As part of the introduction to the TAG book, I would like to write a very brief history of TAG. The problem is, I don't know much of the history... does anyone out there know stuff like who the Founder(s) were, first members, year it was started, and other info like that?
Rick, it was an offshoot of Brent Anderson and Joe Chiodo wanting a life drawing get together. Joe left very soon after it started. Brent back to Marin county about a year or maybe less later. This would almost date from when I got there in 1986 but call it 1987.
ReplyDeleteMe and Maurie held it in our apartments a couple of times apiece and then Jeff and I got the downtown Candy Factory loft and the party really started. Probably what everyone remembers best was that short period where we had that ideal space and had all the Denny after parties. Probably counting up the total number of Tag Jams would give an idea how long it went on. The Blog has been going on 10 times the amount of time as the get together Tags. Jeff Ranjo started the Blog. A decision he regrets to this day.
Shel Dorf was the main conduit on how people became aware of Tag. Passing along to his many contacts there was a comic book-centic group regularly meeting on Tuesdays for life drawing. And that with a single exception they were a tolerant and fun loving lot.
Awesome! Thanks so much for this! Terrific background!
ReplyDeleteWasn't Ed Brubaker a TAG guy? He wasn't part of the mix when I was in the group, but I seem to recall hearing stories.
ReplyDeleteI'll just off the top of my head try and catalog who I remember.
ReplyDeleteBeata,
Maurie,
Dianne,
Megan,
Scott,
Joe Caporale,
Shel,
Ed Brubaker,
Mike Christian,
Jeff Ranjo,
Me,
Brent,
Joe Chiodo,
Ron Thompson,
David,
Eric S,
Rick S,
Ben Montag,
Henry,
Dave Descouteau,
Dave-(?) Friend of Jeff's that went back to Texas to farm.
Couple of others.
I'll let other people fill in any chinks I left open.
Ben Herrara for a bit.
ReplyDeleteThe guy that had his car broken into twice. I think his name started with an M. Worked with lightwave, was a writer. Who am I thinking of? Won't come back to me.
I think Dave's name was Freeman , right?
ReplyDeleteI looked at Baby Boy names starting with M. None of them rang a bell so I'm probably wrong about his name starting with M.
ReplyDeleteReg.
ReplyDeleteI assume that's Reggie. Makes perfect sense. Reggie was in Archie comics and he had a friend named Moose.
That's all I can come up with.
Your friends Dan and Dianne
Here's what I want to put in the book as an introduction:
ReplyDeleteTAG stands for Tuesday Art Group. It was started by Brent Anderson and Joe Chiodo in San Diego in 1987 as a life drawing group. It grew into a loosely connect community of illustrators, comic artists and game artists who would get together to draw and talk shop. In those days we meet on a weekly basis and after our usual bull session we would go to Denny’s afterward for more bull.
TAG went strong for a while, but then members started getting married, having kids, moving to other towns and TAG meetings began to get more and more thin. During this period, TAG lived on as a blog that Jeff Ranjo started up in 2005 and was (and still is) an important lifeline for the group (tuesdayartgroup.blogspot.com).
Years later when I moved to Seattle, I realized that I missed TAG but couldn’t find something like in Washington. And so TAG has been reborn in the PNW. The group has been blessed with an amazing talent pool both past and present.
TAG is still going strong, now with monthly meetings and with a fantastically talented and friendly group of artists and illustrators. The book you now hold in your hands is an expression of some of the talent of the group… and perhaps a taste of some of the collegiality and fellowship that still gets expressed in monthly meetings and daily on the blog.
Great condensed intro
ReplyDeleteIT WAS Dave Fenderson
ReplyDeleteFenderson sounds too much like a slave name.
ReplyDeleteSlave name????? What possessed you to even say that? It's Dave Fenderson.
ReplyDeleteAnd the other was Reg Mizzel
ReplyDeleteBecause my earlier bad recollection was obviously slave name sounding.
ReplyDeleteAha! There was an M name in Reg's name.
ReplyDeleteAnd online Baby naming institutions should note the absence of Mizzel as an "M" baby name.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget JIM GORHAM!
ReplyDeleteAnd JIM BUSIKE.
Deane DuCharme is the correct spelling. And Dan Sillars.
Isn't Marty a TAgster?
Rick, did you mean "congeniality" in the last sentence?
TAG blog contributors would include TOM MOON, TOM CARROLL, DOK WHITSON, KALI F, ...
ReplyDeletePatrick?
ReplyDeleteRick's intro leaves out all the personnel of Tag membership. It was an early bit of content contribution. But wise to leave out. Glad you came up with Jim Busike. He was around. I left out Blog members as it seemed to be about origins.
ReplyDeleteRick Johnson and Roger Robinson also attended
ReplyDeleteCollegiality is "the cooperative interaction between collegues" and congeniality means "friendliness or sociability", so I think either will work.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe we don't cooperate that much, do we?
I like it when Beata talks about words. Words are cool.
Yeah, I'm not looking for a comprehensive list of every single person who showed up for TAG meetings or have contributed to the blog, just the originators.
ReplyDeleteI probably will a list of notables who have attended... the books is likely to be sold at Cons and it would be useful for people buying the book to know who among the names they might know have been to TAG. Here's the list I've compiled so far:
Scott Benefiel
Maurie Manning
Royden Lepp
Eric Shanower
Brent Anderson
Jeff Ranjo
Nate Simpson
Moritat
Roger Robinson
Rick Johnson
Shel Dorf
Ben Herrera
Ed Brubaker
Kevin Hanna
Joe Chiodo
Tom: Yes, the word I wanted to use was camaraderie.
"will INCLUDE a list of notables who have attended IN THE PAST" is what I meant to say.
ReplyDeleteHey, this sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteSorry, been offline....I'm headed home tomorrow. Happy New Year, people!
Rick.
ReplyDeleteBuncake at the top? Sheesh. Come on.
Happy New Year Marty. Glad you made the Christmas trip successfully. Those can go badly.
Ellis, Bart Bush said you can contact him at bbush3@cox.net. Hook up with the geekdomn in Okie Land.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that in Ellis's off-the-top-of-his-head list of Tagsters, he named all women first.
ReplyDeleteThey're actually listed in order of sexiness Tom. I had to use a coin toss when I got to Joe Caporale and Scott.
ReplyDeleteMy list is not in any particular order... In the interest of fairness I will be changing it to alphabetical for publication.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year folks!