The Vinyl Anachronist Reviews Tucson Salvage

Marc Phillips tremendous review of Brian Smith's Tucson Salvage: Tales and Recollections from La Frontera: "Brian Jabas Smith does have a connection to music, having spent much of his life writing songs and fronting such bands as Beat Angels and Gentlemen AfterDark. He’s led the life of an itinerant musician, living all over the country, dealing with addiction, even flirting with real success as a “national class bicycle racer.” He returned to his beloved hometown, Tucson, where he dealt with his restlessness by jumping on his bike and riding around Tucson at night and talking to everyone, mostly those “Living on the margin.” Tucson Salvage is a collection of all those columns Brian Jabas Smith wrote for Tucson Weekly, each self-contained story a stunning portrait of fascinating people mostly ignored by the folks in the nice, safe Tucson neighborhoods.

"Most of these tales are unusually compelling, but it’s Brian Jabas Smith’s prose that makes Tucson Salvage such an unforgettable read. He has a distinct style that is unusual for a non-fiction writer, a voice that’s as innovative as Truman Capote’s idea of the “non-fiction novel.” Smith truncates his sentences, sometimes omitting subjects and verbs in an economically dismissive swipe at the conventional. It would be a grave mistake to call this the best book I’ve read this year, since that number might be abysmally low. But I’ll tell you something–Tucson Salvage makes me want to buy more books, read more stories of real people, maybe even revisit Tucson with a totally different set of eyes. Highly recommended." Read the review here.