The auditions have been submitted and narrowed down, it’s almost time for the 2025 edition of the Big Show Off benefitting the Tulsa Day Center we are joined this morning by the three returning judges from last year, Miss USA 2015, Olivia Jordan, Zac Hanson from the band Hanson and rapper, art director and executive director of the Outsiders House museum and our good friend, Danny Boy O’Conner, thank you so much for being with us. Let’s start with you Olivia, you actually went through competition yourself, with judges before you, what do you bring in to this, as a judge, having been on the other side of it?
I think because I’ve been on stage before, as we all have, I really see that there’s an X-factor that we’re looking for, a confidence and energy that we’re looking for and honestly I feel like that is what grabs your attention first. So I’m looking for who grabs our attention, you know. I like being on the other side.
Zac, what are you looking for in terms of the talent and you know obviously lots and lots of talent up there on that stage in different categories.
Ultimately, we’re not the ones doing the voting, it’s the audience, and so for us, I think it’s just trying to add a little bit of technical know how, talking about what people are doing, what it takes to sing that way or perform that way, looking at kind of their set up and going hey guys this is the full story trying to pull a little more out so for the audience can really get a perspective on how hard it is to really do what these people are doing on stage.
And of course this benefits the Tulsa Day Center, such a fantastic organization, you’ve been involved with them so much since you’ve been in town.
It’s an incredible asset to the community and then this is their fundraiser so this is why I got involved being a judge the second year is fantastic and then we have a new judge who is the contestant last year who won, which is Joleen Brown and she’s incredible so it’s going to be interesting to see her go full circle and come on this side of the table and see what she thinks, it’s better on this side. I think she’s going to love it. The talent is great. For me, it’s the authenticity that I find here, it’s just different than Hollywood energy or New York energy, there’s just such a raw like you know we were just sitting with somebody who worked at the Chamber of Commerce who also has an album coming out and she has an incredible voice, I’m like ‘what?’ so you just walk among people who have no idea that they have real jobs but they also have this hidden talent so this thing is kind of like pulls out that talent and pulls it on front street for these contestants.
For people that want to come out and see the show, kind of set the scene, what’s the evening like for him?
It’s such a fun event. Honestly, this is a show and we’re highlighting Oklahoma’s greatest talents. So it’s a fun thing to get behind. And there’s also food, there’s drinks, there’s a great community of people coming together to server a worthy cause and I think that at the end of the day that’s why we’re all here, that’s why we show up because the day center is phenomenal. They serve almost 300 people a day, they’re open 24/7, it’s just such an important cause and that’s why we’re so excited about it and that’s why people will be excited to be in that crowd.
Of course, tickets are still available.
Thanks so much for being with us. This is such a great cause and such a great event.
Saturday February 1st. Tulsa Ballroom at Cox Business Center $500 for an individual ticket