Word: bland
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Other works, like The White Snake and The Goddess of the Green Ripples, combine singing and acrobatics and seem less successful - or at least less accessible. Chinese singing, even when done well, as it obviously is by the Peking stars, sounds curiously bland and uninviting to untutored ears. A combination of the best productions, however, is a marvel for eye, mind and ear as well...
There are, of course, many New Yorkers hanging around the Garden specifically because of what is happening or will happen inside. James Bland, for instance, has forgotten about the bus he had to catch and will gleefully take on all comers on anything from Black unity to Ted Kennedy and the "open convention" gambit...
...Bland wears a bright blue fishing hat with the brim rolled up all the way around. He carries a Daily News under his arm and smiles broadly as he lectures on the topic...
...Kennedy man myself, been with the Kennedy boys for a while, but this open convention business is serious and separate from that." Bland relishes a good smile:" (The delegates) they're like this, see (crosses his arms in front of him) handcuffed." He doesn't listen to the suggestion that the push to free delegates stinks of hypocrisy, that the same people who assailed Carter as a tyrannical slave merchant originally backed the reform which gave more power to the primary voter, that if Kennedy were the probable choice, this debate would not have surfaced...
Even more important to Bland than the Democratic wheeling and dealing is the future of the Black Community as a political force. He wears an orange button identifying him as a member of the United Urban Party ("We are the Balance of Power"). He explains: "It's a small group based here in New York which is committed to unifying the Black peoples into a singular, powerful voice to demand improvement in places like the South Bronx. We've heard all the promises. We need action." Her refuses to be more specific about the size or activity of his organization...