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
Why employers should hire veterans: KC entrepreneurs say combat prepared them for startup life
Effectively communicating the skills and experiences gained from military service can be a major challenge for veterans, said Zachary Oshinbanjo. Too often that disconnect contributes to unemployment or mental health struggles when a service member returns to civilian life. “Many veterans may have gone straight from high school into the military and now are looking…
How did KC land Meta, Panasonic megaprojects? Infrastructure, energy and enthusiasm, companies say
Kansas City is one of America’s most exciting and dynamic cities, said Matt Sexton, making it the ideal choice to build out a nearly 1 million-square-foot data center for Meta, the tech behemoth behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.. “There are a lot of sites around the country that might have one or two qualities that…
Bank partners with Porter House to give out more than hugs; Meet four latest KC grant recipients
Cameron Martin understands the importance of scaling deep into the community that inspired his journey and first fed the business he built with his wife, Tameisha, he said. The co-owners of Love is Key — a waffle-centric brunch restaurant and catering concept in the former Soulcentricitea space on Troost Avenue — were awarded a $15,000…
Cannabis biz expected to grow like a weed after MO voters light recreational marijuana
Tuesday’s vote in favor of recreational marijuana in Missouri shows Kansas City’s obvious appetite for legalization, said Michael Wilson, whose cannabis startup sees a vast new market opened by the election outcome. Statewide, Missouri poll-goers this week approved the high-profile constitutional amendment with 53.1 percent of the more than 2 million votes cast. In Kansas…