I'm Too Ugly for MTV

The Beatoes
"I'm Too Ugly for M-TV" b/w "Unemployed Total Videoid Blues"
(UK Spud Records, Baltimore, 1986)

On the way out of Normals bookstore this past Saturday, Rupert pointed out this 1986 single by the Beatoes, the band representing the writing partnership of Chris Dennstaedt (Poverty & Spit) and the late, great Mark Harp (Mark Linthicum, aka "Harpo" and "Corky Niedermayer"). What a score! It was another release from UK Spud Records, the same label as my ex-band Thee Katatonix. (Insert sound of thunderous silence here.) The 45 sleeve was designed by Mark Harp and "Aziza" - the latter being ertswhile Katatonix chanteuse, keyboard player (and girlfriend) Aziza Doumani.

It seems that every time Amy and I drop by Normals, we find some trace of her ex-husband Mark Harp lingering there. In previous visits, I scored the Cabal LP (Harpo's band after Null Set - basically Null Set with a name change), while Amy scored Mark's Insane! CD. (Amy suspects that the three Art of Noise records we saw there were also probably from Mark Harp's vinyl collection, as he was a huge Art of Noise fan.) Among the many players listed on the back is Ceil Strakna (Boy Meets Girl, Big As a House), erroneously listed as "Ceil Stranka."