Saturday 4 November 2017

100 books again



Liver & Lights No 23 100 Books

This project was inspired, if that's the right word
by the execution of the writer Ken Saro Wiwa
by the Nigerian Government twenty odd years ago,
along with the recent random
executions of various writers by the Iranian government.

I tried to create a song in response to these acts and realised that
after fifteen drafts or so
that I wasn't doing the subject matter justice
and that the song, or at least its simple meaning,
 was staying the same  even 
though I was moving the words around. ...


So..I continued the editing and changing
and eventually stopped at 100
different versions of the poem, 
some with one word only changed.

 ......the words themselves were
writhing out of the reach 
of a mythical tyrant who was trying to ban them.

The Tyrant  executes the singers,
but the song sings on and on, eventually
coming to haunt him forevermore in hell.



In order to celebrate these 100 songs,
each one different but the same,
I constructed 100 completely different books 
to contain them...
some of them are illustrated here.


A touring exhibition of the hundred books was banned by five of the venues
who originally booked it for being 'political'....

Earlier this year the wonderful Chiara Ambrosio
brought the project back to life after
20 years dormant by arranging for 100
singers to come together at The Horse Hospital
in London to perform the  cycle in its
entirety for the first time.

The recording of this by Mikey Kirkpatrick will be
broadcast for the first time on the Radiophrenia
performance radio station in Glasgow
on Sunday 12th November at 10.30 pm














Saturday 21 October 2017

Portico Gallery Directions




Bonesandtheaft / Bird Radio at the Portico Gallery:  Directions:

Trains direct to West Norwood from Victoria take twenty   
minutes and are every 15 minutes.The last one back is
11. 46.

Buse no. 68, which goes from Euston Via Elephant, 
Camberwell and Herne Hill will also get you there.

Buses No 2 and 196 also go there…from outside Brixton tube 
and take about 20 minutes


Tuesday 26 September 2017

Portico Gallery


Liver & Lights No 54.






Bones and the Aft  and Bird Radio spent the summer of 2016 
performing together in the homes of brave supporters throughout 
the South Coast of England, creating musical magic in their 
portable hand painted stage set, behaving like electric minstrels, 
subsisting  by means of a passed round hat and the dispensing of cheer. 
Some of these adventures have magically metamorphosed into songs 
only to gather themselves together splendidly into a collaborative 
Limited Edition Vinyl Long Playing Record with 
Accompanying Celebratory ‘Zine as:

You’ve Been Kind! 
Bonesandtheaft / Bird Radio

who, to celebrate its creation, will be performing, 
together and separately,
 these and other tunes live at the

Portico Gallery, 
23B Knight's Hill, 
West Norwood, London,
SE27 0HS
Saturday 28th October,
7pm til 11.30 pm, 
Admittance £5.00


Mesmerising and mystical. Enchanting and awe inspiring”. Matt Ford. The Student
“Strange and wonderful.” FRoots magazine
Exciting stirrings from the DIY Underground” R2 MAgazine






Saturday 16 September 2017

Folkestone!







Bonesandtheaft
in Folkestone!!

As part of the famous
Folkestone Triennial Fringe
http://www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk

Boneandtheaft/ Bird Radio

are playing live at the

All Inked Up!

Artist Book Fair at the
Brewery Tap Art Centre
53 Tontine St, 
Folkestone 
CT20 1JR

Beginning sharp at 7pm

Saturday 14th October


Entrance is free

photo's all courtesy
popEstates photography




Liver & Lights publications will also be appearing at
All Inked Up! Artist Book Fair, 
containing many exciting stalls 
promoting Artist Publications 
from all around the world

Friday 13th Oct, Canterbury 11 - 5pm
University of the Creative Arts, 
Herbert Read Gallery, 
New Dover Road, 
Canterbury, Kent,
(This is part of the Canterbury Festival).

Saturday 14th Oct Folkestone, 11 - 7 pm
Sunday 15th Oct Folkestone   11 - 4pm









Tuesday 1 August 2017

new album review


A brilliant review from 
Dai Jeffries at folking.com website
....check it out its a pretty brilliant 
source of info on new music 
of a folky kind...with a wide remit 
as to what that is  (obviously!!)


Wednesday 19 July 2017

vinyl out!


Vinyl finally here!!






Liver & Lights No 55
You've been Kind!
BONESANDTHEAFT / BIRD RADIO
Available in:

Limited Edition black VINYL with a hand printed sleeve, 
lyric zine with photo diary
signed print.
100 copies only.
£15.00 plus £2 postage

CD with lyric zine photo diary
hand printed cover
limited edition 200 copies
£10.00 plus £1.00 postage

Payment by cheque to:
Liver & Lights Scriptorium
29 Railton Rd
London
SE240LX


Download whole album for £5.00 from




Tuesday 27 June 2017

One True Glove


My latest piece of work, 
a wood carving in English Oak,
provided by Lord Biscuit,
carved using tools once belonging to 
noted silversmith Warren Martin's Grandad
 and kindly bequeathed by him to me,
part of the One Shoe Mickey series
which will one day soon become
an Exhibition of Paintings 
and Sculpture by
One Shoe Mickey
and a Song Cycle
describing the Life and Times
of the aforesaid Mickey
performed and released as an 
Long Playing Record Album
by
Bonesandtheaft



Here are two of Mickey's paintings of
Gloves: he is a bit obsessed by them
and lovingly renders them in paint daily.

They are dropped  gloves mostly,
picked up by Mickey
on his daily trudge through the streets
of London Town.

They have imprinted
 in their nooks and scuffs
the story of the wearers life... 

Mickey has painted 27 so far
and these will be exhibited 
and turned into a book 
illustrating the songs of 
One Shoe Mickey

All this stuff together 
being 

Liver & Lights No 56.




Wednesday 7 June 2017

Vinyl and Gigs News








Just finished printing the covers for
imminent new Long Playing Record
You've Been Kind 
A collaboration between
Bonesandtheaft and the mighty Bird Radio
which will be coming out in the 
next few weeks.
Liver & Lights No 55. You've Been Kind
CD with Zine £10.00
Vinyl LP  £15.00



Meanwhile,
our eternal house tour resumes
with two gigs in London:

We are in North London on Saturday 10th June (7 pm)
and South London on Sunday 11th June (6pm) .

If you want to attend please contact
us by email at hanksoake@gmail.com
and we will forward you the 
Secret Locations







Wednesday 10 May 2017

You've been kind! Bird Radio / bonesandtheaft New Album is Here!!










New album is here!
All being sent out now if you ordered one it will
arrive in the next few days........



Each copy contains a lovely zine with all the lyrics
jointly written by Bird Radio and myself,
loads of tasteful photos taken by us and 
the inimitable Englishman, our documenter in chief
 popEstates photography
and a new collaborative album containing
a track for each of the houses we visited on last years
tour....plus a bonus live  version of kathys Plums...



The vinyl version, made one by one in a limited edition
of 100 copies and with a gloriously artiferous
hand printed cover


will be ready at the end of June
and we will be doing a special launch gig to
celebrate its birth....


You've been Kind!!


If you want to buy a copy please send 
£10.00 plus  £1 p&p to the various points below

(PS. The vinyl version of the album will also contain the ‘zine…
...there are only a few copies left at £15.00 plus £2 p&P)


Cheque: by post, payable to Liver& Lights Scriptorium, 
229 Railton Rd, London,  SE24 0LX

Bank Transfer: (email me for details)








Wednesday 26 April 2017

House tour take two


 Those are Englishman's (copyright popEstates) 
best photos from our wonderful gig
Bonesandtheaft with Bird Radio
 at Peter Anderson and Claire Cameron's
 Blackheath mansion last Friday....
We had so much fun!!!....
Bird Radio played four new songs,
we played three
PLUS
Seven costume changes!
...and two encores!

Incidentally, if you want to share in the fun and
book us to play in
your house this summer we have three
dates left....and these will be intimate
(In other words without the drums, as Lord Biscuit
is abroad at a wedding for the week..)

The dates are :
Thursday 1st June
Friday 2nd June
Saturday 3rd June

Let us know as soon as possible if your interested...










Saturday 25 March 2017

Liver & Lights No 55. You've Been Kind Zine !




Liver & Lights No. 55
Bird Radio/Bones & The Aft
You’ve Been Kind Zine!

Dear Cherished and Loyal Subscribers, 

I have this week made a ‘zine celebrating the dwellings  and  dwellers 
of last years most memorable bonesandtheaft/bird radio house tour! 
Printed on fashionable brown paper and bound in recycled brown card, 
it also contains all the poems  and lyrics myself  and Mikey Kirkpatrick (Bird Radio) 
scribbled out between gigs.

Each lyric is a mysterious fable of contemporary England, 
poetic myths illuminated by photographs of our mischief, 
snapped mid-revery by ourselves, our friends and in particular, 
our documenter-in-chief, the Englishman, aka popEstates photography. 

Each copy of the zine contains various handmade elements and will 
be signed by the contributers.
It will be issued in a limited edition of only 100 copies, delivered 
to you noble supporters  on the customary  first come, first served basis. 
Each copy will also contain a copy of, and serve as the packaging for, 
the fabulous recently recorded bonesandtheaft/bird radio collaborative 
audio CD ‘You’ve been kind’, 
information about which and track listings 
are also  contained in the ‘zine.


If you want to reserve a copy please send 
£10.00 plus  £1 p&p to the various points below

(PS. The vinyl version of the album will also contain the ‘zine…
...there are only a few copies left at £15.00 plus £2 p&P)

Spring is here!
Love and Sunshine to you all

John B x


Cheque: by post, payable to Liver& Lights Scriptorium, 
229 Railton Rd, London,  SE24 0LX

Bank Transfer: (email me for details)