Watch: Choir Bar debuts ‘One Day’ video from its first reverse karaoke singalong event
June 20, 2018 | Tommy Felts
The excitement was palpable Saturday as Choir Bar launched into song for the first time in River Market, said Matt Baysinger. Now organizers are ready to share the singalong experience with the world.
“People are so dang impressive,” said Baysinger, co-founder of Swell Spark, which debuted the Choir Bar concept in hopes of it becoming a semi-regular event series. “We thought it would be fun to get a bunch of people together and learn how to sing a song as a three-part harmony. … [It was] absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever been involved with.”
About 90 people — family, friends and strangers — gathered Saturday at the River Market Event Place for a professionally choreographed, “reverse-karaoke”-style singalong. The crowd learned and then sang “One Day” by Matisyahu, an alternative artist who fuses reggae, rap and rock.
The result?
With the crowd of singers led by vocalist Jazz Rucker and musician Jared Scholz, Saturday’s event spurred enough interest to warrant another Choir Bar singalong — likely coming in July, though organizers still are working out venue details, Baysinger said.
Watch for news about coming event dates here.
Choir Bar is the latest concept from Swell Spark, a Kansas City-based innovator of interactive, experience-based entertainment. It’s suite of offerings includes popular brands Blade & Timber and Breakout KC.
Swell Spark was named one of Startland’s Top Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2018, in part because of the rapid growth of its Blade & Timber axe-throwing concept, as well as the ongoing development of new business verticals.
The company opened a second Kansas City-area Blade & Timber location in May with 12 lanes at Leawood’s Town Center Plaza. Another location in Wichita is expected to open in July, with Blade & Timber soon expanding to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, as well as to sites in Portland, Seattle, Springfield and St. Louis, Missouri, Oakland, Honolulu, and Miami.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kansas City Developers Conference cultivates community among techies
Hundreds of hardcore techies are gearing up for one of Kansas City’s largest gatherings of developers. The eighth-annual Kansas City Developers Conference is expecting more than 1,300 attendees from regional corporations, startups and universities on June 22. With a focus on building the Kansas City community, the conference features loads of workshops, panel discussions and…
Startup life and your marriage: Dan Schmidt dives in
Editor’s Note: Dan and Gina Schmidt agreed to share their experience of how startup life has changed their relationship and family. Check in Thursday to hear Gina’s perspective. Opinions expressed this commentary are the author’s alone. Being a husband, father and founder has stretched me in ways I never would have imagined. At…
From Slavic studies to coding, LaunchCode helps Kansas Citian find new career
It’s been in Kansas City only four months, but LaunchCode is already making an impact. The St. Louis-based non-profit organization arrived in February to grow Kansas City’s tech sector by organically building its pool of talent. LaunchCode helps educate locals with an interest in changing careers to work in tech, and then connects them with…
CEO: Kansas’ politics pushed Pathfinder Innovations into Missouri
Destructive economic and social policies in Kansas compelled Pathfinder Health Innovations’ move to the Show Me State, its founder wrote in a blog post critical of state leaders. A tech service provider for people with autism, Pathfinder received tax incentives for its border hop to Missouri but Pathfinder CEO Jeff Blackwood said the move also…