Here's another nice piece from the Tulsa World. This appeared at the beginning of season two of a certain top-rated local TV show, on which I happen to be the Executive Producer. A lot of the folks at work gave me grief that this piece was more about the producer than the program. Personally I see nothing wrong with that.

KOTV's "Gimme the Mike!" Makes Top-Flight Talent Cut
by Matt Gleason, World Scene Writer

Local anti-folk artist Ross Greenawalt, aka Acoustic Ross, said he probably would have auditioned for the KOTV, channel 6, vocal talent contest, "Gimme the Mike! Oklahoma."

Alas, Greenawalt admitted he probably wouldn't have made the cut.

Fact is, Greenawalt's just more comfortable doing his own material rather than covers.

"I think I would struggle a bit, myself, because I'm so used to doing my original stuff," he said recently. "When I try to spin something else, I feel I'm not living up to the original."

Greenawalt didn't have to fret about not making the cut, though - he's the show's executive producer.

Earlier this week, you could usually find Greenawalt in a hulking KOTV truck watching a band of small TVs as he monitored the taping of "Gimme the Mike! Oklahoma," Monday and Tuesday outside the Cain's Ballroom.

The "American Idol"-esque series will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Mondays on July 11, 18 and 25 and Aug. 1 and 8 on channel 6. Its one-hour finale at the Cain's will air at 7 p.m. Aug. 15.

The series was in the middle of its third show when Greenawalt stepped out of the KOTV truck to talk about the show.

Standing in the blistering afternoon heat, wearing a pair of shades, Greenawalt said the thing he admired most about some of the performers was their no-fear attitude.

"They are mentally prepared and they come in and kind of grab the audience by the throat," he said. "Those are the ones who really seem to do well and the ones the judges seem to like."

So who's going to win? Greenawalt didn't have a clue.

"It's hard to tell. That's why we have multiple judges," he said. "It's hard for us to guess who's going to win. I've been surprised already."