Mission Accomplished?

Not to brag, but I used to work at FYE, (For Your Entertainment, a fine establishment for all your CD and DVD needs) in my hometown next to San Francisco. And it was at the time in my life that I found out who Tigres Del Norte was. Since FYE had a ticketmaster machine I’d sell many tickets to the, what seemed like monthly shows, shows that Tigres Del Norte put on (They were in San Jose so much they should have changed their name to Tigres Del Norte de California.) If it weren’t for this I would probably have never heard of them until Professor Kun brought them up in lecture last week. I bring this up because the essay Remembering Selena, Re-Membering Latinidad, the author asserts that the death of Selena brought Spanish music to the forefront of American culture, which I have to take with a grain of salt if the biggest Latino band, Tigres Del Norte, have never entered into my knowledge sphere.

            Americans still don’t take notice to the big Latino acts, not to say they necessarily should or would, because most Americans don’t speak Spanish. But I don’t understand how they sell out the Coliseum, but never even get heard of by most Americans, outside the Spanish community. Selena’s death only seemed to bring to the forefront traditionally held stereotypes of Latinos.  The grief marked their traditionally sad past, us white people had to help them out of their sorrow, darn Spanish people, always getting sad! How is being sad even a stereotype? I’ve never heard that before, but this tragedy consequently seemed to shine a light on the history of Latino culture, and what people gathered from the traditions of the grieving Latinos was not particularly different from what people had already believed. Selena’s death, instead of forming a more positive perception by outsiders, brought the Spanish community together (Unfortunately, to be ridiculed more). They came together to mourn their procession leader in their parade to equality in America that was halted by the number one fan. They had a role model, and a public figure, Latinos needed someone to look up to that people outside the community looked up to. That would bring respect for the obviously ridiculed ethnicity. Suddenly, Latinos were a market, you could brand and sell things to this emerging community, but unfortunately it was a little too early for Selena to go, because after the boom of her death it seems as if they have fallen back into marginality. As evidenced by el Tigres, the community has remained separate and the documentary we saw last Thursday shows how immigrants are reacted to in this country. Selena’s missions was cut a little short, and maybe Latinos need another tragedy to emerge out of their slandered culture, they’re sad already, right?

PS. Random Rant

People say Howard Stern is a revolutionary that he changed radio! And I don’t see it. Since when did being a misogynistic, racist become revolutionary? Oh, apparently, if you’re a racist in public then you’re a revolutionary. I’ve never heard anything as revolutionary as Howard Stern acting like we still live in the 1950’s. The past is the new future, and chivalry is so 90’s!