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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Raise a glass, and your voice

Rick Bonino

If you like to sing in the shower, and drink beer … well, anywhere, this event is for you.

The first gathering of the Inland Northwest chapter of Beer Choir takes place Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 at the Coeur d’Alene Growler Guys. Everyone is invited to join in the suds and song.

Beer Choir is the brainchild of Michael Engelhardt, a Kansas City choral composer. Its website lists a dozen chapters across the country, including Seattle and Richland.

Local organizer Max Mendez – a baritone well-known for his performances around the area and choir director at North Idaho College – got hooked on the idea at last year’s American Choral Directors Association national conference in Salt Lake City, where Engelhardt led a session.

“It was an amazing group of 50 choral directors hanging out, having a beer and singing,” Mendez says. “I’m all about community singing, and I like beer, so the combination is a no-brainer.”

It’s also natural, he adds: “This is the way people used to socialize. You go to Ireland, music is everywhere, people are singing in the pubs. You set aside your differences when you sing together.”

Beer Choir events are based around an 11-song hymnal prepared by Engelhardt, which includes traditional German, English and Irish drinking ditties as well as his own “Beer Choir Theme Song” and arrangement of “Dough-Ray-Me”: “Dough, the stuff that buys me beer, Ray, the guy who serves my beer …”

Mendez isn’t sure how many people will show up tomorrow night, but 35 already have indicated on Facebook that they’re going and another 78 say they’re interested.

“I told Growler Guys it could be 10 or 15, or it could be 100,” he says. “We’ll see.”

While several pros from the local music community will be on hand, Mendez stresses that all are welcome. “My hope is that people will come and not be intimidated,” he says.

The 90-minute time frame allows for plenty of socializing between tunes, Mendez says, but doesn’t run too long: “It gives people a chance to go out on a weeknight and get home early enough that they don’t feel it the next day.”

You don’t have to drink beer – gluten-free beer, hard cider, kombucha and root beer also will be available – though you do have to be 21 or older to enter the premises.

Mendez plans to expand the monthly gatherings to more taphouses around Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, and hopes the repertoire will grow beyond the initial 11 songs, with other people taking leadership roles as well.

“For me, those are going to be the special moments, when the chapter becomes its own,” he says.