Monday 3 September 2018

Liver & Lights/bonesandtheaft at the Tate





Autumn News:  

I am doing a show and tell talk at the 
Tate Britain ( in the Library Archive Reading Rooms)
on December 7th 2018
its a history of  Liver & lights sort of thing with additional
musings on other books I like from the Tate Archive...more info here:




even more exciting!!!:

bonesandtheaft

will be performing in the said library
in the evening following the talk (7pm -ish)...its part of the
Late at the Tate programme....so its free!

The evening will be the official (so to speak) launch of
Liver & Lights No 56

paperback (illustrated above)
Hardback handmade (below)

and possibly of our new album if its mixed and
made by then.....


Some copies left:

paperback : £10.00

Handmade: £40.00

Postage: add £2.00 per book but if you buy both or two copies its free

payment by :


or old fashioned cheque made out to Liver & Lights and 
posted to 229 Railton Rd, London, SE24 0LX


Monday 18 June 2018

Liver & Lights 56 Part Two

Liver & Lights No 56. 
One Shoe Michael.

The New paperback is here!!





Dear Subscriber….

There has been a slight change of plan!  
When subscribing, you might have imagined you were getting a copy 
of something entitled Liver & Lights No 57, as announced…

On reflection, I have come to believe that the whole One Shoe Mickey 
project should come under the umbrella heading of  

L&L 56, 

including the enclosed paperback containing the complete song cycle
 and all Mickey’s paintings of lost gloves collected from the streets of London.

L&L 56 also includes the handmade Verbfoot Jack hardback published 
in May and It will eventually encompass an  album of new songs by
Bonesandtheaft with  music inspired by One Shoe Mickeys’s words 
by Ian Mckean 
with assistance from 
Bird Radio and Lord Biscuit.

it will also include, eventually, Chiara Ambrosio’s film-in-progress…
If you havent seen the recently released excerpt yet, you can watch it here:



Incidentally....if you want a copy its £12.00  including postage...
send me the cash via paypal and I'll post one to you:


Hope thats  all clear!



Love JB x 

Thursday 10 May 2018

Full Colour Paperback!!

Liver & Lights No 57. 
One Shoe Michael; a London song cycle.


Coming Very Soon!!!  
A full colour  paperback containing 
the complete cycle of texts and song lyrics 
written by Mickey; his view of the world, his friends, his journey, our  city.  
The book is profusely illustrated in full colour by Mickey’s ongoing collection of 
lovingly rendered glove paintings and other illuminations from the brush of 
John Bently.








“For the last year I have been working on a cycle of interrelated lyrics that 
seem to have have been written by the mythical One Shoe Mickey, 
a former refugee who has somehow found his way to England.

Mickey believes that London’s dropped gloves are the souls of all the sons, daughters, 
wives, mothers, nephews, lovers, friends and kind strangers etc lost on all the long and 
desperate roads emmanating from the war that never ends.  
He thinks he can somehow reunite and mend them all, 
the lost and broken things of the world.


Among the gloves he seeks the One True G’love, 
that may or may not relate to his own
 lost family. Maybe it is the Universal G’love, 
containing the last secret of the universe. 

Mickey makes many friends here in England, 
as he trudges from dawn til dusk around the city, 
some most unexpected, and they all have 
their stories too and Mickey is the boy to tell them”.

"Here is his meagre vittles, but all he meets can share it
and how the one true glove will bind them all, 
for all can wear it."



Please order a pre publication signed copy:    £12.00 Inc. p&p

Cheques to Liver and Lights Scriptorium, 
229 Railton Rd London SE2 0LX
or Paypal to: 

paypal.me/bonesandtheaft

Bank Details on request, for direct payments


Wednesday 14 March 2018

L&L N0 56

Liver & Lights No 56, 
One Shoe Mickey is a Verbfoot Jack.



For the last year I have been working on a cycle of
 interrelated texts/songs/lyrics that relate
 to the life of the mythical One Shoe Mickey, a 
former refugee who has somehow found his way to London. 

‘Mickey’ is what the people of London call him, although he has had many names, 
and has existed throughout history. Like in all the best superhero adventures, 
Micheal has taken a bang on the head and this has cleared his senses. 
Now he sees the world for what it  really is: a bloody mess.

In his mixed-up brain he thinks that shoes should only be worn one at a time,
 because there is only one god. 
He also thinks that gloves are significant; 
they must be - he sees so many of them dropped on the London street. 
Mickey believes that they are the souls of all the sons, 
daughters, wives, mothers, 
nephews, lovers, friends and kind strangers etc 
lost on all the long and desperate roads 
emmanating from the war that never ends.  



Mickey thinks he can somehow reunite them all, mend them all, 
all the lost and broken things of the world. 

It is said that he collects all the broken snails up from the London pavements 
on rainy days and glues them back together. 
Among the gloves he seeks the One True G’love, 
a mythical glove that may or may not relate to his own lost family…..



This is an entirely hand hand printed book made from a confection of low budget 
block printing methods and containing one of Mickey’s 
most pointed observations of the world and its sorry condition. 

It probably the most labour intensive book I have ever made, 
a labour of love for all the Mickeys. 

It is made using 100% recycled materials in a very limited edition of only 40 copies. 

The books are currently in production. 
If you want to reserve one
please send me 

£40.00

by
Paypal to: 
paypal.me/bonesandtheaft

but you can also send me 
Cheques to: 229 Railton Rd London SE2 0LX (please add £2 to total)
or email me for
Bank details for direct payments.



Tuesday 13 February 2018

Liver & Lights No 56 and 57



One Shoe Mickey's a Verbfoot Jack

For the last year I have been working on a cycle 
of interrelated texts/songs/lyrics that 
purport to have been
written by the mythical One Shoe Mickey. 
Mickey is a former refugee who has somehow found his way to 
England. Mickey is what the people of London call him, 
although I believe he has had many names, and has 
existed throughout history.




Like in all the best superhero adventures, 
our Micheal has taken a bang on the head and this has
cleared his senses. Now he sees the world for what it  really is, a bloody mess. 
This he can cure,
he believes, with his miraculously acquired  superpower: 

Kindness.

Also, In his mixed up brain he thinks that shoes should only be worn 
one at a time, 
because there is only one god. 

He also thinks that gloves are significant; they must be - he sees so many of them
 dropped on the London street. He has come  believe that they are the souls of all the sons, daughters, wives, mothers, nephews, lovers, friends and kind strangers etc lost on all the long and desperate roads emmanating from the war that never ends.  He thinks he can somehow reunite them all, mend them all, all the lost and broken things of the world.

Among the gloves he seeks the One True G’love, a mythical glove that may or may not relate to his own lost family. Maybe its the Universal G’love, containing the last secret of the universe......






Mickey makes many friends here in England, as he trudges from dawn til dusk around the city, some most unexpected, and they all have thier stories too and Mickey is the boy to tell them.

Ian Mckean and I have worked a number of these texts into songs - a whole album’s worth, which we have begun to record. In the meantime I have also been making two books:

Liver & Lights No 56, One Shoe Mickey is a Verbfoot Jack.

This is an entirely hand hand printed book made from a confection of low budget block printing methods and containing one of Mickey’s most pointed observations of the world and its sorry condition. It probably the most labour intensive book I have ever made, a labour of love for all the Mickeys. It is made using 100% recycled materials in a very limited edition of only 40 copies. 

Liver & Lights No 57. One Shoe Mickey, a song cycle.

This is an A5 paperback containing the complete cycle of texts and song lyrics written by Mickey; his view of the world, his friends, his journey, the city.  The book is profusely illustrated in full colour by Mickey’s ongoing collection of lovingly rendered glove paintings, which I have been intermittently posting on instagram.

Here is his meagre vittles,
but all he meets can share it,

and how the one true glove
will bind them all,
for all can wear it.





The books are in production. If you want to reserve 
one of the hand made ones 
you can send me
£40.00 inc.p & p 
and I will keep one for you. 
There really won’t be any more than forty because 
they are so labour intensive and the printing methods 
destroy themselves in production somewhat.

You can pre order the paperback too… for £10
that makes a nice round £50 for the lot.

Postage for the paperback only add £2.00  Free if you order both together

Cheques to Liver and Lights Scriptorium, 229 Railton Rd London SE2 0LX

Bank details on request for direct payments.