Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Selena's memory lives on

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Friday, March 31, 2000

Selena's memory lives on
Fans to mourn her death today
By Deborah Martinez
Caller-Times

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Selena Bates, 6, of Las Cruces, N.M., visits the Mirador del Flor Thursday. She is in Corpus Christi with her family for spring break. Selena Quintanilla-Perez died five years ago today at the age of 23.

Selena's story is one of hope, success and inspiration. And it's about a small town girl's national phenomenon.
   Portraying her story is what some say made Jennifer Lopez the American symbol of Latino beauty and style.
   The Corpus Christi native's life is what Selena's fans say gives them hope. They commonly say that the Tejano music star's draw is her simplicity. They identify with this middle-class Latina/Hispanic/Mexican-American -whatever label best suits the fan. Her roots, they say, weren't glamorous, privileged or glitzy.
   It's a life and career that's being remembered today, the fifth anniversary of her death, in visits to her hometown, in national publications and in an off-Broadway musical.
   Five years after 23-year-old Selena Quintanilla-Perez was shot dead by her fan club president at the Days Inn at Navigation Boulevard and Interstate 37, people everywhere try to understand and explain her still growing phenomenon.
   Her albums are still on the Billboard charts. Her grave at Seaside Memorial Park on Ocean Drive and a statue of her on Shoreline Boulevard are surrounded daily by her faithful and the curious.

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Pedro Haro, a 19-year-old from Honolulu, Hawaii, signs a brick at the base of Mirador del Flor on Thursday. Haro came to Corpus Christi for the Selena tribute today and plans to see people he met on a Selena Web site.

   Little boys and girls born even after she died have become her ardent fans. And magazines and newspapers bearing her face are highly sought after.
   There's Los Angeles-based Estylo magazine, which, for its March/April issue, carved out a 32-page tribute to the still proclaimed Queen of Tejano. Estylo publisher Daniel Wolfus said that single copy, priced at $2.95, went up for a bid of $28.50 on the eBay consumer Web site. Newsstands sold out, hundreds of e-mails and phone calls poured in requesting the tribute issue, and the magazine's subscriber list increased by several hundred people, Wolfus said.
   Selena's impact
   "I knew she was still somewhat of an icon to the Hispanic music world but I didn't realize she was going to have that much of an emotional impact," he said. "Especially to younger Latinas, she's like Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe. They feel very emotional about it. She provides the dream for so many people.
   Mainstream society was way behind the loop, said Ken Hammond, editor of Texas Magazine, a regular Sunday insert for the Houston Chronicle.
   The attraction continues
   In Houston, Selena was a big attraction before her death, Hammond said. Her fans packed the city's Astrodome for a concert a month before her death. She was also a huge attraction at the Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Tributes to Selena

Molina neighborhood: The neighborhood tribute is from 5 to 10 p.m. today near the 7-Till Late store, 4261 Elvira Drive. . There will be performances by Los Agues, who are also known as Grupo Guego, Guyz of Destiny, Justin Colmenero and Lyndi Gutierrez, Amber D & Her Talent Showcase, among other local talent. Also expected to appear is Grammy winner John Garza, vocalist for the band led by Selena's widower, Chris Perez. Photos also will be on display at the tribute.
On TV: Television stations KAJA, KDF, KIII, KORO, KRIS and KZTV, will air stories and retrospectives on Selena's life during regular newscasts, station officials said. Galavision, a Spanish network shown on AT&T Cable Channel 40, will broadcast a special about Selena on April 2. "Domingo Live," which has been focusing on Hispanic culture and music for almost 36 years, will show two of Selena's videos during its regular broadcast. The show, which airs on KIII, is shown from 11 a.m. to noon every Sunday. KTMV and its sister stations in San Antonio and Victoria will air a two-hour tribute from 7 to 9 p.m. today. The stations are the first Tejano and Latino music video television stations in the country. In Corpus Christi, KTMV can be seen on Channel 8 for those who don't have cable, on Channel 6 for those with AT&T Cable and on Channel 47 in Kingsville.
On the radio: KMIQ/FM105.1 will play Selena's music throughout the day with an hour block of her music at noon and 5 p.m. today. KUNO/AM 1400 will have specials all week and will play Selena's music. KLHB/FM 98.3 will have a live remote today with their morning disc jockeys, who will pass out special ribbons and give away compact discs, as well as play her music throughout the day. KSAB/FM 99.9 and KNDA/FM 102.9 will play their usual programming, which usually includes Selena's songs.

   So it seemed fitting to honor her by dedicating the March 26 edition to her memory, he said.
   "From everything we know, her music is still very, very popular here," Hammond said. "And she still has a lot of followers. We just thought the Houston followers would like to see what her impact on Latin music has been . . . We've had a quite bit of response. We've had people call in and try to get extra copies. It's interesting, here in the building we've had people get in for extra copies. That never happens."
   A void in the Tejano industry
   When it comes to Selena, the unthinkable comes true, said Joe Nick Patoski, a senior editor at Texas Monthly. Patoski's article examining the state of Tejano music since the star's slaying appears in April.
   Selena's death left such a void in the Tejano music industry that even five years later it finds itself in an identity crisis, he said.
   "The shadow that she cast over Tejano is still very much evident," said Patoski, who has written about Texas music since 1972 and has written unauthorized biographies on Selena and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
   "There's still kind of a recovery from Selena. There's no doubt about it. She created a sound."
   Tomorrow's ideal woman
   Selena also represents tomorrow's ideal woman, said Abel Salas, national press coordinator for Los Angeles-based Reyes Entertainment, which handles publicity for Latina magazine and the new musical, "Selena Forever."
   Latina, a glossy magazine focused on beauty, fashion and family, paid tribute to Selena in its March issue.
   "March is the time we'd want to remember her because that was the time we lost her," said Salas, who as a freelance writer for the Brownsville Herald in 1995, covered Selena's murder. "It's tragic. Selena is a paragon of what Latina magazine is all about. Brown-skinned, brown-eyed. Women for the next millennium, professional women who aren't going to allow themselves to be held back by stereotypes or traditional gender roles or barriers, but at the same time are going to stay connected to their family, to be optimistic. She will continue to transcend barriers."
   No special tribute
   But she doesn't always have to be talked about on a special occasion such as her death, said Carolina Miranda, public relations manager for People en Espa¤ol, which was started because of the overwhelming popularity of a Selena special edition released shortly after her death.
   Neither People en Espa¤ol nor its mainstream partner, People Weekly, is planning a special tribute to Selena, Miranda said.
   "We certainly recognize her universal appeal," Miranda said. "But with the degree of celebrity coverage we do . . . it would become virtually impossible to try and do an anniversary tribute to each celebrity, each year. We tend to write about news developments after their death."
   Battle with graffiti
   In Corpus Christi anything Selena goes - no matter the time of year.
   Today droves of fans will more than likely turn out at her grave and memorial statue at the Peoples Street T-Head. The community should remember what memorials such as her statue are about, said Dan Whitworth, assistant director for the city's Parks and Recreation department.
   Whitworth worries that the graffiti of love and devotion to Selena tarnishes her memory.
   "This is an ongoing battle we face weekly with graffiti down there," said Whitworth, whose crews go out each week to repaint plaza around her statue. "It's gotten even fairly bad where there's been some scratching into the statue. That's not an appropriate way to deal with a tribute to someone.
   "I don't know what the long term solution is but to keep graffiti down, we may have to close the area off which would be counter-productive to what I'm sure their intent is: to respect her memory."


Staff writer Deborah Mart¡nez can be reached at 886-3618 or by e-mail at martinezd@caller.com

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