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653 Chenery Street in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
Open to walk-in trade and browsing Tuesday to Sunday noon to six
phone: 1-415-586-3733 email: [email protected]
Coming up… Sunday, May 24th through the end of the month, six events — Innuendo followed by the changui singer Jose Andres in duo with tres player Kai Lyons on the 24th to Rojai in the Pocket on the 31st… And then, June 1 through June 14, ten more events — from a “Flip the Vote” organizing gathering on the 3rd, to a show with Beth Custer & Will Bernard joined by Hawaiian slack key guitarist Ken Emerson on the 16th… Here’s the list:
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The posts that follow show you what’s come and gone. Search the videos on our youtube channel or facebook page to find evidence of what you remember, or what you missed! Then, make sure you catch the next thing that catches your fancy. The live streams are great, but live music in a room with folks you know or ought to get to know, that’s irreplaceable…
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Carlos Oliveira, guitar and compositions Chloe Scott, Rebecca Kleinmann, and Sonia Caltvedt, flutes Brian Rice, percussion $25-30 sliding scale cover charge / students $10 For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733 Original tunes inspired by northeastern Brazil.
Read MoreSmith Dobson, saxophone Sam Cady, piano Chuck Bennett, bass Tony Johnson, drums $20 cover charge; students $10; kids free For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-373 The 230 Jones Street Band is Bird & Beckett’s legacy combo. Its roots are in the Chuck Peterson Trio’s weekly Friday happy hour that kicked off jazz in the bookshop 24 years ago. Drummer Tony Johnson arrived on the North Beach jazz scene in 1959, a member of a generation of players that came up when bebop was America’s hottest commodity! The players from those days never cease to swing, and love navigating the changes that Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charlie Christian and confreres innovated in mid-20th century America. They’ve also evolved with the times. Bebop Lives at Bird & Beckett! After this Friday evening booking, Tony’s ongoing residency at Bird & Beckett is moving to a new schedule starting in…
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Walker Talks: On Bob Dylan. (Free, but your donations help us pay Walker for his work). Says Walker, “Bob Dylan, our beneficial preceptor, beckoning to us through the smoke and mirrors of his fame, kindly teaching us by his living example, of what our common language can do, woven deftly into song, performance, stagecraft, literature, philosophy and, of course, mystique. His birthday is coming up, let us celebrate it in the unity of our common thought! He reassures us that everything he is saying, well, we can say it just as good. Let’s work on it.” An almost-monthly series of talks by Walker Brents III (9 or 10 talks a year for more than two decades) on various topics in poetry, mythology, folklore, philosophy, etc. Although primarily a live stream viewable on our YouTube channel and Facebook page, it’s also fine if you slip into the darkened shop to listen in person.…
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5/17/26, Sunday, 5pm: The Vince Lateano Trio with guest vocalist Ernest East. ($20 suggested donation, students $10 suggested; pay what you can). Singer Ernest East has been on the scene off and on for five decades and never fails to charm; we’re always glad to invite him back. Come discover a hidden treasure! As for Vince Lateano, he’s been a genial force here in San Francisco since he rousted out of the army in 1965 and moved into town in 1966; he’s been featured at Bird & Beckett since we got rolling in 1999.
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Jim Peterson, saxophones Scott Foster, guitar Dan Seamans, bass Tom Hassett, drums What began several years ago, in 2022, as the “Tom Hassett Experiment” has become a solid quartet with a repertoire and approach of its own. Guitarist Scott Foster helms the group, bringing a career’s worth of immersion in jazz beyond the genres. Drummer Tom Hassett suggested this formation, and it’s been a fruitful association for four years now. Tonight took the music to new heights.
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Keith Haddock & friends present his new novel. A drug kingpin is murdered by his henchmen. Imagine his surprise when he is reincarnated, fully-conscious, into a newborn boy. Revenge has to wait while he’s raised by two hapless millennials in the suburbs. A black comedy-meets-crime story wrapped in sardonic magical realism. Have fun! “Sharp, witty crime thriller with a reincarnation twist.” Booklife / Publisher’s Weekly Review “An engaging and amusingly crude must-read.” Kirkus Reviews
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Ray Skjelbred, piano Andy Schumm, clarinet & tenor sax Katie Cavera, guitar Clint Baker, bass Riley Baker, drums The Hot Corner assembled in Oakland for a recording session on the 12th and made their way to Bird & Beckett on the 13th for two sets of hot Chicago style jazz, the way Ray Skjelbred has been playing it for decades. A rarefied and inspired evening, for sure! Watch for the album release later in 2026.
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5/12/26, Tuesday, 8pm: Allen Ginsberg 100th Centennial gathering – guitarist/essayist Oliver Ray and poets No Land, Aubrey Gates King, Madeline Rose Hernandez, Nica, Swanee Astrid. ($10-$20 donation requested for the poets to share).
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Lynne Maes, rhythm guitar & vocals. Hank Maninger, lead guitar & vocals. Tim Wagar, bass guitar. Paul Revelli drums. $20 suggested cover charge / byob. Students $10. Kids free. Reservations: call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. You’re in for two sets in honky tonk heaven. Mainstays of the Bay Area Americana scene, and the Bird & Beckett bandstand, for nearly a decade, Nashville Honeymoon has traversed country, rockabilly, bluegrass, and pop across four albums, writing songs that uplift the tangled mess of day-to-day life and investigate universal themes of love and loss – often at the same time. Their latest album, Sidewinder, is true to its title, offering a collection of songs that are grounded in classic country while edging into different sounds, genres, and themes that run through American pop music. This is some of the sweetest, sauciest, and most sincere country music you’ll ever hear.
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Tom Griesser, saxophone. Kurt Ribak, bass. Dan Foltz, drums. $20 cover charge / byob. cash at the door, please! for a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Tom notes: “I’m really excited to revive the Tom Griesser 3, a trio that had a weekly Friday night gig at the old Burritt Room from 2013 to 2017. Bird & Beckett is both one of my favorite live music venues and one of my favorite bookstores.” Tom is one our favorite jazz musicians. No lie. So are Kurt and Dan, both.
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Eric Shifrin, piano and vocals. Ari Munkres, bass. Jay Hansen, drums. $20 cover charge / byob. Students $10 / kids free. Reservations: Call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Eric Shifrin brings the In Crowd to Bird & Beckett for a couple of hours every other second Friday, from 7:30-9:30, in the odd numbered months… May, July, September, November, January, March, et seq. Tonight, he convenes the trio for a fakebook’s worth of tunes that begin with the letter “G” — from the Great American Songbook and the canon of jazz standards and classics, with a few curios thrown in for fun. From Jelly Roll Morton to Herbie Nichols, he’s got a lot of music in those hands of his. Eric’s been wowing the swells, the swindlers and the salt of the earth in the City’s bars and boîtes, salons and saloons for decades. Eric & the In Crowd are always a…
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James Cagney is an award-winning Oakland poet and Cave Canem fellow. His books include Ghetto Koans, Black Steel Magnolias in the Hour of Chaos Theory, and Martian: The Saint of Loneliness. jelal huyler is a biracial Black poet from Oakland, born to a revolutionary Black mother. Carrying on throughout this dissociative so-called reality, he does not condone linear time and sayeth fuck capitalism in perpetuity. He is the author of the poetry collection A Man Was Lynched Today, published by Game Over Books. Michael Koch books and hosts our monthly 1st Thursdays poetry series. An open mic conducted by Jerry Ferraz follows the featured poets.
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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," continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.
We continue to present a full slate of programming of live music and poetry readings, and produce a literary journal and poetry chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support by way of donations.
Click on "donate" in the navigation bar above. Better yet, make a check out to the “Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project” and drop it off or mail it 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.
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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
