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
Inside grantmaker’s ‘major shift’: Here’s how dreaming big could help rural communities thrive
The Patterson Family Foundation is committed to helping rural communities in Kansas and western Missouri thrive, said Chris Harris, noting the foundation’s new grantmaking strategy expands that access more broadly across its priority region. The Kansas City-based Patterson Family Foundation — founded in 2007 by Neal Patterson, the late Cerner CEO and co-founder, and his…
With the world tanking, this entrepreneur descaled opportunity from the bottom of your dentist’s aquarium
Brian Blake didn’t just start Merriam-based Boodleshire Aquatics; the biologist and lifelong lover of aquatic life built it from a moment of pause. He always dreamed of turning his passion into a business — returning to water at times throughout his career — but the push to take that leap came in an unexpected way.…
Just funded: Meet the newest Digital Sandbox KC startups to earn project innovation resources
The latest round of Digital Sandbox KC funding reflects the region’s commitment to emerging digital health companies — as well as industry-agnostic ventures with big, bold ideas, said Jill Meyer. “These seven startups have shown they have what it takes to be pioneers in their industries, and we’re honored to be able to propel them…
Look inside: Switchyards teases its new KC work club, sells out memberships in hours
Switchyards’ first foray into the region — officially debuting Monday within Kansas City’s East Crossroads — is even prettier than its designers expected, Brandon Hinman said. “And that’s a high mark,” the Switchyards creative director told Startland News. “This big, beautiful, old warehouse is a new neighborhood work club.” Atlanta-based Switchyards — a third-space workplace…