Michelle Cruz Gonzales

Michelle Cruz Gonzales

Michelle Cruz Gonzales was born in East LA in 1969 but grew up in Tuolumne, a tiny California Gold Rush town. She started her first band in that small town at the age of fifteen and moved to San Francisco two years later. She played drums and wrote lyrics for three bands during the 1980s and 1990s: Bitch Fight, Spitboy, and Instant Girl. In 2001 and 2003, she earned degrees in English/creative writing from Mills College, where she also minored in ethnic studies. Michelle has published in anthologies, literary journals, and Hip Mama magazine. She teaches English and creative writing at Las Positas College, and she enjoys reading her work and lecturing at colleges and art spaces around the country. She sings and plays drums in an English department band, loves to sew with her mom, even though she never thought she would, and she’s at work on a satirical novel about forced intermarriage between whites and Mexicans for the purpose of creating a race of beautiful, hardworking people. She lives with her husband, son, and their three Mexican dogs in Oakland, California.



The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band

The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band

SKU: 9781629631400
Author: Michelle Cruz Gonzales • Foreword by Martín Sorrondeguy • Preface by Mimi Thi Nguyen
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781629631400
Published: 4/2016
Format: Paperback, ePub, PDF, mobi
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Page count: 160
Subjects: Music-Punk/Memoir

$15.95
$8.95 (e-Book)

Praise

“The Spitboy Rule is a compelling and insightful journey into the world of ’90s punk as seen through the eyes of a Xicana drummer who goes by the nickname Todd. Todd stirs the pot by insisting that she plays hardcore punk, not Riot Grrrl music, and inviting males to share the dance floor with women in a respectful way. This drummer never misses a beat. Read it!”
—Alice Bag, singer for the Bags, author of Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story

“Best punk memoir that I’ve ever had the privilege of reading. In a punk scene dominated by middle-class, white males, you can’t forget Spitboy, four brave women playing music with the intensity of an out-of-control forest fire. Gonzales’s involvement and presence in the punk scene, in particular, was significant because she represented a radical, feminist person of color, and she reflected a positive change in the scene for the Bay Area. Her memoir, chronicling her unique experience and perspective, occupies an important moment in the punk saga. This is a must-read for anyone still dedicated to social justice and change.”
—Wendy-O Matik, author of Redefining Our Relationships: Guidelines for Responsible Open Relationships

“Incisive and inspiring, Michelle Cruz Gonzales’s The Spitboy Rule brings the ’90s punk world to life with equal parts heart and realism. Her story becomes a voyage of self-discovery, and Gonzales is the perfect guide—as she writes in rapidfire drum beats about epic road tours, female camaraderie, sexist fans, and getting accused of appropriating her own culture.”
—Ariel Gore, Hip Mama

“Michelle Gonzales’s punk rock account is inspiring on many levels. For outsider artists, women musicians, or anybody who has ever felt the desire to forge an identity in uncharted territory, this book is detailed, heartfelt, and historically important. Briskly told in clean, conversational prose, The Spitboy Rule is an entertaining read and functions as an important historical, critical, and sociopolitical document of pre-internet DIY music.”
—Jesse Michaels, vocalist for Operation Ivy and author of Whispering Bodies

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