Let's Please End Poverty

As many of you might know, I just did a tour of India with MUTEMATH. This was the band's second time there, but this tour was much more extensive as we spent almost three weeks playing gigs in cities like Kolkata, Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai. What you do not know is that prior to going on my India trip, Cliff and I had been brewing up a version of The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want." This song took on new meaning to me while I was in India as I was again encountered with the most severe level of poverty I had ever witnessed.

Needless to say, I grew up around poverty. It was not uncommon for me to spend weekends across the border in Matamoros, México visiting my grandparents and see poor homeless ladies carrying their kids around in the streets, begging for money or whatever anyone was willing to give them. I believe I've done my part throughout the years in giving to the poor and helping those in need whenever I could; however, this last trip to India, I confronted myself again with the question if I was really doing enough to help end poverty. 

Everywhere I went in India I was confronted with poverty, from children sleeping on a filthy curb of a busy street to young girls doing cartwheels in the street for money. I could not escape it. And I could not help but to imagine them as one of my own. All the rationale and reasoning that made me think twice before if I would give in the past went completely out the window as I realized that these impoverished kids are "my own." I am connected to them if I allow myself to be, and I have a responsibility to them like I do with my own biological children. 

This cover song and video are simply to help bring awareness to the problem of poverty throughout the world. Please, please, please help me get what I want in helping end poverty. Many of these kids cannot even get what they NEED, much less what they want. There are many organizations out there that are making positive strides to end poverty (for example, The Hunger Project, One, Mercy Corps, etc.). None of them are perfect, but as you celebrate the upcoming holidays, please act on supporting some cause that brings hope to the impoverished children in your local community and around the globe.

ARF

ARF

My mom, Kathy Littlefield, took a particular interest in the making of this first album. She was a music major in college and worked as a school music teacher my entire life. Of course, like what many kids think of their parents, she’s also a bit crazy.

I was going to breakfast with my dad and her as we were getting towards the end of mixing the album, and she had listened to all the songs. As my dad took multiple wrong turns trying to get us to our neighborhood taqueria, my mom said, “I think "Center of the Universe" and "Turn Back Home" have the most ARF.”  Have what???  “Audience Recognition Factor,” she said it as if only the dumbest person in world wouldn’t know what it means. Of course, the reality is that no one in the world has ever heard or used the word ARF.

I talked to Roy later that morning and told him about ARF. Roy said that was a new one to him, but he thought it was funny and joked that he was going to try to incorporate into his next Mutemath meeting at Warner Bros. My mom called later that day, and I told her that Roy liked her new word and planned to use it which pleased her greatly. She was dropping knowledge on the youth.

The next day my mom called and said that she needed to clarify that The Pink Dust does not have ARF, because no one knows our songs. She was simply projecting what songs might have ARF in the future, if things went well. She was worried that Roy would embarrass himself in the Warner Bros. meeting by using the word out of context. I assured her that I would warn him of the proper usage of ARF. She said that would be wise and hung up. Gotta love your parents.