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
Fit for a champion: 20+ Super Bowl-inspired Chiefs shirts that won’t run out the clock
Repeat play: How hometown merch makers are running it back after another Super Bowl win for Kansas City Taking a cue from Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, Kansas City makers pounced on a proven, championship play Sunday night — quickly launching a range of new Kingdom-inspired celebration apparel to capitalize on their hometown team’s latest…
Will the street car still run? Is Taylor Swift coming? Your guide to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City
Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. When the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year, close to 1 million flooded the streets of downtown for…
KC artist featured in ad during SNL, named to global cohort of young social justice leaders
Being recognized for his work training local artists on the intersection of art and public policy, Logan Stacer said the honor from an global-facing nonprofit highlights Kansas City’s collective effort and passion for using art as a force for positive change. Stacer, an artist, youth pastor, educator and non-profit executive with Heartland Arts KC, this…
How Chateau Avalon’s owner transformed a former bank into this Mint condition events venue
A former Bank of America building in Johnson County has been reimagined as an 18,000-square-foot bank-themed venue with a nod to the site’s rich financial history, said Steve Beaumont. “For 50 years, this has been a financial institution on this corner,” said Beaumont, describing the in-the-works setting off 95th Street in Lenexa. “We knew we…