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The Alternative Gig Guide

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TAGG – The Alternative Gig Guide
EditorMick Pacholli
EditorStuart Coupe (Sydney)
CategoriesMusic
FrequencyFortnightly
PublisherMick Pacholli
First issue14 June 1979 (1979-06-14)
Final issue1981
Based inMelbourne, Victoria
LanguageEnglish

TAGG – The Alternative Gig Guide or TAGG (its acronym and popular name) was a free fortnightly Australian music street press published from 1979 to 1981 in Melbourne.[1] It was published by Toorak Times, an independent newspaper started in 1972,[2] and later expanded to Sydney. [3]

History

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TAGG was founded in 1979 by Helmut Katterl and Mick Pacholli,[4] and the first issue arrived Thursday 14 June 1979, with 500 copies printed.[5]

Each issue featured interviews, reviews, and charts alongside the gig guide, and readers could subscribe annually for $10.[5] Early issues featured between 50-60 pages, but later issues expanded to close to 100 before its closure.

Mick Pacholli would later write, "It was a time when discos were taking over every major pub which had been the main stages for live music around Australia and it was very difficult to find out when and if bands were playing...I had been producing pocket sized tourist guides called 'The Visitor's Guide to Melbourne and Surrounding Areas' with my father and had also seen a need for music fans to find out where and what was happening."[6]

TAGG was Australia's earliest street press newspapers, and predated Beat Magazine and Inpress by several year, who both began publishing in Melbourne during the 1980s. After circulating in Melbourne, TAGG's pocket-sized gig guide expanded to Sydney where it was edited by Stuart Coupe.[7]

The Melbourne edition had several editors, starting with Helmut Katterl until issue #9, then Al Webb from #11-23, publisher Mick Pacholli from #28, Al Waymann from #37, and Steve Lane from #45. But not every issue of TAGG listed an editor for the Melbourne edition.

The initial editions of TAGG and The Toorak Times closed in the 1980s, but TAGG was reborn in 2015 as an 8 page printed edition and online publication.[8] The online edition remains available, and pulls event data from Facebook to keep itself up to date.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "TAGG: the alternative gig guide". SLV. State Library of Victoria. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "About Us". TAGG. TAGG. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Lowest of the Lows 6: Revolutions by the decades: D.I.Y-2-C.D." Clinton Walker. Clinton Walker. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  4. ^ "The Alternative Gig Guide - tagg - Edition 1 Movie". Toorak Times. Mick Pacholli. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b "TAGG Magazine 1st Edition June 1979". YouTube. Toorak Times TAGG. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. ^ "The Alternative Gig Guide - TAGG". Toorak Times. Mick Pacholli. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. ^ "'Tagg the alternative gig guide' magazine". Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences. Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ^ "TAGG Edition #1 June 6th - 22nd 2015". FlipHTML5. Mick Pacholli. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

Further reading

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TAGG website

The Alternative Gig Guide - TAGG - Mick Pacholli writing about TAGG

Listen To Older Voices: John Michael (Mick) Pacholli – Part 2 - Podcast where Mick Pacholli discusses his father's life and running The Toorak Times

TAGG Magazine 1st Edition June 1979 - Video of TAGG #1

Tagg - The Alternative Gig Guide - Issue No2.mpg - Video of TAGG #2

TAGG - Reborn - Video of 2015 edition of TAGG