The Rix Journal:
Small-Town Vermont to
Gold Rush era San Francisco

Historian Lynn Bonfield discusses the document and her work

Lynn Bonield, former director of the San Francisco Labor Archives, now divides her time between Glen Park and Peachham, Vermont, where she was first drawn by the story of the Rix family — having chanced in 1972 upon the unique Gold Rush era journal of husband and wife Alfred and Chastina Rix among uncatalogued materials in the stacks at the San Francisco Historical Society.  The journal has just recently been beautifully published as New England to Gold Rush California: The Journal of Alfred and Chastina W. Rix, 1849-1854, edited with commentary by Lynn, from the Arthur W. Clark Co. imprint of the Unversity of Oklahoma Press.

Beginning on their wedding day in Peacham on July 29, 1849, Alfred and Chastina kept a dual journal, alternating the task of bringing it up to date each day with revealingly intimate reflections as well as a simple record of their daily life together.  Like many Eastern men of the time, Alfred soon got the gold bug and came west in late 1851 to seek fortune; Chastina stayed behind for a year with their newborn, then followed with the child in the spring of 1853.  The journal first stayed with her in Peacham, giving us a vital picture of the life of a woman with child left behind by an adventurer drawn to the promised land of California.  When she travels to California, the journal travels seperately with a shipment of household effects; and in her final Peacham entry she notes that if that shipment never arrives in San Francisco, this record  too would be lost.  But indeed, she and their son reach San Francisco in February 1953 after 34 days of travel, and the household effects and journal arrive several months later, in May, so that the couple is able to continue their habit of dual, alternating daily entries in San Francisco – at least until first Alfred and then Chastina lose interest in continuing it about a year later.  Within another three years, Chastina is suddenly dead, just ten months after their second son’s birth.  A single concluding entry is made by Alfred several months after her death before he moves on with his life.

Lynn has done a masterful job of editing this beautiful book, which presents the entire journal with clarifying footnotes and insightful accompanying commentary.  An exciting journal and a prodigious accomplishment of scholarship.  Please join us!

Read more on Lynn’s blog at:  http://bonfield-lynn.blogspot.com/

  Sunday, May 20 – 4:30-6:30 pm

Craig Ventresco
Meredith Axelrod
Marty Eggers

popular music of the jazz age

which way west? Sunday concert series
all ages welcome.
your donations help us pay the band!

Tunes of the ragtime & vaudeville era played by three string players soaked in the atmosphere of the time — each an expert practitioner of this turn-of-the-century American music. 

Craig is a uniquely talented guitarist – known by fellow guitar and old-time music practitioners internationally for his ear for the intricacies of the music of that bygone era, for his melodic skill, and for his intense rhythmic drive.  His duo with Meredith is heard regularly at Cafe Divine in San Francisco’s North Beach, and with uncanny ease she thoroughly inhabits the music with her vocals and guitar work. 

As for Marty, he’s a stalwart bassist in traditional music circles on the west coast and further afield, and dates his association with Craig back to the trio called Bo Grumpus, which they formed  in 1988 when Craig first moved out to San Francisco from Maine.

Monday, May 21 – 7:00 pm

Tom Church & Dan Brady

POETS!

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

Tom is an underground filmmaker and a writer who transgresses the boundaries of “good taste” as a matter of course.  Dan is a slightly sardonic commentator on the less reasonable temdencies of the society that inhabits us.  You? you’re the poet in the open mic, free to do what you want — within our somewhat proscribed time limits.  As for Jerry Ferraz, the long-time host and organizer of our twice monthly series, he’s one of a kind — a San Francisco native with a very old, and very well traveled soul.

“Amerarcana 2012″

Bird & Beckett’s Annual Literary Journal
A Reading & Celebration!

The 3rd issue of our own “little magazine” has arrived, and it’s exquisite in content and design, just like the first two! Come & get it at the AMERARCANA 2012 RELEASE READING: Thursday, May 17th from 7:00 pm — with readings by contributors Bill Berkson, Duncan McNaughton, David Meltzer, Jackson Meazle, Jason Morris, Erik Noonan, Cedar Sigo, Tisa Walden & editor Nick Whittington.  Less likely to appear are Justin Desmangles, Joanne Kyger, Sarah Menefee, Jeffrey Joe Nelson, Will Skinker & Colter Jacobsen. Certain not to appear is Rodrigo Lira, as he no longer walks this earth, but who knows, perhaps his translators Rodrigo Olavarria & Thomas Rothe will show… Regardless, it’s sure to be a grand event, with wine & words aplenty.

Amerarcana is a proud production of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project — and one of the reasons we feel it’s completely legit and crucial to raise money for our 501(c)3, which makes it all possible.  Buy tickets to Saturday’s Big Bash ($10 ea.) to show you care and provide us the finances we need to press on!  We’ve just got about 3 months of operating funds left in the coffers right now, and the year isn’t quite half over — so we need your help!

Saturday, May 12 – 5:00 pm

Poet Nellie Wong
Book release reading
and celebration

Breakfast Lunch Dinner

Nellie Wong has been a crucial San Francisco poet since the 1970s.  Long an impassioned champion of left politics and social struggle, she gives voice to working class, feminist, immigrant, minority — i.e., American and international — ideas, ideals and concerns.  She was born in Oakland’s Chinatown in 1934 and is known and admired internationally for her work.

She also lives a stone’s throw from Bird & Beckett and is a staunch ally, a woman who deeply enjoys her neighborhood bookshop and its cultural offerings.  The feeling is mutual!

Nellie’s new book of poems is called Breakfast Lunch Dinner.

Oakland High, her alma mater, just last year named one of its new buildings for Nellie– by vote of the student body.  In fact, three buildings were named for individuals the students decided to honor:  Nellie; novelist, socialist and partisan of labor Jack London; and civil rights pioneer and Harlem Renaissance figure Louise Thompson Patterson.  Read about that event online by clicking on this link to Freedom Socialist, the “Voice of Revolutionary Feminism.”  Thanks to Nellie, you’ll always find the monthly “Freedom Socialist” newspaper on sale at Bird & Beckett, publishing not just the news that the powers that be deem fit to print, but the news and analysis that truly needs to see print.

Sunday, May 13 – 2:00 pm

Social Media & the Individual – a Panel Discussion

Rohit Chopra (Communications, University of Santa Clara) and Aaron Bady (English Literature, UC Berkeley)  discuss the lightning fast evolution of social media and the consequent reshaping of lives across the globe in every sphere of existence–be it politics in the US or the Middle East, entertainment in Bollywood or Hollywood, conversations on mobile phones in China or Kenya, or new forms of social shopping.  The same exciting transformations and benefits provided by social media raise concerns about privacy and identity. How much control do we have over those aspects of our lives in which social media is involved? What are the key challenges regarding privacy and how do we meet them? Have people’s very expectations about privacy changed? More broadly, how has our sense of self and community, our understanding of friendship and social interaction, been reshaped?  Please join us in the discussion.

Sunday, May 13 – 4:30 pm

Blind Willies

Which Way West?
Sunday Concert Series

All ages welcome!
Your donations help us pay the band!

Blind Willies is a band of once-upon-a-time SOTA kids out on their own… a rock band playing an un-plugged set for the Bird & Beckett audience.   Alexei Wajchman, guitarist/singer/songwriter; Alex Nash, drums; Misha Khalikulov, cello; Max Miller-Loran, keyboard/trumpet; Daniel Riera, bass.

This will be a lovely way to get ready for next Saturday’s (May 19) “Big Bash” (see below), which will cast a bright spotlight on current talent being developed up ther on the rim of Glen Canyon at SOTA (aka, The Ruth Asawa School of the Arts).

Down the road apiece, watch for SOTA alumni musicians to appear at Bird & Beckett including the Joe Warren Trio with drummer Alex Nash on June 4, and trombonist Natalie Cressman’s quartet on July 8.  You’ll find more than a few musicians out of  SOTA on the stage in our regular Friday evening jazz series as well…

Tuesday, May 15 – 6:00 pm

Author event – Stephanie Deutsch

You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South

Deutsch’s book weaves together the careers of two fascinating and significant figures, Julius Rosenwald — founder of Sears/Roebuck, and Booker T. Washington, champion of black aspiration through assimilation, who worked together to build 5,000 schools for blacks in the segregated south.  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled “a separate but equal” public education system unconstitutional, making obsolete the schools built by Washington and Rosenwald.  The issues the two men raised one hundred years ago, issues of race and opportunity, education and the importance of community, are with us still.  And their contributions to our national conversation about them continue to reverberate.

Saturday, May 19th – 4:30 to 6:30 pm

Big Bash at the Clubhouse
a benefit for Bird & Beckett!

Call or email the bookshop to reserve your Big Bash ticket now!  586-3733 / birdbeckett@yahoo.com

Just $10 each.

Proceeds benefit your cherished neighborhood bookshop!

Get in the mood for a massive good time by clicking on that black “Streampad” bar way down at the bottom of this screen — it’s an 8 min. segment of an historic show by  Jack Ruby Hi Power at Keystone Berkeley on Aug. 1, 1982 — a concert produced by the same folks who bring you Bird & Beckett… read more about it by clicking here to visit our blog…and while you’re there be sure to click on the poster to go into the matter at greater depth at the site called Who Cork the Dance.  There you can download 78 min. of the show if you like!  It’s free, but it’s awful nice if you hit that “donate” button & give them a little love and support for their efforts!

“enclosure”

a talk by
Dan Richman

The fencing of common grazing land in England in the 17th and 18th century accelerated the creation of a landless working class, and today we still mourn and suffer from the loss of the “commons.”

Dan Richman considers the history and its implications today.  A taker of long walks, a philosopher of sorts, an observer of natural life in the built landscape, and a writer of plays, novels, essays and poems, Dan has long been a contributor to the Bird & Beckett intellectual commons, with his occasional staging of short plays, participation in our poetry readings, and talks on a variety of topics.

Sunday, May 6, 4:30 to 6:30 pm

Macy Blackman & the Mighty Fines
rockin’ new orleans R&B

which way west? Sunday concert series
all ages welcome – donation requested

Still we roll on!  Macy’s been rolling out the good time boogie & blues of America’s liveliest music for decades, and his five-piece band let’s it rip every now and then on the Bird & Beckett stage.  Don’t miss the piano professor & his confreres –Nancy Wright on tenor sax, Bing Nathan on bass and Jack Dorsey on drums.

Read more on Macy & Co. here.

Monday, May 7 – 7:00 pm

Poets Bill Vartnaw and Patti Trimble
followed by an open mic

POETS! First & Third Monday of each month, hosted by Jerry Ferraz

Bill Vartnaw was named the seventh Sonoma Poet Laureate in late 2011, and is a long-time, highly regarded publisher of poets (Taurean Horn Press).  More than 40 years a poet, Bill’s most recent book, Suburbs of My Childhood, is available at the store as well as several of his Taurean Horn Press books, whose 14-book catalog includes work by Carol Lee Sanchez, Q. R. Hand, Gail Mitchell, Paula Gunn Allen and Lee Francis, as well as Bill’s own 1984 collection, In Concern: for Angels.   He’s presently at work on #15, Avotcja’s Every Step I Take, which will be out later this summer.  Born in Petaluma, where he now resides, he moved to San Francisco in 1973 and in 1974 was a founding member of the Bay Area Poets Coalition, an organization which continues to this day.  Taurean Horn Press was founded in the same year, 1974, with the publication of Honeydew: An Anthology.

"Sicilian Landscape" by Patti Trimble

Patti Trimble is a Marin native known for her art and music as well as her poetry, who often augments her readings with accompaniment on banjo, sjrudi box and other instruments.  May and June will find her reading in a half-dozen venues, including Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, which is presenting an exhibit (running May 18-June 24) of her oil paintings and writings focused on California’s endangered species, “a thoughtful, personal response to the changes over forty years in one woman’s landscape.”  She can also be heard at the Redwood Cafe Poetry Series in Cotati on May 6 and in Sausalito at the Sunset Poetry by the Bay series on June 13.

Our first and third Mondays poetry series has been running for a half-dozen years at Bird & Beckett, hosted always by peripatetic troubadour Jerry Ferraz, one of San Francisco’s pure poets.  Always an open mic following the featured readers.  Tonight, a special guest will ascend from down under to open the open– Alicia Bee, reading a micro-set of poems from her recent Book of the Dead and the Wounded. Dead rock stars, natural disasters, news stories, suicide and road-kill go into the prose poems that comprise the first part, while car accidents, broken bones, disease and hospitals inform the second! Bee is a music journalist from Melbourne extending a trip to cover the Coachella Music Festival to include a swing through Mexico and a San Francisco holiday among the poets in this city of poets!

Come to the Glen Park Festival!

An all-day frolic al fresco on Diamond Street from Bosworth to Chenery.  Crafts booths, food vendors, your occasional politician and a stage full of terrific musicians entertaining you & your 1,000 close personal friends-to-be! 

Music on the Fest stage starts at 10:00 a.m. when our honorary Glen Park mayor & major domo Misisipi Mike introduces the kick off act, Gayle Schmitt and the Toodalla Ramblers doing a special set for the stroller set.  At 11:30, Misisip’s own Midnight Gamblers flower in the noon-day sun with a good-natured honky tonk set to get the grown-ups up & hollerin’.  Neighborhood politico-musico’s District 8 follow at 1:00; and then Jinx Jones & KingTones take the stage at 1:45  for a coronation rave-up.  World emperors Pangea play at 3:15, globalizing the whole deal.

The cosmos in a microcosm, on the best block in the best neighborhood in the bestest little city in the whole wide universe!

Even if the sun don’t shine anywhere else this Sunday, it’ll shine right here!  C’mon out!

And! Since the sun’s likely too be just too hot to stand all day long, you’re invited into the cool environs of the bookshop for our own festivities!

2:30 pm – Walker talks! Mythic Musings

Our amazing resident tale spinner will take you on a lovely ride through some of the epic myths that have taken up permanent residence in our collective consciousness.  Good for kids, sure– but even better for the rest of us!  All welcome!

(By the way, Walker will tell tales specifically for the kids on the Wilder Street offshoot of Festival thoroughfare early in the day– check the Festival website for the schedule.)

4:30-6:30 pm – Bengal & Beyond
“jazz curry, no hurry”

Bird & Beckett’s which way west?
Sunday concert series

As the afternoon mellows out, a more contemplative mood naturally sets in– and there could be no better way to capture that mood than with two sets of jazz infused with a Kolkata sensibility.

Bassist Bishu Chatterjee leads the marvelous quartet, “Bengal & Beyond,” which features vocalist Sharmila Guha as well as the saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan and drummer Bryan Bowman.

Bengal & Beyond’s music draws on classic jazz (think Horace Silver’s classic “Calcutta Cutie,” for instance), but also on Bengali-language lyrics and melodies that have their roots in the 1970s music scene in West Bengal’s Kolkata (called Calcutta at the time) when Bishu was a founding member of the groundbreaking band called “Mohiner Ghoraguli.”

Unprecedented in the Kolkata music scene of the early 1970s, Mohiner Ghoraguli (led by Bishu’s elder brother, the now-legendary Gautam Chattopadhyay) took elements of Bengali folk forms and western folk and rock to build the musical structure underlying Gautam’s lyrically innovative “songs of daily life.”  MG was way ahead of its time, and today is considered a cornerstone of the music played by many bands that are at the top of the Kolkata music scene.

The musicians that make up “Bengal & Beyond” are among the top echelon of creative musicians currently plying their trade on the San Francisco jazz and improvisatory music scene.

Jazz in the bookshop
every Friday, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm
This week: Don Prell’s Seabop Ensemble.

Sunday at 2pm, Dan Richman considers the phenomenon of “enclosure”… the loss of the commons, the building of borders, fences and walls around the world we once inhabited together;

and at 4:30 pm on Sunday, our which way west? concert series features the rockin’ New Orleans R&B of Macy Blackman & the Mighty Fines.

Then, on Monday starting 7, its an evening of poetry, with featured readers Bill Vartnaw (Poet Laureate of Sonoma County!) and Patty Trimble– open mic to follow.  The whole show is hosted by Jerry Ferraz, peripathetic bard & a San Francisco native… it’s a twice-a-month affair at Bird & Beckett– the first & third Monday of every month.

John Trudell
Poet, Musician, Activist

John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, national recording artist, actor and activist, with an international following that reflects the universal language of his words, work and message.

Today at Bird & Beckett, he’ll read poems and lyrics collected in his book Lines from a Mined Mind.

Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979. In February of 1979, a fire of unknown origin killed Trudell’s wife, three children and mother-in-law. It was through this horrific tragedy that Trudell began to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing, in his words, “to stay connected to this reality.”

In 1982, Trudell began recording his poetry to traditional Native music and in 1983 he released his debut album Tribal Voice on his own Peace Company label. Trudell then teamed up with the late legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded three albums during the 1980′s. The first of these, AKA Graffiti Man, was released in 1986 and dubbed the best album of the year by Bob Dylan. AKA Graffiti Man served early notice of Trudell’s singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native music, blues and rock. Since that time, Trudell has released seven more albums plus a digitally re-mastered collection of his early Peace Company cassettes. His 2002 CD, Bone Days, was executive produced by Academy Award winning actress Angelina Jolie and released on the Daemon Records label.

His latest double album, Madness & The Moremes, showcases more than five years of new music and includes special Ghost Tracks of old favorite Trudell tunes made with legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. This internet only release offers a full range of classic Trudell poetry – there are lyrics filled with penetrating insight and others with knock out humor, all put to some of the best music Bad Dog has ever made together. Madness and The Moremes is available now on www.johntrudell.com

In addition to his music career, Trudell has played roles in a number of feature films, including a lead role in the Mirimax movie Thunderheart and a major part in Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals. He most recently played Coyote in Hallmark’s made for television movie, Dreamkeeper.

Same day, Sunday, April 22 – 4:30-6:30 pm

Mallar Bhattacharya
+ Ferhan Qureshi
sarode and tabla
Hindustani Classical Music

which way west?
Sunday concert series
all ages welcome

your donations enable us
to pay the musicians

View a performance by Mallar and Ferhan by clicking on this link

Mesmerizing music developed over centuries of cultural refinement in North India, performed by two highly skilled practitioners of their arts.

Mallar Bhattacharya is a student of the instumental and vocal music of the Acharya Baba Allauddin Seni gharana of Maihar and Rampur, India. Mallar began his musical training at the age of three, learning both Western and Hindustani violin from his father Dr. Jahar Bhattacharya, a viola student of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. After taking regular lessons from Ustad Aashish Khan in high school, Mallar was inspired to focus on the sarode as he began his undergraduate studies in Boston. Now a medical student in Boston, Mallar has been learning regularly for several years from Dr. George Ruckert, senior disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and he continues to study with Aashish Khan several times a year. Mallar has also spent two summers of dedicated study at Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California, learning from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Ferhan Qureshi is one of the most in-demand tabla players in the San Francisco Bay Area, and performs internationally on the instrument.  He is a senior disciple of the tabla maestro, Ustad Abdul Sattar Tari Khan, universally recognized as one of the foremost tabla players performing today. Ustad Tari Khan learned tabla from Miyan Shuakat Hussain Khan, the most celebrated tabla nawaz (performer) in Pakistan’s musical history.

Prior to studying with Ustad Tari Khan, Ferhan took his initial lessons in Hindustani music theory and practice with Surrinder Mann Singh (a senior disciple of the late Ustad Allah Rakha).  Ferhan studies the Punjab gharana of classical tabla which both of his teachers represent. Primarily performing the tabla lehara (tabla solo), Ferhan Qureshi has also accompanied numerous distinguished classical artists both in the United States and in Pakistan, including: (Vocalists) UstadShafqat Ali Khad, Ustad Latafat Ali Khan, Ustad Sukhawat Ali Khan, Ustad Altaff Hussain, Riffat Sultana, Rita Sahai, Shri Mukesh Desai, and Tina Mann, (Instrumentalists) Ustad Habib Khan, Ghulam Farid Nizami, Asad Qizilbash, Srinivas Reddy, Parag Chordia, Nasir Syed, Dr. Waheed Siddiqui, Josh Feinberg, Arnab Chakravarty, among others and (Kathak dancers) Farah Sheik and Sonia Mann.

Although his primary focus is classical and traditional music, over the years Ferhan has also collaborated and/or performed with numerous organizations and artists in modern applications of the tabla, including the Dhamaal Artist Collective, (for which he is a founding member), The Lines Ballet, Non-Stop Bhangra, and Dj ChebiSabaah, among others.  Ferhan currently is the Director of Artist Management at Bol Records and is diligently working towards the promotion of traditional Pakistani and Indian music in the Bay Area.

Poets Jeanne Powell & Nancy Keane
followed by an open mic

POETS! First & Third Monday of each month, hosted by Jerry Ferraz

Jeanne Powell’s collections of poetry include My Own Silence and Word Dancing.  A much admired poet and cultural critic, Jeanne has made a significant impact on the San Francisco poetry scene by hosting a long-running spoken word series — “Celebration of the Word” — which took place weekly in San Francisco for ten years, and by publishing numerous local and more far-flung poets as well under her imprint, Meridien PressWorks.  Her “Living Treasures”  project was a particularly valuable effort, that brought out the books of four poets over age 70.  Read more on Jeanne at http://redroom.com/member/jeanne-powell.

Nancy Keane — poet, publisher, artist and proprietor of one of the truly great and storied watering holes in San Francisco — hosts a legendary reading series, Poetry at the 33, each month at her bar, Keane’s 3300 Club, located in the heart of the Mission district.  In the photo below, that’s Nancy in the purple blouse, standing amidst her lovely crowd of convivial patrons.  Check the bar’s website at http://3300club.com.

John Trudell
Poet, Musician, Activist

John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, national recording artist, actor and activist, with an international following that reflects the universal language of his words, work and message.

Today at Bird & Beckett, he’ll read poems and lyrics collected in his book Lines from a Mined Mind.

Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979. In February of 1979, a fire of unknown origin killed Trudell’s wife, three children and mother-in-law. It was through this horrific tragedy that Trudell began to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing, in his words, “to stay connected to this reality.”

In 1982, Trudell began recording his poetry to traditional Native music and in 1983 he released his debut album Tribal Voice on his own Peace Company label. Trudell then teamed up with the late legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded three albums during the 1980′s. The first of these, AKA Graffiti Man, was released in 1986 and dubbed the best album of the year by Bob Dylan. AKA Graffiti Man served early notice of Trudell’s singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native music, blues and rock. Since that time, Trudell has released seven more albums plus a digitally re-mastered collection of his early Peace Company cassettes. His 2002 CD, Bone Days, was executive produced by Academy Award winning actress Angelina Jolie and released on the Daemon Records label.

His latest double album, Madness & The Moremes, showcases more than five years of new music and includes special Ghost Tracks of old favorite Trudell tunes made with legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. This internet only release offers a full range of classic Trudell poetry – there are lyrics filled with penetrating insight and others with knock out humor, all put to some of the best music Bad Dog has ever made together. Madness and The Moremes is available now on www.johntrudell.com

In addition to his music career, Trudell has played roles in a number of feature films, including a lead role in the Mirimax movie Thunderheart and a major part in Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals. He most recently played Coyote in Hallmark’s made for television movie, Dreamkeeper.

Poets Jeanne Powell & Nancy Keane
followed by an open mic

POETS! First & Third Monday of each month, hosted by Jerry Ferraz

Jeanne Powell’s collections of poetry include My Own Silence and Word Dancing.  A much admired poet and cultural critic, Jeanne has made a significant impact on the San Francisco poetry scene by hosting a long-running spoken word series — “Celebration of the Word” — which took place weekly in San Francisco for ten years, and by publishing numerous local and more far-flung poets as well under her imprint, Meridien PressWorks.  Her “Living Treasures”  project was a particularly valuable effort, that brought out the books of four poets over age 70.  Read more on Jeanne at http://redroom.com/member/jeanne-powell.

Nancy Keane — poet, publisher, artist and proprietor of one of the truly great and storied watering holes in San Francisco — hosts a legendary reading series, Poetry at the 33, each month at her bar, Keane’s 3300 Club, located in the heart of the Mission district.  In the photo below, that’s Nancy in the purple blouse, standing amidst her lovely crowd of convivial patrons.  Check the bar’s website at http://3300club.com.