The Legacy of White Lion
January 25, 2007
Dinner was great tonight. Manang Tessie made me some grilled skewered shrimp basted in her secret barbecue sauce with fried eggplant and vegetable soup for sidings. I’ve always suspected that she was the best cook in Concepcion. For the most part, she’s the mayor’s cook, and as with feudal tradition, the lord of the land keeps the finest house staff. Her skills in frying shrimp and squid are only to be matched by Bubba Gump’s Bucket-of-Boat-Trash. But since The Bucket does not include squid, her fried calamari stands without equal.
Dinner was made even better with the thought that the municipal malnutrition rate has gone down to 19 percent from 25 percent a year after I arrived in this town. I’ve been tabulating health data this afternoon, driven by the curiosity of how my presence benefited this place, and a big part of our advocacy this year was directed against malnutrition. Of course nutrition is multi-factorial, but we all can’t help but secretly feel that we’ve been a good part in the things that make the world a better place.
I usually eat dinner alone these days. The mayor has been busy networking with the developmentalese in Manila and other parts of the world lately. So for company I have the sound of the nearby videoke bar frequented by what else. It was then when it came to my attention – the legacy of White Lion.
Well, for those unfamiliar with White Lion, it’s the band who sang “You’re All That I Need” – a cloyingly cheesy sellout rock song from 
circa 1992. Sick as some of us are from rock sellouts, one can’t help but notice how songs like these have leached into the soul of our culture after 15 years of being played and replayed on radios, small town videoke bars, and badly decorated prom nights. It makes you wonder how many men fought with tooth, nail, and gin bottles in bar brawls spawned from its singing, or lack of it - or how entire display cases of ladies underwear have been spirited away from their wearers on many a starry night under the influence of the song’s mush.
For some, it has become the soundtrack of their lives – like the music that plays in their heads while they imagine themselves to be in some music video as they episodically recall the things they like to remember. Apparently, this applies for music in general, but not every song makes it to the playlist of the rural videoke machine 15 years after its conception. It is a place reserved for the elite few who managed to play in synchrony with the heartbeat of a nation.
Mr. White Lion, probably now only a shadow of the rocker he was, might be one of those people right now playing “You’re All That I Need” in his head, trying to remember his glory days, wondering if his music ever made a difference in this world. Well, Mr. White Lion sir, for all it’s worth, you’d be glad to know that your song will be among the echoes forever to be remembered by the timeless hills of one small town, in one of the 7,107 islands of a tropical country.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:01 am
Hi Johann! I was wondering where you were! I do know that you are in some barrio out there making a difference! Keep safe ha. Marami pang cheesy songs of the White Lion vein… isa na don ang “When I was young.. I never needed anyone, making love was just for fun, those days are done… I CAN’t LIVE!!!!!” hahaha. Ingat my good friend!
January 25th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Hmmmm… Yo, you can’t. But you have an option to choose from your own profile if you would like to receive announcements when changes are done by friends in their accounts. And I’m sure most of our friends have de-activated the email announcements…
So, musta na? Where in the country are you right now? BTW, I have yet to contact you soon … just gonna ask you a few questions. :O)
January 27th, 2007 at 10:06 am
like the pavlovian dog, the mere mention of the word “videoke” is enough to cause the tingling of my vocal cords and the twitching of my thumb-which-inputs-the-song-code-into-the-magic-sing-mic.
come to manila sooooon!
January 27th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
is this some noble self-sacrificing gesture you have imposed upon yourself…to be a rural physician, that is? Boy, i am utterly blown away.
Take care Cuz’ and Namaste
February 3rd, 2007 at 8:53 am
“I’ve always suspected that she was the best cook in Concepcion. For the most part, she’s the mayor’s cook, and as with feudal tradition, the lord of the land keeps the finest house staff. Her skills in frying shrimp and squid are only to be matched by Bubba Gump’s Bucket-of-Boat-Trash. But since The Bucket does not include squid, her fried calamari stands without equal.”
I’m printing this out and giving it to Nanay Te…you’re going to break her heart bro…
January 11th, 2008 at 6:18 am
after reading this blog, i have had some regrets. bwisit! i shouldn’t have read it. now the song is playing in my head!
October 4th, 2008 at 12:05 am
hi, doc, how have you been up to? btw,
i was reading this couple times the “WHITE LION” and yes, indeed, these country folks really enjoyed singing this song, remembering the past.
and i can relate in this blog or story that you wrote because, when i used to visit my favorite old house in Conception i can remember my childhood life, childhood friends there it was full of memories and experience there,.
and one thing, when i read the “WHITE LION” suddenly, The Michael Learns to rock came into my mind, all these Cheesy songs before, it made missed the Conception. i`m almost a year here, i was homesick, sometimes..;)
October 28th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Good post.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Char: Yeah, there are still lots of those like songs from Firehouse. I just discovered a place here in Koronadal where they play videos of live sellout-rock concerts on a huge TV. Great with beer and spicy adobo kambing
Nang Gretch: Yup, it’s like wanderlust meets call-of-the-wild and the spiritual benefits of self-deprivation
Bro: This isn’t an act of disloyalty because Nanay Ti doesn’t do fried shrimp
Nensi: Yeah I hope you get lots more of these types of songs in your head until you finally realize the genius that is sellout-rock. :))
Lades: Oh yes, I love it when they sing 25 Minutes
Cheesy as all these songs are, we cannot deny the fact that they’re part of our memories whether we like them or not.