why the controversy?

[bug7889]

I ask in case i'm missing something-

I can understand the occasional raising of eyebrows at Moon Unit, Dweezil and Diva, but i really don't understand why Ahmet gets mentioned in the list of cruel kids names. I thought it was a reasonably common middle-eastern name.

Comments

[radiohaha]

One word: ignorance.

I don't know how common a name it is, but it's one shared by the founder of the Atlantic record label (now just a part of the Time-Warner-Aol conglomerate), Ahmet Ertegun. But most Zappa fans and serious music lovers would know this.

I think Ahmet's middle name, Rodon, is more worthy of a raised eyebrow, since it seems to have been bestowed upon him in honour of a scifi monstor…

At least, I think that's the case. I think I read about it in one of those books by Barry Miles that 'purports to be about FZ', that led to the need for The Real Frank Zappa Book.

But now that I google that info - the only page I come up with is my blog entry, so maybe I'm making it up.

But if Ahmet's middle name is Rodon, and he is named after a creature in a Japanese scifi flick, how cool is that? Your middle name's a geeky reference to a b-grade film? That's pretty cool nowadays, and even cooler that FZ had the unmittigated audacity to name his kid that, way back when.

Talk about being 'ahead of your time'!

[bug7889]

Yes, your right!
There's an article where he's interveiwed about his book and such, it's mentioned.
It also say he changed his name to 'Rick' at one point because 'Ahmet' wasn't original enough...? A childs logic is a beautiful thing.

Ignorance. Silly of me not to think of that. I thought maybe it was just racist.

I hear Barry Miles is good for anecdotes and such but a tad patronising. My Sax teacher has about every Zappa book there is and prefers The Real Frank Zappa, and Electric Don Quixote.