Ali Smiths The Ballad of Speedball Baby is a sometimes-harrowing ride poetically described in neon prose. Ali takes me to places Ive been myself as a fellow woman of the road and rocked and rolled. She brings it all back home so vividly with humor, originality, and loveand oh-yeah-that-happened-to-me-too truthfulness. Like the touring bands rite of passage: crashing in a strangers house in Where-am-I? USA and barely escaping with your life and bass guitaror bartending in an East Village dive bar. Its a special experience being a Woman in Rock, and as Alis story unfolds, shell bring you along for the trip of your life. * Kate Pierson, the B-52s * I loved reading this book about a punk world I didnt get to experience in New York City. I dont think I could have survived this dark, crazy, happy place. Im not as tough as Ali Smith. * Exene Cervenka, X * Beautifully written tales of grim outsider rock n roll, the ups and downs, and the subterraneanAli Smith writes of a completely different New York City, a dirtier time I just missed, and the fragile band bond very few have gotten right. * Nick Zinner, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs * A winning and moody memoirSmith vividly captures the eras grit and glamour without glossing over its uglier attributes, including sexism, physical assault, and skinheads. Aspiring musicians and punk fans will eat this up. * Publishers Weekly * Ali Smith is one of my all-time favorite crackpotslike Zelda Fitzgerald! * Karen Duff Duffy, MTV VJ and author of Wise Up * By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Ballad of Speedball Baby isnt just a vivid account of mid-90s Lower East Side bohemia and an unsparing portrait of what its really like to be in a band. Its also a ripping read. * Michael Azerrad, author of The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana * Conversational and engagingAn appealing book for punk fans and those interested in 1990s women musicians. * Kirkus Reviews * To me personally, no band has personified the sound of New York better than Speedball Baby since Lou Reed or Suicide. * Larry Hardy, founder of In the Red Records * Ali Smith writes artfully, with harrowingly honest vision. An unflinching look at being a female punk rock musician searching for a place to belong in a scummy mans rock world. A wild ride. I could not stop reading it. * Kid Congo Powers, guitarist for the Gun Club, the Cramps, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and author of Some New Kind of Kick *
