I met Selena in 1991 when
I was only 10 years old.
My parents were really into Tejano music and my mother and aunts were really
into a singer named Selena. At the time the song “Baila Esta Cumbia”
was a huge hit and every time my parents would pick me up from school it was
always playing on the radio. My mom bought the "Ven Conmigo" cassette
and I remember liking a song called "Ya Ves", but at the time I wasn't into
Spanish music.
One day in 91, Selena y Los Dinos along with
Grupo Mazz were going to play a dance club
called The Texas Ballroom, but my parents weren't able to attend because
they didn't have a babysitter for me and my 3 year old brother. I
remember playing with my little brother outside when my mother runs out of
the house shouting Selena is at the mall!
What had happened was that Selena's bus had broken down in front of the Mall
and she and the rest of the group were eating at a restaurant called The
Charcoal Grill (in Eagle Pass,Texas), my dad who works as a security guard at the mall was taking
his break at that restaurant. The waiter took Selena's order and brought it
out right away. "That was fast" she told the waiter and the waiter
looks at her says, "Well the whole town is getting ready to go to the big
Selena y Los Dinos dance." Then he looks at her and says "are you
going?"
She replied "Well I hope so, I'm Selena."
Then before you knew it all the waiters and cooks came out to see her, my
dad went to go see what the commotion was about when he saw her and that's
when he called my mom. When we got there she was on her way out. And my
mother, little brother and I approached her. My mom goes up to her and asks "Excuse me Sel-ee-na or Se-le-nah?"
Selena says "Well actually it's
Sel-ee-na, but I accept both."
Selena and my mom chatted and she asked us if we were going to the
dance. My mom told her we had come to the mall to meet her because
there was no babysitter. Selena told my
mom she was happy we had the chance to meet her, since we couldn't make it
to the performance.Selena took the time to chat with us and
gave us an autograph. She carried my little brother and pinched my cheeks
and told me I was cute. We told her we loved her music and how big of fans
we were. SHE WAS AN ANGEL!! The nicest and most beautiful person I had ever
met and what a smile!! I was surprised she spoke English; I thought she was
from Mexico!!
Later that night my dad came home and said my uncle
was going to the dance and told my mom that he got a hold of one of my aunts
to look after us. But I begged them to take me. So they did. When we got
there it was jammed pack! It wasn't even a dance any more; it turned into a
concert because there was no place to dance.
The way dances were back then was the opening act (Grupo
Mazz)
would perform for an hour then Selena would come out and perform for an hour
then,
Grupo Mazz
would perform again. Then Selena would come out a second time with a
different outfit to close the show. When Selena finally came out the
crowd went wild, she took the stage smiling with that cow outfit looking
gorgeous. She sang "Baila Esta Cumbia" and songs from her "Ven
Conmigo" album and sang songs from "Entre a mi Mundo" (the album
hadn't even been released yet) and she sang some English songs too. I
really don't recall what, but I do remember a
Gloria Estefan song.
She sounded and looked great. However, two fights broke out between some
drunks. After the performance my parents took me home, soI
didn't get to see her come out the second time. They said I was too young to be
attending these dances.
But from then on, I became a huge Selena fan. I followed her through TV and
through her music. Of course, I was crushed when we heard the news about her
passing. The whole town mourned. I don't really like to talk about
that.
However, I'll never forget
the day I met and saw THE QUEEN OF TEJANO!!! I told her myself I was her
fan and her fan I'll forever be.
Top seven pictures: Selena the night Manuel
attended the Selena y Los Dinos Concert
Bottom picture: Manuel (middle) obtaining Shelly Lares's autograph
Manuel Update - March 28th,
2007
Today something out of the ordinary happened!
I was at a local restaurant with a friend waiting to be seated. I was
looking down at my phone sending a text message and chatting with my friend
when a mother and her two sons passed by me. I saw the little boy and
he looked very familiar to me. I didn't think anything of it until I heard a
male voice tell that little boy..."Say hello to Aunt Suzy..." I immediately
recognized the voices of the kids Dad and Aunt Suzy.
IT WAS SUZETTE AND AB!!!!!
That little boy is AB's son who is featured on the cover of Kumbia All-Stars
CD. I was shocked and couldn't believe AB and Suzette were both right in
front of me. My friend didn't recognize them at first and wasn't sure if it
was them, but once he saw me in shock - he knew it had to be Quintanillas!
Suzette most likely saw me with my mouth open because she looked at me and
smiled. I waved at her and she waved back. It was my first time seeing
AB up close since I attended the Selena concert back in 1991 when I was 10
years old. I was shaking when I approached them to ask for a picture. They
were like "sure" my friend snapped a shot of us with his camera phone! They
are such awesome human beings!
I don't know when was the last time anyone has had a picture standing in
the middle of Selena's brother and sister!
I was surrounded by Selena's own Flesh and blood!!
I don't care what the media says about AB he is awesome and down to
earth!! They were so easy to approach and to converse with. I chatted
with AB for a while and told him how much I love the new CD and what a great
job he was doing. I showed them the Selena screen saver I have on my
phone. I didn't want to annoy them or take up too much of their time so I
excused myself and returned to my table.
After my meal I ran to my car to get my Kumbia All-Star CD with the hope of
getting AB to
autograph it. I saw that they were still eating so my friend and I waited
for a while to make sure they finished. After a while it seemed that they
were not going anywhere. I thought about going over to the table and asking
for an autograph, but I knew how much it can annoy some artists.
After a while longer, it was getting late and my next class was about to
start so I decided to to approach them again. AB didn't hesitate at
all to give me an autograph. His girlfriend seemed really nice too!!
When I ran to my car I noticed I'd locked my
keys in when I ran back for the CD. LOL!! I had to pay $40 for a locksmith
to come and pop open my jeep.
