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She has been dead for four years.
No one in her family who says this seems to believe it. Yet there's her bronze statue, by the ocean, a life-sized Selena Quintanilla Perez gazing out at the water. One thousand, four hundred and sixty-eight days. And nights. The sea comes, the sea goes again, lapping at the life left on this shore. Father, mother, brother, sister.
The breeze comes hot here. Even in winter it is thick and moist. The smokestacks from the refineries rise to the sky in packs, like cigarettes, all over this plain land. Oil country. Flat. Quiet.
One part of town is more quiet than the others. At night here, a lonely Texaco station provides the only glow for insects to bump against. A greyhound racetrack sits near an industrial lubricants plant, and wooden shacks sprout weeds in their walls.
Among this desolation stands a nondescript beige warehouse. The only sign is a street number: 5410. If you did not know this was Q Productions, Selena's family's business, you would not guess that inside there are emerald marble floors, paisley carpets, a pink recording studio, a television studio and the Selena Museum, which the family opened last year when it realized the flow of fans coming to see her gowns, photos and awards had not slowed much with the passing of time.
Selena was gunned down at the age of 23 in front of a motel a few blocks from here, on March 31, 1995. Five weeks ago, EMI Latin released the fourth posthumous Selena album, "All My Hits--Todos Mis Exitos."
Although there are no new songs on the album, EMI distinguished it from previous releases by including a commemorative pin in the packaging. The album debuted atop the Billboard Latin 50 chart and remained there for two weeks before dropping behind Ricky Martin's "Vuelve." The album remains in the No. 2 slot; according to EMI Latin national marketing director Lupe De La Cruz, the company has shipped more than half a million units, about half of which he estimates have already been sold.
The album and anniversary have put Selena on America's collective mind again. Last month, Q Productions was swarmed with reporters from around the world, all wanting to know...