WHAT'S IN A NAME

When Harvard students think of musical groups on campus, names like Mozart or Krokodiloes come to mind. Spanking Venus is probably wont make the list. Here is a guide to some of the hands at Harvard and how they got their names:

BETTY PLEASE

Band members were inspired at an off-track betting place in New York.

"The horses were labeled with different letters and the guy at the track was telling us to bet on E," says Oliver Strauch '94. "He kept saying Bet F. please."

FAT DAY

This was a name the band chose when it decided to "become more serious."

The group was previously known as the Anything Family, mainly because they played instruments they had never played before.

"We played anything, so we became they Anything family," says Doug M. Demay '94.

He says Fat Day is "a way a more serious name."

The final choice, which came after hours of deliberation, was selective in part because a female friend once said she was "having a fat, day" when she was "having a fat, day" when she felt bloated.

FLOWBIE

This band named themselves after the revolutionary invention seen on late-night television which cuts hair.

"It's tough to come up with a name," says Michael D. Preston '95, guitarist for the band. "You don't want to sound to serious because you're a college band, but you don't want to sound too foolish either."

Flowble, Preston says, was perfect.

"it's just a cool name," he says. "It sounds goofy but there is some sort of signifcance, too."

Preston says the band has not yet invested in the $80 item, but he has cut out the magazine ad.

GOAT BOY

John Barth's book Gelles Goat Boy seemed perfect to Ross I. Markonish '93, guitarist and vocalist.

"I have the book, and I was just like, 'Goat Boy." That was it," he says.

The rest of the band members agreed, mainly because they had to decide on a name before their first glg.

"Choosing a name is not the foremost thing," Markonish says. "We needed a name and this was the best idea at the time."

HOT SPANKY PORPOISE

Even band members don't fully understand this one.

According to Eric J. Pitt '93, the band waited until the last minute to decide on a name. So they got a little help.

"We met at a bar and drank" Pitt recalls. "We thought of lots of names that were utterly ridiculous, as is the one we chose.

Pitt says Hot Spanky Porpoise "just seemed right so we went with it."

He added that once a porpoise logo was drawn, "we knew the name would have to stay."

THE PRESS

If vocalist Aaron J. Snow '93 had his way this hand would have been called McBand.

"We spent days and days trying to come up with a name," he says.

Every time one was suggested three of the members would like it and one "would give it the throw up look." It took in international crisis to solve the problem.

"War just broke out with Iraq when we were all in the Science Center," Snow and someone said, 'Oh, it's only a press conference.

"We all looked at each other and nobody disagreed, so we went with it.

SPANKING VENUS

Lend singer Jessica D. Thompson '93 says she can't take all the credit for this name.

The guys in the band wanted it, and I couldn't contest it," she says.

Commenting of the similarity of the name to Hot Spanky Porpoise, Thompson says, "We were not aware of the other name. But no one wanted to chance it."