of the nonprofit has been a boon to us and to the community.
If you see the value in what we’re doing, and can see your way clear to invest in our efforts, please send a check made out to the “BBCLP” or use the donate button on the upper left side of this page to donate by credit card.
With your help, we’ll continue to bring fine writers, musicians and other performing artists into the shop so that they can connect directly with you in the intimate neighborhood venue that is Bird & Beckett.
We want you to consider the shop an extension of your living room. Invite your friends to share the experience and let us help you entertain them!
Thanks for supporting our efforts– and, especially, thanks for supporting the living culture that makes San Francisco such a special city to live in.
Category: Bookstore newsTags: c, community | Comments (0)