Thanks to the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, of all people, an old on-campus prank that placed musician Frank Zappa’s name on Bridges Auditorium is getting new attention. (Zappa lived in Claremont for part of his youth and later recorded music in nearby Rancho Cucamonga.) In the paper, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist and blogger David Allen expounds on the19721975 incident that Claremont-raised Cameron Munter, ambassador to Pakistan, mentioned during his May 13 Commencement address at Pomona. Writes Allen:
Everyone says graduation speeches have few surprises, but that wasn’t true last month at Pomona College, where a commencement speaker copped to participation in the prank …
As Munter recounted it:
‘My favorite Pomona memory is a few young Claremont High School students who, in the dead of night, in the wonderful year of 1972, created a Styrofoam replica of a great musician, his name carved in big white letters in Styrofoam.
‘And those students, who shall remain anonymous, climbed to the roof of Big Bridges, and placed this … visage of Zappa, raised to the pantheon for all the world to see.’
Graduates laughed and applauded. I like how Munter winkingly brags about the prank and yet never quite comes out and says he was among those responsible. He’s a true diplomat.”
Hat tip to laobserved.
More pictures on David Allen’s blog.
