IT’S MOSH LIT #1! The 4th Wednesday of every month, 2 very Berkeley, very independent institutions Pegasus Books and 924 Gilman present an author, photographer, and/or more at the downtown Berkeley Pegasus for FREE!
We’re proud to kick off this series with Michelle “Todd Spitboy” Gonzales & her brand new book, “The SPITBOY Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band”
Michelle Cruz Gonzales played drums and wrote lyrics in the influential 1990s female hardcore band SPITBOY, and now she’s written a book—a punk rock herstory. Though not a riot grrl band, SPITBOY blazed trails for women musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, but it wasn’t easy. Misogyny, sexism, abusive fans, class and color blindness, and all-out racism were foes, especially for Gonzales, a Chicana and the only person of color in the band.
Unlike touring rock bands before them, the unapologetically feminist SPITBOY preferred Scrabble games between shows rather than sex and drugs, and they were not the angry manhaters that many expected them to be. Serious about women’s issues and being the band that they themselves wanted to hear, a band that rocked as hard as men but sounded like women, SPITBOY released several records and toured internationally. The memoir details these travels while chronicling SPITBOY’s successes and failures, and for Gonzales, discovering her own identity along the way.
Fully illustrated with rare photos and flyers from 924 Gilman & the punk rock underground, this fast-paced, first-person recollection is populated by scenesters and musical allies from the time including Econochrist, Paxston Quiggly, Neurosis, Los Crudos, Aaron Cometbus, Pete the Roadie, Green Day, Fugazi, and Kamala and the Karnivores.
For more information on the event and ordering the book: http://
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