Applause is an Emmy award-winning locally produced TV show that celebrates artists and cultural groups around Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Each week this on-air arts magazine broadcasts a fresh half-hour of features, performances, on-location reports, and interviews from the studios of WVIZ/PBS ideastream. Special thanks to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College for the use of their Steinway Piano on Around Noon/Applause.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Topics: Arts
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The "Mother of the Blues," Ma Rainey, wasn't the first to record the blues but is widely credited as the first entertainer to popularize the blues. Her booming voice and diva-like ways electrified the industry and influenced a generation of soul singers including Mahalia Jackson. Born Gertrude Pridgett, Ma began singing professionally in minstrel shows at the turn of the century at 14. And began recording professionally in 1923 including classics like See, See Rider, Bo Weavil Blues and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - which is the title of the new musical about this tough country girl who rose to super-stardom and fame.

Also - there's a new church in mid-town Cleveland. Within a few blocks of such institutions as Antioch Baptist and Olivet Institutional Baptist, there's been a good deal of foot-stomping and hand-clapping to some sanctified music during the past couple weeks. The name of this holy home is the Cleveland Play House and the reason for all ruckus is the powerful voice of Natasha Yvette Williams who is channeling the spirit of the great Mahalia Jackson on the stage of the Bolton Theater, this month.

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Production of Applause on WVIZ/PBS is made possible by grants from:

The Cleveland Foundation
The George Gund Foundation
The John P. Murphy Foundation

United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc.

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.