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
Entrepreneur of the Year: Zig when others are zagging — and don’t be afraid of the word ‘no’
Bold strategies helped lead BacklotCars to one of Kansas City’s biggest-ever startup exits, said Justin Davis, and ultimately brought the lauded founder to the stage Wednesday to accept one of UMKC’s Entrepreneur of the Year honors. “Taking ‘no’ for an answer wasn’t an option,” the co-founder and CEO of BacklotCars, a web-based, dealer-to-dealer automotive platform, told…
New grant from Porter House KC helps business owners ‘Scale Deep’; applications close Oct. 24
An additional funding opportunity for select small businesses is now available thanks to a seed planted years ago by The Porter House KC. The nonprofit has partnered with the JPMorgan Chase Foundation for the new Scale Deep Grant, which will disperse $30,000 between three small businesses for back office support, equipment cost, rental assistance, and…
Founder: Build your startup on relationships — not tech — to survive seismic industry shifts
Nurturing healthy relationships with clients and partners is the most sustainable way to build a business, said Dan Prince, reflecting on his time growing a custom software development company in Kansas City. “You grow a business by your reputation, by doing the best work for people that you can possibly do. I was told a…
Why NMotion gives founders (without a startup) $100K and tells them to forget their assumptions
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. LINCOLN,…