Bay Area punk band, Middle Aged Queers. Photo by Alan Snodgrass.
SAN FRANCISCO - A punk rock show in a library sounds like a conflict of interest, but this weekend, San Francisco Public Library's main branch will welcome three local punk bands to play at Koret Auditorium for the Bay Beats Punk Rock Concert.
"We are expecting it to get loud. I think that's OK," says Brian Weaver, SFPL's 3rd Floor manager. "We're usually associated with shushing people."
But on Saturday, March 21, shushing will be frowned upon as three bands, part of the lineage of the Bay Area's storied punk scene, will take to the stage as Bay Beats, the library's free, local streaming music platform, continues to expand its catalog of local bands and musicians on their website.
Call for submissions
Bay Beats currently has 481 albums and are accepting submissions for local artists to send their albums.
Weaver, who has been instrumental in the library program's growth, says the Bay Area music scene's response to the program, which started in 2023, has been great.
"When we first started we wondered if there was still a [local music] scene after the pandemic. A lot of venues and practice spaces closed down," says Weaver.
But this is the fourth round of submissions to be collected. Bands, composers, musicians and music artists can submit their work as long as they are local. The program defines that as being from one of the nine Bay Area counties. If your work is selected, artists receive an honorarium of $300, an increase from the $250 from previous years.
"We are really honored and privileged to be able to offer honorariums to artists. We're happy to support them in any little way," says Weaver.
"The first year we had 600 submissions, then it was down to 200 the following year, then back up to 500 last year," Weaver says. So far this year's submissions are at 175. The call for submissions opened March 1 and is open through May 31.
Still Deer at Bay Beats Launch Party at Golden Gate Park Bandshell. 10/18/2025.
Live in concert
You should not assume, just because the library is holding a punk show this weekend, that artists of other genres cannot submit their music. The Bay Beats platform is easy to navigate your way to all kinds of music. You can find rock, jazz, country, Latin, children's music, reggae, electronic, R&B, funk and other types of music all at your fingertips.
But if you do get booked to play a Bay Beats show, Weaver says these gigs are paid in addition to the honorarium. He did not disclose the amount of money that was approved to pay the artists, but the gigs are held at the library's different branches as well as at special venues like the Golden Gate Park Bandshell, where they had their launch party, and SFMOMA where they held a battle of the bands concert.
Weaver says he's grateful for Bay Beats promotional partnerships with businesses and organizations like Amoeba Records, local online community radio darling, BFF.fm, and White Crate, a local website that reviews artists, posts artists' videos and books shows themselves.
Preserving punk culture
One of the bands on Saturday's bill is Oakland's Middle Aged Queers. Living up to their namesake, they are literally comprised of middle-aged queers, says vocalist and frontperson, Shaun Osburn. The band, who have enjoyed recording parodies of Mötley Crüe (not available on Bay Beats due to copyright laws), jumped at the chance to get exposure and to be paid through Bay Beats. They've been with the program since the beginning.
"We've received more money (from Bay Beats') stipend than Apple Music and Spotify," says Osburn.
His band is the product of Berkeley's legendary 924 Gilman Street, also known as the Alternative Music Project. They were founding members and volunteers at that seminal DIY venue.
Bay Beats Punk Show poster by Andy Casler.
A component of this weekend's all ages show will be a throwback to that kind of punk culture as they will have a make-your-own zine table and button makers to take home a memento.
"Punk zine culture was huge in the nineties," says Osburn. "Having a zine was like handing someone a business card."
Osburn says the band can have a self-deprecating sense of humor when they're in the studio. Some of that comes through when he says this weekend's show will be high energy for a bunch of people over the age of 40 in the band.
Bay Area punk band, Warp. Photo by Marisela Guizar.
A spirited community
Warp, another "in-your-face" punk band, is on the bill. Margot Sease, who plays guitar, says it's important to connect with punk fans at shows like this. "In this political climate people are disillusioned." She says somewhat selfishly, it's good to have a moment in the same space with a like-minded crowd.
They had just finished band practice in their Tenderloin District space. Singer Tika Hall, says the band is a bit of a callback to '80s punk. After giving a few songs a listen, you might hear shades of Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics.
Drummer Dylan Edrich says she appreciates all-ages spaces and how that can invite diversity amongst the crowd and what she calls "the unconventional audience member."
The band's 2023 release, "Automatic Gratuity" is available to stream for free on the Bay Beats platform. Edrich says more musicians should apply to get their music on Bay Beats because it's a "great way to get your music out there."
Rounding out the bill will be SF-Oakland hardcore, crustpunk, thrash band with a Seinfeld-referenced name no less – George Crustanza.
You can catch the show at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 21 (punk time and real time) at Koret Auditorium at the SF Public Library's Main Branch.
Andre Torrez is a digital content producer for KTVU. Email Andre at andre.torrez@fox.com or call him at 510-874-0579.