Bill Clause discusses the history and impact of the cultural organization initially known as The Foolkiller, etc., and about a Foolkiller Folk Singalong scheduled for July 20, 1:30 PM, as part of this year's Kansas City Fringe Festival.



The Foolkiller, etc., was founded in 1970, and later renamed CrossCurrents Culture in 1986.  CrossCurrents Culture remains to this day, 54 years later.

The Foolkiller was a membership based nonprofit with the ambitious mission of changing the world by encouraging people to create their own culture. Their motto “We prefer crude vigor to polished banality” highlights their philosophy that everyone, regardless of talent, should not just be audience consumers of culture, but participants in cultural creation.



Located at an ex-chicken plucking factory in a tiny building on 31st street just West of Troost, the Foolkiller presented a mind numbing series of cultural activity. Nearly every Friday and Saturday, amateur performers produced what was called the Folk Opry: open mic walk ons, followed by a one act play, followed by a featured performer.



After nearly every Friday and Saturday night performance, dozens of FK members would retire to an after-hour party at one of the half dozen three story communal houses near the theater. After-hour parties included a jam session in the living room, with guitars, fiddles, banjos, dobros, and plenty of sing along, while debates raged in the kitchen on religion, politics and world affairs. A foursome of card players might be at the dining table.



The Foolkiller made great use of a UMKC student activity known as Communiversity. Much like Free University on other campuses, Communiversity sponsored a semester catalogue that featured non-accredited courses for the community. Over the years, the Foolkiller presented scores of diverse courses, e.g., Philosophy for Human Beings, Playwriting for the Hell Of It, Song Writing, Canoe Trips…scores of diverse classes involving literally hundreds of folks in Greater KC.



Foolkiller Singalong, July 20, 1:30 PM



Bill also discusses the KKFI’s Foolkiller Folk Audience Singalong at Kansas City Oasis, 1717 W 41st St, KCMO, on Saturday, July 20, 1:30 pm. Net proceeds will support the Missouri Peace Foundation, a 501(c)(3) associated with Peaceworks Kansas City. This is part of the Kansas City Fringe festival. Tickets are available on the Fringe website.



NOTE: You may need to purchase a Foolkiller Button for $5 in addition to a ticket for the Singalong. (This was communicated verbally by someone who thinks they know. It was NOT documented in the web page for ticket sales when checked.)



There is so much more to the Foolkiller story than can be covered in a 30 minute radio show. But Bill hopes to underscore the importance of culture and community, especially in these fraught times.



Copyright 2024 Bill Clause and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attibution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 international license.