Last Saturday, the San Francisco Public Library hosted a punk show. The show was part of Bay Beats, a free local music streaming platform the library launched in 2023. The site hosts hundreds of albums from Bay Area artists across every genre, and the library has been putting on live shows to promote the featured artists. Saturday's lineup was Middle Aged Queers, Warp, and George Crustanza.
I'll admit, walking into the library for a punk show felt strange. Aren't libraries the one place on earth where you're expected to be quiet? When I went downstairs to the auditorium, it was loud as hell.
Middle Aged Queers opened. They're an Oakland band whose mission is to "make punk rock gay again." Their pink logo, complete with pentagram, was projected on the big screen behind them while they tore through their set.
For their last song, the band invited everyone down to the front to dance. I was about to head down when someone next to me said "wait" and handed me a pink plastic gun. It took me a second to realize it was a bubble gun. I brought it to the front and blasted the stage with bubbles while jumping around.
Outside of the auditorium, tables were set up where you could make your own zines and buttons to take home. The zine table reminded me that I still needed to visit the library's Little Zine Collection, which I eventually did and wrote about separately. There were also flyers advertising library services you probably didn't know about. One was for the SFPL Silent Book Club. Another promoted free streaming of plays, operas, musicals, and concerts through a service called Alexander Street. I picked up a few, surprised at how much the library offers beyond books.
Between the punk show, the zine tables, and the streaming platform, the SF Public Library is doing some of the most interesting cultural programming in the city, and most of it is free. The next Bay Beats show is an American Roots Music concert on Saturday, April 4, featuring the Meredith Edgar Trio, Evie Ladin Band, and the Crooked Jades. It’s at the same venue at 1 PM, and it’s free. You can stream all three on Bay Beats beforehand at baybeats.sfpl.org.
