When, back in April, we first made mention on our blog of George Gimarc's intention of honoring KDGE FM's 20th anniversary with a shindig at the Lakewood Theater, one commentor noted that "the occasion only invites more tales of regret and lost opportunity." Amen, brother. Because The Edge being feted Friday night is not the one currently occupying the 102.1 frequency on your FM dial, but rather its predecessor at 94.5—the one whose playlist consisted of The Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Replacements, The The, Devo and The Stone Roses. In other words, music that, at the time and for that fabulous if fleeting moment, earned the station its moniker long before the cutting edge dulled into the butter knife that now cuts through the pre-chewed alternametal and pop-punk clogging up Clear Channel's current iteration.
Friday night's party—to be populated by the likes of Pop Poppins and the Bat Mastersons and Deep Blue Something, for whom some are surely nostalgic—was assembled by Gimarc all by his lonesome. He's the one who called all the jocks back together for one last hurrah; he's the one who paid for the party out of his own pocket. He's the last great Dallas DJ—keeper of the institutional memory and the true believer who still thinks broadcast radio can be great despite all evidence to the contrary. So if nothing else, stop by and thank him and the other returning vets for providing Dallas radio with that great last gasp, before corporations brandishing their cookie-cutters ran the Rock and Roll Alternative out the door.
