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Ali Smith
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The Ballad of Speedball Baby: A Memoir Kindle Edition

by Ali Smith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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The Ballad of Speedball Baby is the thrilling, extremely funny, and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable story of Ali Smith—coming of age in ’90s New York—who commits to the messy, exhilarating life of a musician and must survive the slings and arrows society reserves for women who refuse to comply.

As an only child reeling from the demolition of her parents’ toxic marriage, the New York City underground music scene offers a young Ali a different family of misfits and talented outsiders to belong to.

She becomes the bass player for edgy band Speedball Baby, a decision that will take her around the world—from onstage at the legendary CBGBs to the red-light district of Amsterdam. She’s often the only girl in a broken-down tour van, being strip-searched at the Croatian border, chased by lunatics, and navigating the seedy underbelly of a male-dominated music scene full of addiction, violence, and misogyny—all while keeping her sharp wit and dark humor intact.

Rimmed with heavy black eyeliner and smelling faintly of cheap booze, The Ballad of Speedball Baby is a pulse-quickening, unpredictable ride through the ’90s music scene—alternately terrifying, hilarious, and painfully evocative—as well as a love letter to the power of female solidarity.

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  1. Print length
    259 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    January 16, 2024
  5. File size
    6690 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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From the Publisher

The Ballad of Speedball Baby by Ali Smith

The Ballad of Speedball Baby by Ali Smith

The Ballad of Speedball Baby by Ali Smith

The Ballad of Speedball Baby by Ali Smith

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beautifully written tales of grim outsider rock 'n' roll, the ups and downs, and the subterranean...Ali 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

"I loved reading this book about a punk world I didn't get to experience in New York City. I don't think I could have survived this dark, crazy, happy place. I'm not as tough as Ali Smith." --Exene Cervenka, X

“Ali Smith is one of my all-time favorite crackpots -- like Zelda Fitzgerald!” --Karen "Duff" Duffy, MTV VJ and author of Wise Up

“Ali Smith’s The Ballad of Speedball Baby is a sometimes-harrowing ride poetically described in neon prose. Ali takes me to places I’ve 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 love -- and ‘oh-yeah-that-happened-to-me-too’ truthfulness. Like the touring band’s rite of passage: crashing in a stranger’s house in Where-am-I? USA and barely escaping with your life and bass guitar…or bartending in an East Village dive bar. It’s a special experience being a Woman in Rock, and as Ali’s story unfolds, she’ll bring you along for the trip of your life.” --Kate Pierson, the B-52’s --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

The vibrant style ALI SMITH has brought to her writing and photography -- featured regularly in the New York Times, The Guardian, and other publications internationally -- was forged in New York’s underground music scene where she played bass in the seminal punk / blues / avant-garde band Speedball Baby. After touring worldwide and recording nine albums, Ali released two books of photography about women’s lives. The first, Laws of the Bandit Queens, led to a feature on OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s television network. The second, Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, won a Silver IPPY and an International Book Awards prize, was praised by the New York Times, and Gloria Steinem called it "a gift to moms." With a passion for telling women’s stories, Ali’s memoir, The Ballad of Speedball Baby, is her literary debut.

Learn more at AliSmith.com and @mommaloveAli on Instagram.

--This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CFDL1B1Z
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Blackstone Publishing (January 16, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 16, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6690 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 259 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

About the author

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Ali Smith

Ali Smith

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Ali Smith is an award-winning photographer and writer whose work is regularly featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, and many more publications internationally. Her book Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives won two international book awards and was praised by The New York Times and Gloria Steinem who called it “a gift to moms.” Ali has taught, lectured and exhibited at The International Center of Photography, NYU, and many galleries and institutions worldwide. With a passion for telling women’s stories, Ali forged her vibrant artistic style in New York’s underground music scene where she played bass in the seminal punk / blues / avant-garde band, Speedball Baby. Her memoir, The Ballad of Speedball Baby, is her literary debut.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
25 global ratings
Page-turning, thrilling & deeply moving memoir!
5 Stars
Page-turning, thrilling & deeply moving memoir!
I finished this timeless page-turner in two days.Ali Smith evokes vicarious thrills, gut wrenching pathos and deeply personal revelations about her time in the NYC underground music scene during the late 1980s and through the 1990s/early 2000s with passion, grace and fire.Having lived a similar lifestyle myself, it strikes me that Ali (and all women in the scene) had it rougher than the rest of us. But Ali doesn’t want our pity - she faces that reality with unapologetic fearlessness, while holding a confrontational mirror to everyone in and around the scene.Don’t sleep on this skin-tastin’, love-wastin’ memoir by a true original who is so confident in her voice that she’ll bring you along in her grandma’s vintage suitcase even if you’re not cool enough to handle it!
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Top reviews from the United States

Stephen Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular piece of writing!
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2024
Verified Purchase
An up-to-date version of George Orwell's 1933 memoir "Down and Out in London and Paris." (And, as an aside, astonishing to see how far away we are from the days of CBGB, Studio 54 and bands like Smith's Speedball Baby.) A brief trip in a time machine to visit a world that seems as long gone as the world depicted in "Sweeney Todd" (originally a 'penny dreadful' set in 1785). The lady has a keen eye and a devilish pen. Delightful!
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KB
5.0 out of 5 stars So much more than just 1990s NYC rock n' roll
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
When I got home from work, the book was waiting for me at the front door. I started reading after dinner, Five hours and one restroom break later...I finished it. Loved it.
It was a wonderful blast from the 90s rock past. In addition to being great writing with some great stories - it was a wonderful bridge to a place and time in my life that I don't think about enough these days.
Some things Ali wrote just brought me back to the second half of the 90s and my younger self. She does a great job of describing and filling out the personalities of the other individuals in the story.
I laughed out loud (more than once), and it's written in a way that flows - I always wanted to get to the end of a story or anecdote...and then needed to keep reading to find out what came next.

It was a great read and a wonderful end to my day.
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tcnyc
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read into an interesting life!
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
This is a really great book that I was looking forward to getting! Ali Smith has been on the New York City scene for a long time, and it’s really great to get such an insight to her life during the period in which she writes about! Fascinating read full of familiar faces and friends! I highly recommend this book about rock ‘n’ roll and a personal journey! Great stuff! Thanks, Ali!
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Fashion Animal
5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book NOW!
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024
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I couldn’t put The Ballad of Speedball Baby down. Ali Smith’s writing takes you on a (literal) journey, all over the USA and then Europe while touring but also, on an emotional journey. Her writing of searching, loss, healing and acceptance, from a girl to woman born and raised in gritty NYC hits you in the gut. There are laugh out loud moments too. Buy it for yourself and one for a friend… especially if they too dream of a world bigger than their surroundings
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Kyle F
5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2024
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I've read all of Ali's book and they keep keep better and better!! Which I didn't think was possible.
I read this in one day, laughed and cried experiencing those incredible days of our youth all over again.
This is a must read and Ali's writing will take you back in time.
Bravo Ali!
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Robert W
5.0 out of 5 stars More fun in the old world
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2024
Verified Purchase
A beautiful impressionistic take on being in a pre internet underground band touring in a crappy van. She shares all the triumphs, trepidation, indignities, and camaraderie that’s goes along with those times. Not just a listing of shows and events or simple journal entries. I loved it.
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luiz R.
5.0 out of 5 stars A roaring, gutsy read
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
Ali SMith's writing has a music of its own. A great, speedy read that will take you back to a time that was just 2 decades but feels like forever. Buy a copy for a friend, it's great.
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Katrisa Bischoff
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2024
I did not know who Speedball Baby was. I kind of picked this up on accident because I saw the name and thought it was an Ali Smith book (like Ali Smith who wrote the Seasons tetrology), but I really enjoyed the book (even though it was the wrong Ali Smith).
This book has a lot heart. Ali is funny and her vignettes of touring both America and Europe span a wide range from scary to sublime. I liked that this wasn't just a book filled with party/drug stories. I mean, of course there is some of that, but it isn't the focus. I found myself wishing I could see some of the photographs that Ali mentions taking. So basically you don't have to know anything about the band Speedball Baby to enjoy this memoir.
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Top reviews from other countries

Davi AckoAmazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Life in a style uncompromised
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2024
Verified Purchase
An excellent read and total recall from days gone bye
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