This week we welcome Ali Smith, a New York photographer, musician, and writer of the memoir 'The Ballad of Speedball Baby.' The conversation explores Ali's formative musical influences growing up in New York, her experiences in the punk scene, particularly at the iconic CBGBs, and the evolution of her band Speedball Baby. We discuss the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated music industry, the impact of signing with a major label (the band end up on MCA) & what happens when that doesn’t necessarily go to plan. Punk has often been portrayed through a very male-dominated lens, especially in music - we discuss the importance of female voices in music, back then & today, and how the experience of being in a band differed for a woman. Ali tells us how the Lower East Side of New York has changed from back then - in the 80s & 90s it was a cheap place to live which created art & culture, today it is a very different place. Ali is also an accomplished photographer, we touch upon her photographic career from her early photos at CBGBs & other New York venues to more recent book projects & newspaper assignments. It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmapsIt is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/live/Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17Blue Sky: @musicmaps.bsky.socialX: @simonmusicmapsFacebook: E17rockbookclubHosted by Mark Hart & Simon CardwellWritten & Produced by Simon CardwellEdited, mixed & spruced up by Andy Maxwell  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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