About Sandy Bradley

I believe a traditional potluck event is one where the potato salad always comes in the same bowl. An event where a few minutes spent 20 years ago with someone merits a warm embrace just because you’re relatives, or some similar brand of kin. I lean towards events where people eat, greet, dance and play music, maybe for days or weeks on end.

The value of that type of gathering has defined my various small contributions to our community or our society. Every year since second grade I had some special event to soak up my extra energy at school; things like a choreography, a clean playground campaign, and dramatic morality plays. My momentum towards those goals drew in plenty of participants who had their own aspects to add to our consensus of ”perfect.” In my 20’s, wanting nothing but to dance, I was soon a square dance caller. This resulted in a recording project called ”Potluck and Dance Tonite” and years of touring spreading the gospel of community dancing. Many others recordings followed, mostly old time and New England dance music, some of which have been re-released on CD.

Getting off the road and coming home was intentional. I wanted to be in my own community, where there were now plenty of callers and I could get off the stage and dance.

The Seattle NPR station offered me a weekly show of my choosing, so Greg and Jere Canote and I put together a show of good attitude and authentic music. We wanted to bridge the gap between celebrities who are human, and unknowns who bring a different kind of excellence. The show was called Potluck, and it aired from Murphy’s Pub in Seattle for 6 years, then moved to the Museum of History and Industry auditorium for the next 7, ending in about 1997. We do an annual Christmas Reunion show at the same location, which is aired on KBCS.

Potluck Gallery brought art to our community.

I worked for 30 years as an auctioneer for benefit auctions in the Seattle area, doing what I could to support the place where art and community overlap. My book, Benefit Auctions: A Fresh Formula for Grassroots Fundraising, was published by Pineapple Press in 2004.

It was time to find a vocation that did not require me to wave my arms cheerleading every night. I moved to Willapa Bay to be with Larry Warnberg, an organic oyster farmer, and went back to school, in Art. I now work in ceramics and 2-D.

Over the course of the last 5 years we gathered clues and equipment to replicate a cement tile making process. Now we’re making colored, patterned concrete tiles, with a press and a foot-pump to take each tile up to 40,000 psi. The pattern is 1/4” thick, so they should last at least 200 years, developing a lovely patina.

In 2004, Mark Meritt wrote me and asked to have the Potluck domain name, which I’d had from the days of the radio show. His letter was so thoroughly right-minded I had to let him have it. In exchange, he had to call me up once every two weeks for a year to exchange ideas, and I retained access to the domain to keep in touch with my friends.

By now you know if you found the Sandy Bradley you were seeking, and why I passed on the potluck.com domain.

Eat well, Share.

Love

Sandy

Contact Info

Sandy Bradley
31 Hurt Road
Raymond, WA 98577
360 942 0099
sandy@potluck.com
blog: http://potluckfarm.wordpress.com/

14 comments for “About Sandy Bradley

  1. Hi Sandy, long time etc. I am spending summers in Victoria and winters in Florida, still performing as was……
    I would love to reconnect with you and the Coconuts. 250 381 9255. Please call or e mail.

  2. Hi Sandy, I was just at the portland gathering and purchased your Potluck and dance tonight cd. Tony told me that I could get the call information on line. I am a budding caller and would love to have the calls written out to practice with. Any ideas on how to find the written calls for the cd? The cd is great, by the way.

    Thanks Steve Parks, Kimberly Idaho

  3. YOHO, just to letcha know I have never forgotten how gracious you were to me. Wish I’d have done better for you on stage, but I was thrilled to be on stage with such a swell lady as you and a superb band. Sincerely, Hank Nelson

  4. Hi Sandy,
    Just “happened” across this website by chance (well I was youtubing for Canote stuff!)…anyway I’m an old time banjo player from Aberdeenshire and friends with one Ruairidh McLennan from Victoria BC who was at university with me way back in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1975-1978. Thanks to him I got into “old timey” and still enjoy it immensely to this day.
    I hope you are keeping well and still performing and having fun.
    It would be great if you could put some of your stuff on youtube so I can share it with my “friends”.
    All the best for now, Slainthe, John.

  5. Do you still have a Christmas reunion show? Folklife was where we discovered you and we loved it! That’s where we first enjoyed the Canote Brothers and Barney McClure.
    How fun if we could enjoy a show again!
    ~ Colleen Long, Ephrata WA

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