Connection to culture: Group aims to keep Tejano alive in Wichita Falls

Some eight years before her tragic death, Selena Quintanilla - better known to most simply as Selena - made a stop to perform in Wichita Falls. Somewhere between rising star and superstar at the time, Selena was on the road to success - literally. She lived with her family in a bus, where the family functioned as a self-sufficient road crew, booking venues, coordinating costumes and playing the music that would captivate millions. That music still resonates in some corners of Wichita Falls, where a steadfast commitment to Tejano music, and the family ties inextricably woven into it, is kept alive by a determined few who love the music and strive to share that love with the next generation.

George Perez owned a club called Palacio Del Rio from 1980-1989, during what he describes as the “golden era” of Tejano music in Texoma. He still recalls the flash and pageantry of Selena’s traveling show, and how lively the whole Tejano scene was at the time.

Perez said getting to be a part of the most exciting era of Tejano and interacting with future stars like Selena are memories he still looks back on fondly over three decades later.

“I couldn’t believe it, that she rose that quick. Cause I remember the last time she came, and she was starting to take off. I knew, I knew then, she’ll never come to this place again,” Perez said.

While Selena’s stardom quickly outgrew smaller venues like Perez’, the impact lingered on. As the popularity of the music grew, so too did the crowds it attracted.

Perez said his club regularly hosted as many as 600 people, and that he still has a hard time believing how much the music impacted the community.

“It was really neat, really beautiful to watch. Sometimes I look back and it doesn’t even seem real to me,” he said.

Perez added that an important element of the Tejano heyday was how it brought families together.

“Whole families would go to these dances. Mother and fathers, daughters, you know. Really neat,” Perez said.

But all good things must come to an end, as the old adage goes. Sometimes, however, those endings make way for better things. For Perez, he gave up the family ties of Tejano music to spend more time with his own family.

“I had to make a choice,” he said.

With a wife and two growing boys at home, Perez said he didn’t want to keep leaving them on weekends. He worked as the boys’ football and baseball coach, leaving behind managing the flashing lights of the stage in favor of sunny afternoons at the baseball diamond and evenings at home with his family.

But Tejano in Texoma didn’t die when George Perez stepped away. It didn’t stop when Selena passed away far too young in 1995. What harsh change doesn’t kill often succumbs to the slow, plodding march of passing time. But not even three-plus decades of passed time were enough to stop Tejano music in Wichita Falls. Tejano, while not as popular as it once was in the area, is not only still alive - it’s growing again.

The present

Perez has a few friends who are working to both keep the legacy of Tejano in Texoma alive and invite future generations to be a part of the music.

“These friends that are trying to revive it, I grew up with them, they’re my age. And so they remember those days when we were in high school and everybody and their families would go to these events. And you know we, they miss those days. I’d like to see them again, be like that again,” Perez said.

Those friends - Chris Johnston, Victor Pesina, Brenda Everett, Juan Maya, Freddy Everett and Tony Gimenez - have come together to form a group they call the Uptown Tejano Crew. The Crew plans Tejano dances every month.

The first dance attracted about 60 people, with subsequent dances drawing crowds of as many as 80 people.

The dances have an entry fee, but the Crew doesn’t pocket the money. Instead, they use it to help pay for the next dance.

“And it’s not about us making money or nothing like that,” Pesina said.

Money isn’t a driving factor for the group, and they have a relatively modest word-of-mouth marketing structure that doesn’t lend itself to accolades or acclaim.

Johnston said what motivates the Uptown Tejano Crew to keep hosting the events is simple.

“There’s people that probably haven’t gone Tejano dancing in a few years because there’s not really anywhere to go and now they have a place where they can go,” Johnston said, adding “We make them feel like they’re family.”

The past

From Perez, who took over his club from his father, to Pesina, who started DJing Tejano music after his own father taught him how years ago, family is a word that keeps coming up in Tejano circles.

Brenda Everett said she recalls her parents playing the music as a sort of morning call to action, and that she loves doing the same with her children and grandchildren.

“Back in the day, my parents would wake up on a Saturday morning and they would turn on Tejano music. And you knew it! Oh, God, they’re gonna start playing music, start getting up and start cleaning. And now, my grandkids and my daughters are like 'Oh my God, there she goes with that Spanish music.' It gets everybody going, you know,” Everett said.

The Crew said that same spirit of close relationships carries over wherever the music goes, from the home to the dance floor.

“We’re all like family, we all know each other by first-name basis,” Johnston said.

“But that’s what Tejano is,” Everett added, “You know, regardless if we don’t know you and you go and you’re dancing, it’s a family atmosphere when you’re out there dancing.”

The future

The Crew sees the dances as simply carrying on a legacy and providing a place for people to dance to music, equal parts cultural and familial, that bridges generations.

Perez said moving forward, he hopes younger generations are able to connect to Tejano the same way he and countless others were.

“Because I think it’s, it’s our culture. And it’s important, you know. I feel kids that aren’t exposed to that kind of music, I feel like they’re missing out on their roots. It’s a cultural thing, you know?” Perez said.

For that to happen, chances to experience the music and culture have to continue.

Johnston said that’s the goal - to keep things going long enough for the next generations to pick it up.

“Hopefully it’ll be something that we can continue for a long time. Just keep the Tejano - “Keep Tejano alive,” is our motto,” Johnston said.

It’s more than a task or a chore though, as the Crew thoroughly enjoy the events themselves.

“It brings you happiness,” Everett said, adding “I can barely walk sometimes, but you see me out there dancing you’d think 'There ain’t nothing wrong with her!' But that’s how, that’s what it does to you, you know? You’re hurting here, but when it’s time to dance you forget about everything.”

For themselves, their families and future families, the Crew plans to make a place for Tejano in Texoma permanently.

“It’s gonna be here forever if we keep it up,” Pesina said.

Tejano has endured in the area for decades, and Johnston said it will for at least as long as she and the rest of the Crew are alive.

“Our hope is that we can do it 'til the day the Lord takes us home,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Connection to culture: Group aims to keep Tejano alive in Wichita Falls