DALLAS — DJ, musician and true North Texas original Mark Ridlen -- a beloved fixture of the Dallas music scene since the '80s -- lost his battle with lung and kidney cancer on Saturday night.
He died in a hospital room filled with many of the close friends and collaborators he'd duly amassed in his 40-plus years of being among the most welcoming faces of the North Texas scene.
He was 65 years old.
Ridlen, known to many around the area by his stage name of DJ Mr. Rid, achieved nearly every achievement possible in the local music scene throughout decades he spent within it -- and as one of its greatest champions.
A music fan from a young age, Ridlen first made his name across Dallas by making mixtapes for vintage clothing stores to play in their shops. That gig led to his being hired to work at the famed Starck Club -- as iconic and historic a venue as has existed in Dallas history, an internationally acclaimed club revered for its celebrity clientele and its unabashedly drug-fueled dance parties -- upon the lamented West End hotspot's opening in 1984.
That same year, he founded his psychedelic rock band Lithium X-Mas, which (among other accomplishments) would go on to find itself alongside other revered acts of the time such as Decadent Dub Team, Course of Empire and Rev. Horton Heat on the 1990 Dallas music compilation, "Dude, You Rock!" That album helped the blossoming '80s Deep Ellum live music scene earn even more attention beyond city limits in the decade that followed.
Unlike so many of his peers of that era, though, Ridlen never faded from the local music scene.
He continued to gig around town under his DJ Mr. Rid banner. He launched a separate identity as DJ Deluxe to spin at weddings and fashion events. He co-hosted a weekly radio show called "Sonic Assembly Power Hour" on 89.3-FM KNON The Voice of the People. He regularly formed new bands, allowing him to remain an active participant in the more outsider corners of the music scene that he so proudly supported. And his long-running karaoke event/singalong party known as "Scaraoke!" stands as perhaps the most legendary event of its kind in North Texas history.
His presence in the local scene was constant -- right up until the end, even.
In late August, his annual Mr. Rid's Birthday Virgo-Go Party at the Double Wide in Deep Ellum was transformed by his friends into a benefit to help ensure he could cover his rising medical bills. In the face of his dwindling health, he made sure to be in attendance at that event.
In fact, he generally refused to let his health slow him down at all in his final weeks. He could be spotted in attendance at concerts around town as recently as late October. And at around the same time, even while enduring regular dialysis appointments after having had both his kidneys removed, he still managed to DJ at this year's State Fair of Texas -- on Texas-OU gameday, no less.
Ridlen was never one to let the dour side of life get in the way of a good time. Indeed, he never seemed to care whether he was playing to a crowd of 400 or perhaps just four. He genuinely loved music -- in a way many claim to but rarely actually do, or that they grow out of in a way that he refused to allow himself to.
He loved to discover new songs and to have new songs shared with him. If you had just that much in common with him, then you were OK by Mr. Rid.
Always a friendly face, it's no surprise that hundreds of social media reactions began pouring in as word of Ridlen's passing started to spread in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
"He was a creative force of nature, and his influence will reverberate through our community for a very long time," wrote his close friend, collaborator and "Sonic Assembly Power Hour" co-host Reid Robinson, who was among those in the hospital room on Saturday night to help, as he put it, "guide Mark Ridlen over to the big gig in the sky."
In his own tribute, Tripping Daisy and Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim DeLaughter recalled Ridlen as a trusted confidant and inspiration.
"You made our city special with your passion for taking it as far as you could," DeLaughter wrote to his late friend.
Actress Tina Parker, who owns Dallas' Kitchen Dog Theater and was a regular performer on both "Breaking Bad and "Better Call Saul", touted Ridlen on Sunday for "providing the soundtrack to a majority of my adult life," and for being a habitual connector between Dallas creatives.
"You were truly Dallas’ own version of Kevin Bacon -- connected to so many friends, from punks to society’s elite and everyone in between," Parker wrote. "Dallas will certainly be a lot less cooler without you in it."
As someone fortunate enough to count himself among those somewhat connected to Ridlen -- at least for the better part of the last almost 17 years, anyway -- this writer shares each of those sentiments.
I found Ridlen a true joy to be around, a genuine treat to bump into and a real pleasure to enjoy a good concert alongside -- or, hell, even a bad one.
To paraphrase one of the eulogies I saw written to Ridlen on Sunday, he was as cool a person as has ever existed in Dallas -- but never too cool to not be kind and welcoming to everyone interested in entering his eccentric orbit.
He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.
May he rest in peace.
