Cynics have observed that Stone Berry Dale’s obsession with third-world humanitarian issues just happened to coincide with the dissolution of Stone Carnival. Berry minced no words when he stated “there are people who have the decency to care about others, and there are people like Paul K., who only care about themselves.”
While typical musical philanthropists such as Bono, Sting, and Henry Lee Summer have focused simply on feeding the hungry and fostering world peace, Berry felt citizens of developing countries could never succeed without being educated. Accordingly, he traveled to a location somewhere east of India and established his own educational outreach mission. Controversial from the outset, many criticized the curriculum’s focus on exposing the Communist ties of deceased famous Americans at the expense of more basic education like reading and writing. Berry’s teachings eventually broadened to include the suggestion that Mahatma Gandhi had been a Soviet puppet. This resulted in tense protests by the locals. Upon seeing his image burned in effigy, Berry packed his bags.
Humbled by his exile, Berry returned to Indiana and began regularly visiting Paul K in prison. This lead to the pair resuming their creative partnership, and it was during this time that they wrote most of the songs for their latest album. Berry has since softened his political stance as well, coming to believe that perhaps those he had once proclaimed were Godless Communists had actually just been Godless Socialists.
