Finding one of the edges

While working on updating pages and whatnot, I came across a quote I copied the other night, and it seemed semi-relevant. The article was about the "Disney-fication" of the Times Square area, and I thought it could parallel recent discussions about whether 'modern' music should continue, as well as what the point of stepping outside of 12-tET might be:

"Every great city needs to have a fringe," he spits emphatically. "A cultural fringe, a moral fringe, for a specific reason: So you can define the mainstream and the cutting edge of the avant-garde. If you haven't got that, there is nowhere for someone to come to rebel against the strictures that are laid down by the mainstream. Whether it's politics or drinking or New Age theater, there's gotta be a place that people can go that they feel they are out of the mainstream. Otherwise everybody drowns in a cultural swamp."

Regards,
Mom