RIP Itchy Bradley

Robert "Itchy" Bradley, or "the immortal" as I called him after my first Lifering Congress meeting with him, has passed away.

I don't know which of us mentioned the phrase first. But, it became a catchword and remained so long after the second Lifering Congress at which I saw him.

I wasn't as close to Itchy as some of the founding or semi-founding members of Lifering. He's pictured at right in that photo at left with Lifering's original executive director, Martin Nicholas. I believe that's at the Lifering Constitutional Congress in Florida in 2001.

I do know that, even before he was there and before Lifering formed, he was taking an initiative in looking online for new alternatives in so-called "secular sobriety" from Secular Organizations for Sobriety, which at that time was the only game in town. Sadly, after a promising start and plenty of potential, SOS had befallen institutional problems, especially "founder's disease." Eventually, he, some SOS Floridians, who sometimes aren't fully recognized in Lifering's founding, which I've noted before, and Marty, representing Californians and having already founded Lifering Press, started Lifering Secular Recovery.

Itchy went on to serve a number of years on Lifering's board of directors.

Indeed, on Lifering's one email list, Marty reminds me and all that Itchy was on the founding board of directors and signed the articles of incorporation. I apologize to people who knew him longer or better that I didn't post that in any early emails to Lifering groups myself.

Itchy put the "secular" in there in the best way. He was a secularist, and I believe passed on that way, unless there's something I don't know about.

But, he wasn't some "Gnu Atheist" type of person, either.

Indeed, he turned me on to a "day at a time" book called "365 Tao." Knowing who he was, I bought a copy and still have it. And, in the spirit of "pass it on," I'm recommending it right here and now.

Daoism is a good way to look at "the immortal one," come to think of it. Itchy was a good practitioner of the Daoist art of "wu wei," or non-doing. In other words, he was good at trying to find what should be the flow of life for him, and afterword, doing as little as possible to disturb that flow. He also didn't suffer arrogance or fools readily.

I quote from another Liferinger, who posted this as a public setting on Facebook:

"Itchy was a sort of hillbilly Jesus who kept a set of mummified turkey feet (look closely) in the guitar case for when he played 'Turkey In The Straw.'"

If you don't believe that, said person has the picture where he says "Look closely."

Behind that body, as frail as he looked, and was, late in life, was both a steeliness of mind and generosity of heart, at least to the degree I knew him and to the degree I saw him with others.

I don't claim to have known Itchy as well as others either inside or outside of Lifering.

I do claim this memory and this understanding as mine.

I conclude this with a musical suggestion or two for listening.

The first is a musical tribute that another person offered to Itchy on Facebook:

The second, kind of stimulated by that, is Alan Parsons' haunting, exotic "Return to Tunguska."



I don't know if Itchy was into Parsons, or Alan Parsons Project as a group. But, while I don't do a lot of modern techno music, this one just grabs me ... and kind of makes me think of him.