Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup is a gen Starsky and Hutch newsletter and letterzine published between 1995-2000. The editor referred to it as "basically a newsletter verging on a letterzine sometimes." from v.3 n.26 (July 1997) 
It was originally a weekly publication, but in late August 1997, it became a monthly one. 
At the top of the issues: "This publication registered with the National Association of Fan Clubs (NAFC), the Fandom Directory, and advertised in GAZ (Generic AdZine), as well as on the Internet."
The zine contained news, fannish discussion, articles about the show and actors, a trading section and a limited amount of fan fiction. It existed in both as a mailing list (and often pointed out this did not mean "online on the internet") and as a print item sent through the mail (dubbed "snail mail"). The print versions were eight pages in length.
This was a traditional newsletter, not unlike Livejournal-type newsletter communities; it contained articles, information, chatty commentary, etc., and was emailed out to its subscribers once a week. People who did not have access to email could still pay to have the newsletter printed out and mailed to them.
Starsky & Hutch fans would have been familiar with the title "Black Bean Soup" as it was the name of the song Hutch sings in the episode "Death Notice." See it here.
==Band of Friends==
The "Band of Friends were fans that volunteered to send other fans back issues. 
==The Welcome Letter==
Like many things of the day, the welcome letter included not just information about the newsletter itself, but about internet-related things; it was assumed (often rightly) that people would be new to computers and the internet:
At some point BBS added: a webpage. The public links on the site included a page explaining the abbreviations used in the newsletter, a page explaining some S&H basics, a page of pictures, and links to other S&H sites. 
==Archived But Now Gone==
A private page, whose URL was given out only to subscribers, included the newsletter's archives, with every back issue available for download, as well as transcripts of many of the group's online chats. 
Unfortunately the website vanished during Yahoo's purge of Geocities sites, and only the front page and the episode guide was archived by the Wayback Machine.
==The Issues==
* V.1: May 1995-December 1996
* V.2: there were 45 issues, January 1996-December 1996
* V.3: there were 36 issues, January 1997-December 1997
* V.4 there were 10 issues, January 1998-December 1998
* V.5: there were 12 issues, January 1999-January 2000
==The Beginning: "Why I Do Black Bean Soup"==
From the editor:
 
From the editor in 1997: 
==The Back Issue Helpers: "Band of Friends"==
==Fan Club Associations==
There were several fan clubs with which BBS had cooperative agreements:
* The Paul Michael Glaser International Fan Club, run by Melodie and Sarah Deane 
* The David Soul Appreciation Club (DSAC) run by a woman in the UK, had many branches (German contact was Kirsten, the US contact was Julie Reitz) 
* PMG Fans Online, run by Kim then Becky (also ran an AOL chat every other Friday) from "Black Bean Soup" v.4 n.1 (January 1998) 
* Zebra Three, a mailing list run by Robin Kwong 
== Black Bean Soup Fan Gatherings: Black Bean Soup Bash==
There were two mini-con for this newsletter in Washington, D.C., one in 1996 and one in 1997.
This con generated the zine Forever Friends.
See Black Bean Soup Bash.
==Black Bean Soup Drinking Game==
Black Bean Soup Starsky & Hutch Drinking Game
==Stats and Demographics==
Membership was steadily grew by very respectable levels for the time: in May 1995, when the mailing list started, they had 28 members. By December 1995, the number had grown to over 90. By March 1997, it had 242 members. At that time 100 members participated in a demographic survey: 135 were in the U.S. (including one in Hawaii); 1 was in Brazil; 1 was in Japan; 8 were in Canada; 30 were in Germany; 2 were in Switzerland; 1 was in the Netherlands; and 19 were in the U.K. The ages ranged from 15 to 52 with the majority of people falling into the thirties. At the end of its run, it had 350 members.
For other Starsky and Hutch letterzines, see List of Letterzines.
 
==Privacy, Fans, and Online Privacy==
Also see [[See Privacy vs. Freedom of Information, a late 1996 discussion in v.2 n.39 pt.2.
Privacy and fans on the Internet were a constant topic. 
In from a summer 1996 conversation in the newsletter: 
In March 1997, the editor wrote a summary of the newsletter and included some anonymous stats such as members' ages, geographic location, as well as email addresses. She introduced her work and said: 
In September 1998, the editor wrote: 
==One Member's Part in a two UK Documentaries==
From v.5 n.5, a description of working behind the scenes on the Starsky & Hutch closed set, and then later, participating and facilitating in two documentaries - "The David Soul Documentary" (1998) and The Starsky & Hutch Documentary" (1999):
Image:bbs5-5-1.jpg|page 1 
Image:bbs5-5-2.jpg|page 2 
Image:bbs5-5-3.jpg|page 3 
Image:bbs5-5-4.jpg|page 4 
Image:bbs5-5-5.jpg|page 5 
==Black Bean Soup Was Very, Very Gen==
Many of the members of this community were militantly gen and the community's leaders and BNFs were very outspoken in their anti-slash stances. One example: Nanci Casad included ads for her zines in "Black Bean Soup." Casad is the author of GARBAGE LIKE THAT HAS NO PLACE IN FANDOM (1996) 
Slash was mentioned as a sub-genre a handful of times but not in any way elaborated upon. The newsletter contained occasional flyers for both ZebraCon and Revel Con, and the S&H Genzine Lending Library was advertised and described, but the topic was never discussed in any way, nor did any fans describe themselves as slash fans. 
In March 1997, the editor of the newsletter wrote: 
For many tribbers to this newsletter, this slash/gen divide also meant they operated in a separate sphere than slash fandom, and in many respects, in wider fandom. In May 1997, a fan, Nancy L. Rogers, wrote: 
In 2017, a fan, Linda McGee, wrote of much more serious matters regarding the subject of slash and this newsletter: 
==The End of the Run==
The editor almost called it quits in 1998, citing lack of submissions and interest: 
The editor took a month-long break, starting in late July 1997. At that point, she said she might end the newsletter, but in any case it was certainly going to become a monthly, rather than weekly publication. 
In September, the editor returned with some reassessments: 
The newsletter, however, did not cease until the end of 1999. BBS's final issue was December 1999/January 2000: 
==Sample Newsletter Contents==
=== Fanfic ===
 
* IOU by Merry, published in 3 parts (October 1995)
* The Gate by Emmie (October 1995)
* It's A Wonderful Hutch by Cathy Bixler (November 1995)
* When Our Luck Runs Out, poem by Pegora (January 1996)
* The Request by Merry Schainblatt (January 1996)
* He Said, He Said by K. Hanna Korossy (May 1996) 
* Movie Magic by Merry Schainblatt (March 1997)
* Re-Release by Gretchen M. Cupp, in commemoration of the re-release of Star Wars (March 1997)
* Ante Up by Tiffany Park (February 1999)
* That Voice by K. Hanna Korossy (March 1997) 
* When It's All Just Too Much by K. Hanna Korossy (June 1999)
* The Little Things by K. Hanna Korossy (December 1999)
===Regular Columns and Sections===
* Poser (questions for fans by fans)
* Tell Me Something I Don't Know (zine reviews)
* Who You Know, What You Know, and How You Know IT (episode trivia quizzes)
* Spotlight On (bio of a member)
* Take It Any Way You Can Get It (idea swapping forum)
* The Specialist (questions and factual responses about technical information)
* Trading Post (ads and requests)
==Fan Comments==
===About the Two-Year Anniversary of the Newsletter===
Some 1997 fan testimonials about the two year anniversary of "Black Bean Soup."
 
===Sample Comments from the Newsletter===
 
 
 
 
==References==
Category:Starsky & Hutch Zines
Category:1990s
Category:2000 Zines