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The Team
Bob is a retired railroad engineer, union member and supporter of workers and their rights.
Mark was Treasurer for the Missouri Valley Folklife Society, and is the Registered Agent for Crosscurrents Culture. He is a folk programmer with Valerie Andruss on the KKFI 90.1 FM "Foolkiller Folk" radio show on Sunday morning, and is Co-host of the Classical Challenge on Wednesday night.
Beginning with early exposure to folk music in a series of East Coast coffeehouses, Valerie has been a long time fan, promoter and concert producer of local, national and international Celtic and American folk as well as a KKFI listener from the very beginning and is now a part of the regular collective of Foolkiller Folk program hosts.
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Bob and Diana Suckiel on the “Foolkiller Folk” radio show.
We have been longtime supporters of folk music and we are performing musicians as well so the name of our program is Foolkiller Folk!
We are members of the old Foolkiller now known as CrossCurrents and we are involved in theater and local political activism.
We want to share the music we love with the rest of the community and share historical aspects of the music also. We want to help broaden our listeners’ knowledge of all kinds of folk music from all over the country, from the pre-war era to now.
What is CrossCurrents, formerly, Foolkillers? CrossCurrents is Kansas City’s Folk Arts Alliance. It is a nonprofit corporation in Kansas City which is dedicated to people creating their own culture. They produce concerts, plays, and community events, such as barn dances. This alliance encourages all interested people to get involved, no matter what level of talent they think they have. If you are looking for locally produced Folk music, Contra-dance, original acoustic music, women’s music, theatre or banjo-playing, join CrossCurrents.
By the way, if you wondered about “ Foolkillers” …
“We prefer crude vigor over polished banality. Remember, as one becomes enlightened, one KILLS the FOOL within.” — Jack Conroy.
Recent Episodes
November 22, 2020 Folk, Music
UnBand Auction! Local Folk
And here we are on day three of the all local music UnBand Auction, with a collection of folks who have volunteered their time and their music to benefit KKFI on Foolkiller Folk in Band Auctions past. And yes, Mark & Val skew Celtic as always, but we'll kick off with long time friends of the station, Betse & Clark and wrap up with banjo Kelly Hunt, and in between you'll get to hear Three Dollar Band, Chad Elliott, Kasey Rausch, David Hakan, Mark Montgomery, Gary Kirkland, Gerald Trimble, Fraoch, Turlach Boylan, Ensemble Iberica with Nathalie Pires, Mikal Shapiro, Shapiro Brothers, Scotch Hollow and Under the Big Oak Tree.
ListenNovember 1, 2020 Folk, Music
English Folk plus Two Norwegians
It's Mark & Val's turn on air today and we're pleased to bring you a show of English folk released in 2019/2020 plus a couple of Norwegians.
You'll be hearing from Hannah James, the JigDoll Ensemble; Josienne Clarke; Tim Edey; Sam Carter; Rowan Rheingans; Jon Boden, the Remnant Kings; Fay Hield; and Erland Apeneseth Trio and Frode Haltli.
Read MoreOctober 11, 2020 Folk, Music
Mark & Val’s Mailbag
Today we treat you to music we've recently acquired! One thing that's arrived is the 4 CD boxed set of the 'Social Power of Music', a timely collection of songs of struggle, devotion, celebration, and migration that remind us that music has the potential to change our world. From that collection you'll be hearing from Sammy Walker, Baldemar Velasquez and Aguila Negra, Grupo Raiz, Expresion Joven, Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, and the Almanac Singers. We'll also bring you songs from Tom Russell, Mama's Broke, Jack Rutter, Show of Hands, Edgelarks, Red River Dialect, Josienne Clarke, and Dick Gaughan.
Read MoreSeptember 20, 2020 Folk, Music
FolkAlliance 2020 – Artists We Wish We’d Heard
Mark & Val are closing out the last part of our 5 part Folk Alliance Conference series with artists we wish we'd heard, but didn't have time to get to. You'll be hearing from Lone Pinon; Genticorum; Jigjam; Ann Savoy; Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band; Muddy Gurdy; Birds of Chicago; Luke Winston-King; Rainbow Girls; Beppe Gambetta; Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage; Carrie Elkin; Catherine MacLellan; and Danny Schmidt
Read MoreAugust 30, 2020 Folk, Music
M & V’s Annual Kansas City Irish Fest Show
A combination of folks who will be performing for the Kansas City Irish Fest's FEST WHERE YOU ARE and some of our favorite bands from Irish Fests past.
Read MoreAugust 9, 2020 Folk, Music
Mark & Val Mailbag Show
Yes, music is coming in to us thick and fast! Today we bring you Dan Boner; Shane Hennessy; Eliza Gilkyson; Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle; Jayme Stone; Julie Fowlis, Zoe Conway, Eamon Doorley, John McIntyre; Tom Kitchling; Anna Meike; Marie Fielding; New Leaf; Xavier Boderiou with Sylvain Barou & Antoine Lahay and Kern. Tune in!!
Read MoreJuly 19, 2020 Folk, Music
M&V with a mailbag show
So today we bring you a collection of music that’s come into the house recently, and we're skewing the show Celtic, because we haven’t brought you a heavily Celtic show recently.
Read MoreJune 28, 2020 Folk, Music
Foolkiller Folk Celebrates Black Music Month
Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 as African American Music Appreciation Month and re-established annually by Presidential proclamation, in addition to celebrating Gay Pride, the month of June now celebrates the African American musical influences that comprise an essential part of our nation’s treasured cultural heritage. So today Mark and Val bring you a selection of our favorite black folk musicians. You’ll be hearing Danny Cox, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leyla McCalla, Rhiannon Giddens, Our Native Daughters, Laura Love, Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama, Toshi Reagon, Josh White, Tracy Chapman, Kaia Kater, Ebony Hillbillies, and Lil Nas X (OK, technically he's a rapper, but he wrote a really good song that deserves a hearing). And speaking of Gay Pride, four of them happen to be gay as well.
Read MoreMay 31, 2020 Folk, Music
M&V – What We Saw at Folk Alliance, Day 4
Today we kick off our fourth (and final) 'What We Saw at Folk Alliance'
Read MoreMay 10, 2020 Folk, Music
Celebrating Mother’s Day
A collection of songs in honor of mothers. We start with the initiation of the mother-child relationship, and move on to the aspirations our mothers have for us and offer some maternal advice followed by mother’s advice ignored. We celebrate mother’s love and the value of a mother’s work, give you a few admonishments to attend to and care for our mothers and wrap up by honoring mothers in memory
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