elvis drank it black! the background

it was 1991 in berkeley, california, and revolution was in the air.

when the systems office delivered that 486 to my office in the doe library, i knew what i had to do. i fired up wordperfect and that free paint program they used to give you with windows 3.1 and fired off the double-folded 8½ by 11 tract that began the anti-latte movement as we know it today.

since those heady days, our struggle has met both victory and bitter disappointment. the forces of latte have long since swept away two icons of traditional coffee culture mentioned prominently in the original pamphlet, edy's (the last real diner in berkeley) and the woolworth's luncheonette counter. and, rita b. true, my paternal grandmother and the inspiration for the "grandma" passage, went to that big 24-hour coffee shop in the sky in november 1997, a folger's drinker til the end.

it is to her i dedicate this online version of "elvis drank it black!", complete with the lovingly reverse-engineered original graphics.

mr. starbuck, you can put latte in this cup when you pull it out of my cold, dead fingers.

elvis drank it black!

Kurt "big daddy" True
25 august 2001