On a warm March afternoon, Suki Willison goes over the list of things she still has to accomplish before the weekend shows.
Willison’s hair is loosely pinned back and a silver treble clef necklace rests in the hollow of her neck. The pendant isn’t any showier than the rest of the jewelry she dons, but it provides the only visible indication as to who Willison is and what she does.
Willison manages Uncle Bo’s, a blue’s bar in the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, 420 E. 6th. Uncle Bo’s has featured local and national acts during its Friday and Saturday night shows and in September celebrated its fifth anniversary for the entire month.
The simple act of wearing the necklace supports Willison’s belief that “you do what you love and be around what you love every day.”
And that’s just what she says she does.
Willison is the president of the Topeka Blues Society and The Kansas Blues Connection. At Uncle Bo’s, she acts as manager, booking agent and door girl among other things so that her role really transcends any one word. She is more like the go-to-girl for the bands, employees and customers who frequent Uncle Bo’s every weekend.
Working from home throughout the week, Willison scouts bands via the Internet while preparing for upcoming shows. Willison said the internet makes it easier to book shows and connect with artists.
Mike Eaton, of Platinum Express, wrote on Willison’s Facebook wall: “I for one just love playing at Uncle Bo’s. We always have a great time.”
At 59, Willison’s sister Dana Valyer, of Topeka, said Willison is at the “height of her career.”
“It’s like her calling,” Valyer said. “She’s always liked and loved music.”
Valyer and Willison shared a room growing up and although music was always playing, she said she never thought her sister would be doing what she is today.
Originally from Emporia, Willison’s family moved to Topeka when she was 11.
As early as junior high, Willison was using her milk money to book bands with names like The Germs and The Serfs, and that original taste of the entertainment industry stuck with Willison.
She went to school for social work during the day but at night worked at bars to financially support herself.
Willison got married and had her daughter Katie.
“I kind of backed away from it all then,” Willison said. “I even worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield.”
But it was against everything she was, Willison said.
Willison no longer could avoid the grasp that the music and entertainment industry had on her.
She briefly went and worked at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City before owning her own bar — Suki’s — for about 20 years.
Hoping to finally take a break after recently turning 50, Willison sold Suki’s.
Shortly after, a friend approached her for help opening a bar in the Ramada.
“I just sold a bar and didn’t really want to get in that, but she was a friend,” Willison said. “And then the ball started rolling.”
It continues to roll more than five and a half years later. Uncle Bo’s has featured acts ranging from local youth talent to recent Grammy award winner Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band.
Jim Thistle, drummer in the Bart Walker Band, said Willison originally heard his band play in Nashville.
“Suki just loved us, and we just loved her,” Thistle said.
Willison said she has a three-song rule in choosing a band.
“I give them three songs,” Willison said. “And it has to be catchy and energetic because it’s not what I like because I’m still hearing my favorites, but it’s what will get people.”
In the end, Willison said she has been in a fortunate avenue that has allowed her to grow with Topeka.
“We all have a path in life and we may deviate from it but the way it is set up,” she said, “we will end up following that path. So to look back on that now, that was my path the whole time.”
When she was 15, Willison worked as a “barker” selling stuffed animals in a traveling carnival.
“I remember thinking, God it was a stage, it was an act, it was entertainment,“ Willison said. “So it was there with me, I mean I didn’t know because I had to make money for my family but those were steps in my life that would get me to where I was going because I still do it every week. You come in and we hit the lights and want to dazzle you.”
For more information about Uncle Bo’s, visit the website at www.UncleBos.com.
Angelique McNaughton 