Word: panama
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Growing up in Panama City, Blades listened to a polyglot hit parade that included singer Frankie Lymon, as well as Elvis Presley, the Platters and the Beatles. Following in the footsteps of his conga-playing father, Blades started singing with local Afro-Cuban bands. He enrolled in law school at the University of Panama, "to please my parents," and passed the bar. But a short visit to New York City left the young attorney torn between the courtroom and the recording studio. The final verdict favored music, and by 1974 Blades was back in Manhattan for good. "This...
...polemically charged tunes occasionally inspired more than just dancing. In 1980 Tiburon (Shark), an allegory for superpower interventionism, was banned by Miami radio stations, and Blades had to wear a bulletproof vest while performing there. Decisiones (Decisions), from his 1984 album Buscando America (Searching for America), was banned by Panama's censors for allegedly promoting abortion...
...even if Blades did, he wouldn't let it stop him. When not singing or acting, Blades unwinds by painting watercolors ("mostly faces") or reading (George Orwell and Hunter S. Thompson). His goals include writing and directing a film set in Panama, making a documentary feature and recording an all-instrumental album. Meanwhile Blades' fearless muse is once again pointing him toward uncharted musical waters. "I already know something is brewing," he says. "Some people will be surprised." And a few more walls will come tumbling down...
After the U.S. invasion of Panama, the Bush Administration quietly passed the word that however much other Latin American nations might protest in public, their leaders were privately pleased that American troops had stepped in to oust General Manuel Antonio Noriega. A month later, with U.S. soldiers still patrolling Panama City and the U.S.-installed government struggling to assert its control, support for the invasion is beginning to fray. Today there is every indication that the invasion is doing new damage to U.S.-Latin American relations, which had only just begun to recover from the strains of the Reagan...
...Washington the White House announced that Vice President Dan Quayle was cutting back the itinerary for his upcoming trip through the region because leaders in Mexico, Venezuela and Costa Rica found it "inconvenient" to receive him. Quayle will confine his travels, scheduled for Jan. 27 to 29, to Honduras, Panama and Jamaica. Conceded a senior White House official: "We were hoping for a grander tour than this...