The Queen Is Dead: Black Friday!
The terrible news came in the same manner it always does: over the phone. My friend David Bennett, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, called shortly after noon. "A bullet has hit Selena. in a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi. The perpetrator is seated in a pickup truck in the parking lot, gripping a gun to her head. I waited for Bennett to deliver the punch line—he is a veritable fountain of horrible jokes about contemporary affairs. After all, it was March 31, the day before April Fool's Day. When he returned a few minutes later, though, there was no punch line: "She is dead." She died at Memorial Medical Center at 1:05 p.m. Even though I had only met her once, it felt like a sudden loss of a dear friend or relative. Grammy Award-winning singer Selena Quintanilla Perez, 23, is widely regarded as the undisputed queen of Tejano music—a Texas specialty that is currently experiencing unparalleled global and national fame. I had spoken with her for a Texas Mont...