Coffeehouse Culture; Plain Text; Page Seven; Article One

IT HAS BEEN a bit like that (Like what? Why a Cheech and Chong movie, that’s what.) as we have tried to get enough wind into Coffeehouse Culture to get it airborne. The whole thing has been a strange, unnerving and more than a little surreal experience. When we came to live in Amsterdam, in the late Spring, it was with the express purpose of starting Coffeehouse Culture. We believed, and still believe, that we had and have a new take on the dope smoking experience. One through which it is possible to move dope smoking out of the negative kill-your-life drugs arena into which it has been cast and into something totally new and positive. We had prepared for our mission. We had promotional material -- flyers and a 12 page dummy issue to send out to coffeeshop owners. We even had the makings of our first issue -- well, the features and the diaries. We planned on publishing in August but . . . . And but again. We knew that we had a solid concept; we knew that we had a viable medium through which to communicate it; we knew we had a great product that could fill a market niche; we knew that we could provide coffeeshop owners with a unique and effective way to reach their largest market, English tourists. Indeed, we had the dream idea. A real moneyspinner that most marketing men would have wet themselves to get their hands on. But . . . . Contradiction time. For us this ‘moneyspinning idea’ had nothing to do with money. For us it was something else. And if we could tell you exactly what it was, we would, believe us. We felt that everyone in Amsterdam, all those people from the coffeehouse society, all those people steeped in consciousness, all those people steeped in cannabis, would see what we were capable of doing and get behind us. But, as we all know, life it not like that.
As you can see from this issue, we did get a lot of support. And, wow, some of it just blew our minds. There were some beautiful people who could see our vision and the power within it, who could associate with where we were coming from, who could empathise with our frustrations at the lack of truth in the world. There were people who took advertising space who gave us hundreds of guilders and wouldn’t take a receipt. We had told them what we and Coffeehouse Culture were about -- increased consciousness and evolution -- and they went with it and trusted us.
We are from England, you know, and they don’t do that sort of thing there. It blew us away. But, for all that, it took a lot longer to get going than we had anticipated.
However, we are here now. And we are going to do what we have intended all along --- further the cause of consciousness, evolution and, by the way and purely coincidentally, cannabis.
How we got here is a long and convoluted story with a bigger cast list than ‘War & Peace’. Like many long stories, it is actually a lot of small stories with a common link, a thread, a rhyme and a reason to them. Stringing out that thread, over forty years of it (yes, folks, Coffeehouse Culture is the idea that took nearly half a century to reach fruition!), it is hung with coincidences like underwear on the washing line of life. That makes for a lot of story telling; too much for these pages, anyway. However, there are one or two parts that we simply must tell. Like about what we have discovered in Amsterdam. About the amazing thing that has happened and is happening here. And -- excuses, excuses -- we must explain how we have the audacity to do what we are doing.
But telling it is not what this is about; doing it is what matters. As an ageing media guru in a Woody Allen movie once said: “The medium is the message.” And that must mean something.

	COFFEEHOUSE CULTURE -- Issue 1
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	PAGE SEVEN; ARTICLE ONE; POLICY STATEMENT Shhhiiittt ! ! ! WHA'S HAPPENIN', MAN? Written on the day before the last of the pages went to the printer, this piece introduced the series of explanations, excuses and lies that masquerade as our editorial policy. Having been blown along by a breeze that turned into a tornado for more than half a year, we were starting to feel a little 'storm damaged'.
	IT HAS BEEN a bit like that (Like what? Why a Cheech and Chong movie, that’s what.) as we have tried to get enough wind into Coffeehouse Culture to get it airborne. The whole thing has been a strange, unnerving and more than a little surreal experience. When we came to live in Amsterdam, in the late Spring, it was with the express purpose of starting Coffeehouse Culture. We believed, and still believe, that we had and have a new take on the dope smoking experience. One through which it is possible to move dope smoking out of the negative kill-your-life drugs arena into which it has been cast and into something totally new and positive. We had prepared for our mission. We had promotional material -- flyers and a 12 page dummy issue to send out to coffeeshop owners. We even had the makings of our first issue -- well, the features and the diaries. We planned on publishing in August but . . . . And but again. We knew that we had a solid concept; we knew that we had a viable medium through which to communicate it; we knew we had a great product that could fill a market niche; we knew that we could provide coffeeshop owners with a unique and effective way to reach their largest market, English tourists. Indeed, we had the dream idea. A real moneyspinner that most marketing men would have wet themselves to get their hands on. But . . . . Contradiction time. For us this ‘moneyspinning idea’ had nothing to do with money. For us it was something else. And if we could tell you exactly what it was, we would, believe us. We felt that everyone in Amsterdam, all those people from the coffeehouse society, all those people steeped in consciousness, all those people steeped in cannabis, would see what we were capable of doing and get behind us. But, as we all know, life it not like that. As you can see from this issue, we did get a lot of support. And, wow, some of it just blew our minds. There were some beautiful people who could see our vision and the power within it, who could associate with where we were coming from, who could empathise with our frustrations at the lack of truth in the world. There were people who took advertising space who gave us hundreds of guilders and wouldn’t take a receipt. We had told them what we and Coffeehouse Culture were about -- increased consciousness and evolution -- and they went with it and trusted us. We are from England, you know, and they don’t do that sort of thing there. It blew us away. But, for all that, it took a lot longer to get going than we had anticipated. However, we are here now. And we are going to do what we have intended all along --- further the cause of consciousness, evolution and, by the way and purely coincidentally, cannabis. How we got here is a long and convoluted story with a bigger cast list than ‘War & Peace’. Like many long stories, it is actually a lot of small stories with a common link, a thread, a rhyme and a reason to them. Stringing out that thread, over forty years of it (yes, folks, Coffeehouse Culture is the idea that took nearly half a century to reach fruition!), it is hung with coincidences like underwear on the washing line of life. That makes for a lot of story telling; too much for these pages, anyway. However, there are one or two parts that we simply must tell. Like about what we have discovered in Amsterdam. About the amazing thing that has happened and is happening here. And -- excuses, excuses -- we must explain how we have the audacity to do what we are doing. But telling it is not what this is about; doing it is what matters. As an ageing media guru in a Woody Allen movie once said: “The medium is the message.” And that must mean something.

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