Beats, Brews, and Community Building with James Owens of Brick Box Brewery

• From Stage to Taproom: How Jim Owens’ years as a performing musician in Tucson shaped his vision for a community-centered business.

• The Thunder Canyon Legacy: Behind-the-scenes of taking over a beloved 23-year-old brewery and transforming it into Brick Box Brewery.

• The Meaning of “Brick Box”: Why red bricks, resilience, and the Big Bad Wolf inspired the new name.

• A Venue for All: How Brick Box offers affordable, accessible space for artists, musicians, and creators—without “pay-to-play” practices.

• More Than a Brewery: How Brick Box also incubates local restaurants and fosters entrepreneurship in the downtown core.

• Community at the Core: The guiding philosophy that keeps Brick Box adaptable, inclusive, and deeply connected to Tucson’s urban culture.

What does it take to go from the bright lights of a stage to running one of Tucson’s most flexible and welcoming gathering spaces? In this episode of Life Along the Streetcar, we sit down with James Owens, co-founder of Brick Box Brewery, to explore his journey from performing artist to brewery owner, the transformation of the Thunder Canyon legacy, and his passionate commitment to building community in downtown Tucson.

James’ story is part reinvention, part love letter to Tucson, and part blueprint for what can happen when creativity, resilience, and collaboration collide.

🎤 From the Spotlight to the Brew Kettle

When James Owens first came to Tucson at 18, it wasn’t beer on his mind, it was music. Moving from small-town New Mexico to the Old Pueblo in 2002, he joined his brother, a DJ in Tucson’s early hip hop scene, and quickly immersed himself in performing. From the scrappy charm of Tucson’s smaller venues to larger local stages, James built his identity as a musician and performer, fronting a rap group that played across the city.

The Tucson music scene of the early 2000s offered him opportunity and inspiration. Venues like Flycatcher, Vaudeville, and The District not only became stages for his music, but communities where artists and audiences mingled freely. And Tucson itself, with its “biggest little city” feel, became a place where James could connect deeply, find room to experiment, and create opportunity without the overwhelming scale of bigger cities.

But as his life evolved, so did his path. A chance side job bussing tables at Thunder Canyon Brewery turned into a decade-plus career. Over the years, James worked his way from busser to bartender to general manager, gaining the business skills, and the community insight, that would eventually set the stage for his next act.

🍺 From Thunder Canyon to Brick Box: A Legacy Reinvented

Thunder Canyon Brewery was a Tucson institution, born at Foothills Mall, expanded downtown, and known for its award-winning beers and longtime role as a community gathering spot. But like many local businesses, it faced challenges: the drawn-out streetcar construction, shifting customer patterns, and the simple passage of time. After 23 years, founder Steve Tracy decided it was time to retire.

James, who had been managing the brewery for years, saw an opportunity. Partnering with Michael Nixon, who spent two years learning brewing directly from Steve, they took over the space in 2024 with a fresh vision. The name Brick Box Brewery came from James’ love of downtown’s red-brick architecture, and the symbolism of the Big Bad Wolf’s unblowable brick house: sturdy, resilient, and here to stay.

From day one, Brick Box was never intended to be just a brewery. James and Michael put everything they had into the venture. No outside investors, just grit and a belief that they could create something truly special. The space was reimagined not only for beer lovers but for artists, musicians, and community members of all kinds.

🤝 Brewing A Community-First Philosophy

At the heart of Brick Box is a simple but radical idea: the space belongs to the community. James rejects “pay-to-play” models for musicians, instead offering fair revenue splits and free access to professional sound equipment (in part thanks to a major donation from the Rialto Theatre, which gifted the same side-fill speakers once used by Kenny G).

Whether hosting a free show or a ticketed event, Brick Box is structured to ensure artists walk away with both compensation and opportunity. It’s a modern echo of the way Tucson’s music scene once worked: informal, accessible, and built on mutual support.

And Brick Box isn’t stopping at music. The brewery also serves as an incubator for local restaurants, giving chefs and food entrepreneurs a platform to test menus and grow their businesses. With in-house brewing, a distilling license, and a kitchen operated by local culinary talent, the space can pivot, adapt, and evolve as community needs change.

For James, that flexibility mirrors his own life, never boxed in, always open to reinvention, and always anchored in Tucson’s creative, collaborative spirit.

📍 Visit Brick Box Brewery

If you love Tucson, live music, craft beer, or the simple joy of supporting a business that supports its community, make time to visit Brick Box Brewery.

Address:
Brick Box Brewery
220 E. Broadway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85701

Website: brickboxbrewery.com
Phone: (520) 372-2265
Instagram: @brickboxbrewery
Facebook: Brick Box Brewery

Stop in for a pint, catch a show, or just soak in the community vibe. As James Owens says, Brick Box is about brewing connections, creativity, and the future of downtown Tucson.

Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s a bit of sun in the old pueblo, and you’re listening to Katy, TX. Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson community. Sponsored, all volunteer powered rock n roll radio station. This week we speak with James Owens, co-founder of Brick Box Brewery. It’s an exciting evolution from the former Thunder Canyon Brewery in downtown Tucson, with a deep love for beer, music, and community, James and his team to transform the space into more than just a brewery.

Tom Heath
We’re going to talk about his journey to Thunder Canyon, the decision to open Brick Box, and how collaboration is at the heart of everything they do. Today is August 10th of 2025. My name is Tom Heath and this is life along the street. Car. Every Sunday we shine a light on social, cultural and economic forces shaping Tucson’s urban core from a mountain to the University of Arizona and all stops in between.

Tom Heath
You get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM streaming on downtown radio.org. So available on your iPhone or Android with the Downtown Tucson Radio app to connect with us directly. About the show. Follow us on social media, Facebook and Instagram, and head over to Lifeline streetcar.org, where most episodes are posted there with audio and video. Plus, you’ll find info about past episodes, our book, and an easy way to reach out.

Tom Heath
Well, James Owens was, presented to me by, Brian Dall, former guest on the show here and, one of the owners in the proper shops. He and I were chatting about people in downtown, and he mentioned James, and I had no idea who James was, and he started telling me about the history and, James, his contribution.

Tom Heath
I was like, I got to know this guy. So we, invited him into the show Source Studios, about a week or so ago, and sat down and got a really great interview with James Owens of Brick Box Brewery. This is interesting because I get to walk him into the studio. I think it’s a legend who I actually didn’t know was a legend until I started a research.

Tom Heath
But, James Owens with Brick Box. You’ve been around? Yeah, for for a while here.

James Owens
Very much. Very Tucson downtown, active for quite some time.

Tom Heath
We got connected through Brian Doyle, the guy who dances on Congress, and he told me just recently that he. I think he first met you at flycatcher.

James Owens
Yeah. Yeah. So we. So I did music for a year. Still doing music. But kind of got my start here in Tucson doing music. I moved there when I was 18. And that was 2002. And, Yeah, just kind of came down here. My brother lived there at the time and wanted to pursue music, and that’s kind of I got my start down there playing it scrappy, and it was okay.

James Owens
Yeah. I’m, I’m, I’m Henry out to a theater.

Tom Heath
Still kind of there.

James Owens
Yeah. You know.

Tom Heath
It looks very much like a scrappy.

James Owens
Poker head. And every once in a while, it’s a great space. It’s a reminder to me of kind of how I got started here in town with, Cathy, the lady that ran. And she gave us a lot of opportunity and stuff, and. Yeah, then after that, we played a lot of, like, hard five and vaudeville and then, you know, flycatcher, which was prior to that.

James Owens
So quite a lot of time, doing music and being involved down here in Tucson.

Tom Heath
So you were performing?

James Owens
Yeah. So I had a rap group still have, for years. And that’s kind of how I got my feet wet. Okay. Being downtown at the venues and and things like that.

Tom Heath
So before, when you’re 18, you moved here. Where were you before this?

James Owens
So I grew up originally in New Mexico. I’m from Oklahoma, but I grew up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Okay. Outside of Gallup, New Mexico. But. Yeah.

Tom Heath
And your brother’s musical, too. So.

James Owens
Yeah. So he he we were all from small town, so he moved here and started. He was a DJ, very interested in deejaying for, like, rap groups and stuff like that. He started deejaying with a group called Red dirt Specimen, which was, one of the first rap groups here in town to win. Back then it was called the Tammy, which was, Tucson Weekly War.

Tom Heath
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

James Owens
And yeah, he got involved with them and whenever it was time for me to decide what to do, it’s my beginning of my adult life. College. I wasn’t very studious. It wasn’t in the move for me, and I wanted to pursue music. So I moved down here to join my brother and his pursuit of doing music.

James Owens
And that’s kind of how I ended up here.

Tom Heath
Fantastic. What was it? I’m just curious, because from my standpoint, when I moved to Tucson, it was, I’m only going to be here for a short time and then move on. Or did you know you’re moving here, or is this just sort of stop on the way and you forgot to leave?

James Owens
I always thought I, I knew I was coming here, I to me Tucson, either Tucson three or it’s not. I’ve always believed that, it was for me for the moment I got here. I think being from a small space most of my life or all of my life, you know, this was just big enough for me.

James Owens
But it also wasn’t so overwhelming. I couldn’t get my foot in the door. And this was kind of a great place for me to not have, a lot of resources, but to be able to generate some opportunity. So I saw that very early on.

Tom Heath
Okay, out here. But I think that’s that describes the way we referred to it as the, the biggest little town or little biggest town. But that’s exactly right. I think it’s the, it presents the right, opportunity for so many people. And I fit into that category. I don’t do well. I like a city. I like the urban life.

Tom Heath
Yeah. But I also like it in a more controlled environment. Yeah. And maybe one of the larger cities.

James Owens
And I think too, that’s a big thing for me where, here there was always if I, if I like some aspect of the city or some part of what the city had to offer, I could stick around it long enough and become a part of it. A lot of places, you know, I don’t know if there’s that much of a variety of things to do and interest to have that you can pursue and actually we’re at that.

James Owens
We’re tipping point right, where like if you, if you love to make hobby horses or gumball machines and you really bust your butt and do a good job at making them, Tucson’s a kind of place where you can actually export those out of your whole business and do very well. It’s affordable to be here. And it kind of has been, so, yeah, I just the city, I found an affinity for it.

James Owens
And I know it’s not for everybody, but that’s what I like to. This is the biggest little city I was cool with. And yet.

Tom Heath
It’s just it’s interesting to me when I talk to people a lot of times, this is, a stop along the way, and then they fall in love with it. So it’s nice that when you hit that, you recognize this is someplace I want to build, I want to be a part of.

James Owens
Yeah. I think that a lot of people are coming from places where there’s some similar opportunities and things. You know, as weird as it sounds, I love the urban decay that Tucson held when I moved here in the early 2000. There was this post, I don’t know what you want to call it, post War machine. You know, suburbia that had built up around the Davis-Monthan out there that when I moved there was kind of closing down.

James Owens
And, it’s just an interesting it was almost like this bubble had happened in the city, and then it had come back down and it’d be here. Now, at this point, whenever I feel like there’s another motion of the bubbling happening, it’s just an interesting space.

Tom Heath
Yeah. So are you sad now that we’re getting the bubbles happening?

James Owens
No, not at all. I’m. I’m very much along for the ride. I think that I. There’s something to, you know, it’s the guy that buys the old barn and then turns it into. Oh, God, you know what I mean?

Tom Heath
Yeah. So you’ve been able to see this whole progression and and now to to and now really to be a part of it. So let’s kind of fast forward a bit here and we’ll fill in the gap. But you now are part of that revitalization because you you and your partner, you be born in you. You didn’t just say, hey, what’s the let’s see what’s happening.

Tom Heath
You’re like, let’s let’s go invest and make it happen.

James Owens
Yeah. I think, so I was with Thunder Canyon for quite some time. They had bought down here and, and when the streetcar had been built. Yeah, I was before, prior to it getting built. And there was this moment of like, oh, this stuff’s about to pop. And so a lot of investment was starting to happen down here.

James Owens
And the company I worked for, the gentleman Steve Tracy, had the foresight to purchase this property when he did get his business going, but it fell on some difficult times. What’s getting, you know, things up and moving because of things? The streetcar took a little longer to get built than expected and.

Tom Heath
Well, and when the streetcar was being built, it was it was it was a process of obstacle. Yes, it was shutting everything down a year. I mean.

James Owens
You’re right in front.

Tom Heath
Of. Yeah. You’re right. Yeah. Something came through is right there. So you probably had a big fence in front of your. Yeah.

James Owens
You’re like it was. That was it was here. Don’t come in here. Yeah. And so it was you know being going through all that with them. Honestly, you know, we just got to a point where it was 23 years for Thunder Canyon. It was a Tucson start a business, up in the foothills Mall, provided jobs and opportunity for tons of people here in the city.

Tom Heath
And also provided some good beers. Yeah.

James Owens
You know, it was Steve Tracy was the highest awarded great American beer festival. Recipient, possibly as an individual in the state, if not just here in the city for sure. For quite some time. He had 13, I believe by the time he retired. Wow. Which is a really amazing feat.

Tom Heath
Yeah.

James Owens
That’s so he, you know, he he had his time with it. It was his company. It’s what he loved. But I had been there for ten, 12, 13 years. Shoot, more than that, maybe 15 years, whatever it was. And I had been a big part of that, you know, and I really enjoyed watching the company grow and morph and turn it.

Tom Heath
And your role was is like the general manager. So you were like involved with all the aspects.

James Owens
So I started there as a buzzer. So my first day I went in and bus tables and they gave me $50 cash and three free beers and some chicken fingers. And I was a traveling musician at the time.

Tom Heath
Like, I it’s a joke. I.

James Owens
I, I said, you know what? I think I just come back from a 30 city tour. No money in my pocket. And I thought, I’m going to just do this for a little while and see what happens. And then flash forward, you know, way later. I moved up to serving, to bartending, to managing. And then the last six years prior to us buying it, I was a general manager, brand manager for the company.

Tom Heath
We’re talking with, James Owens. He, was talking about his history with the Thunder Canyon Brewery and now is a co-founder and co-owner of Brick Box Brewery. They took over and, have transformed it into much more of a community space. And, also, of course, a brewery. We’re going to finish up the second part of that interview in just a moment.

Tom Heath
But first, I want to remind you that you are listening to lifelong the streetcar, Downtown radio 99.1 FM streaming on downtown radio.org.

James Portis
This podcast is sponsored by Tom Heath and the Heath team and over Home Loans. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, continue listening or head over to left on the Street Goal.com for current events and information on what to do while visiting Tucson. Tom Heath and MLS number 182420 Nova and MLS number 3087, the UK number 0902429. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Tom Heath
Yeah. If you’re just joining us, our guest today is James Owens. He is co-founder of, Brick Box Brewery. They took over for, the Thunder and Canyon Legacy down there on Broadway. And, we’ve been kind of talking about his journey to Thunder Canyon. And now we’re going to kind of shift gears into the brick box experience.

Tom Heath
And, what they’re bringing into, the downtown community.

James Owens
I didn’t have a business background. You know, my background was in music, and service was something I’ve been doing a long time. And I think kind of what made what I was doing work is that I didn’t have any kind of anything keeping me from doing weird stuff. And I’ve always thought that the Tucson, especially down to Tucson, was kind of unique and strange and quirky.

James Owens
So I set out, really when we rebranded Thunder Canyon under my guidance, it was to be weird and to do weird stuff, and it’d be more of a community space. And we did that for quite some time. We end up getting back on our feet and really rebranding quite a bit.

Tom Heath
Wanted to have the trust of an owner that allows you to do that, that, you know, they’ve got a formula that’s worked for so long. Yeah. Here comes this guy that wants to do weird stuff.

James Owens
Yeah, I’m going to put a wrestling ring in the middle of yeah, I’m going to do, you know, hardcore shows. Yeah. I think, you know, I give a lot of credit to him for having the foresight to see that I had some sort of a vision and then, you know, to the beginning of 2024 that flash forward, you know, that’s when he decided he was ready to retire.

James Owens
It’s been 23 years. And, yeah, me and I talked with my partner and I said, hey, look, I don’t like brewing beer. I don’t have any desire to do that. Love drinking and stuff, but I’m not really big on making it because it’s a lot of work. If you learn that part, you know, I’ll, I’ll cover this other part that I’ve been doing for quite some time in partners.

Tom Heath
Michael.

James Owens
Yeah. Nixon. Yeah. Michael. Mix.

Tom Heath
Yeah. So he was he had he was also so he was there.

James Owens
So initially, you know, I’d started talking to him about like, hey, I think this is something we’re going to try to do. So if you can learn how to brew from, you know, this great resource that we have, that I think we might be able to take a crack at opening our own thing. So he pretty much mentored under Steve for about two years, learning how to do everything.

James Owens
And then we finally had the discussion. I kind of just was like, one day I was like, hey, man, I’ve got this LLC. You’re actually going to be a partner in it now. So it surprised us. Not much, you could say. And it really was a conversation of, you know, within 30 minutes. I mean, just making a decision like I do a lot and just going like, hey, man, you’re going to be partners on this.

James Owens
You’re going to own a brewery in a couple of months. This is what we’re doing. And yeah, I mean, you know, grace of God, we were able to get everything lined up and happen, it really just a miracle. And I’m not really sure how it all happened. So I’ve just been holding on and pushing for the endorsement.

Tom Heath
Over a year. April, I think April 24th is when. When? Yeah, the official rebranding, which I think my favorite part was between the Thunder Canyon and what it is now, Brick box. For a brief period, it was like, Spirit Halloween.

James Owens
Yeah, that was that was my buddy Pike’s idea. We were joking about it. We were almost either we were going to do a mattress firm for Halloween store. But we were just kind of joking about how every time something we like closes the next year, it’s, spirit Halloween store for a couple of months. Yeah. So, yeah, we it was, you know, we we started the company with zero outside investment.

James Owens
We both put everything we had into it. Luckily, he was crazy enough to say yes.

Tom Heath
But where does the name come from?

James Owens
So I spent a long time trying to figure out, a brand. Right. You know, I grew up, I grew up really idolizing branding. That was done in a correct way. One of my favorite things is, a group called Wu-Tang clan. And they utilized, they call it the, like, their own bird, but it was just this image you would see.

Tom Heath
Sure.

James Owens
It was similar to like the Batman logos. You know, when you see it, you know what it is. Right? So that stuck with me from a young age. I was wanting to make sure that the branding on things, if I wanted to be bigger than life, I had to make that image. You know, that ambiguous. It could be any amount of things.

James Owens
So I just thought about it for a long time. It’s one it’s physically a giant box of bricks. Red brick in Tucson has always been downtown to me. Yeah, a lot of the buildings. Yeah. It’s also the one house that the big bad wolf couldn’t blow down. Okay, so after all these years of being involved, our model is that we’re still here, and, you know, it may not be pretty, and it may not be what everybody thinks that it should be.

James Owens
But we’re still here, and I’m still here.

Tom Heath
You can huff and puff, but you’re not going to blow us to know that.

James Owens
Going in beautiful. So that’s kind of. And then Brick Box two I think was if it’s in New York, if it’s in LA or if it’s in Denton, Texas, if it’s in Iowa, brick boxes and stuck to being one location.

Tom Heath
Right. I guess it’s.

James Owens
Very difficult to open. Saw a brewery in, you know, New Haven or whatever you know. So I think I wanted to make it something that had the ability to grow and have legs. And we’re not just a brewery. So I wanted to make sure we left some room open for that, and we’re.

Tom Heath
Going to have to talk more about the expansion on a different show. But I want to talk about what you just said, which is, we’re not just a brewery, because the thing that attracted me most when, when I wanted to schedule this interview was, I mean, I knew I knew your history with Thunder Canyon, I knew Canyon, I knew the beer.

Tom Heath
But you really have created a community space. Yeah, with brick Box. And it’s this idea of of a stage that is easily rentable and accessible. I think for a musician, that’s, that’s to me is brilliant.

James Owens
Yeah. Thank you. We I think it was less of an idea, more of a, need the, you know, like, I think that there’s moments in time when you see a window of like, hey, or you see something not doing well and you’re like, hey, I can water this plan a little bit more, they’ll do better, you know?

James Owens
And I really feel like when I moved here, there was so many venues downtown that were, you know, 100 below, 200 below spaces. And when you booked him, he hit up the old, you know, cranky bartender or like, hey, Joe, I need to play on Saturday. I got this punk show I got to do. And Joe would say, cool.

James Owens
We got it open beer or whatever, you know? And that’s how I saw some of the best shows. I’d see that I really enjoyed them when I was younger.

Tom Heath
Thank heavens for cranky bartenders.

James Owens
Cranky bartenders. But just so you know, seeing that. Right. And and seeing those places close flycatchers, the district, you know, all those places that were there providing those stages. That’s whenever I kind of had a moment of maybe I’ll just do a little one, and see what that looks like. And, and sure enough, within the first 6 or 7 months of me doing that, I was booked out for 6 or 7.

James Owens
Yeah. So I knew there was kind of that hole in it. Right.

Tom Heath
And you also, you’re flexible, super understand like the pricing is it’s based upon different like you can structure your show differently.

James Owens
We I think that our job there is to provide a space for you to and to make your vision come to life, whatever that looks like. If you come and do a free show with us. So that means no one gets charged at the door, we give you a 10% payout. So if we make $1,000, you make $100.

James Owens
I understand that’s not a lot of money, but also you haven’t come out of pocket for anything. We provide sound for free. The Rialto last year donated their side fills to us. So we now have a very capable sound system that was donated by the Rialto Theater.

Tom Heath
I take a quick pause and ask my, producer here, what does a side feel?

James Owens
So if you stand on stage and you’re an artist. Yeah, there’s stacks of speakers on the side.

Tom Heath
Okay. Got it. Okay, so it’s.

James Owens
Like a monitor system.

Tom Heath
Okay, I got you.

James Owens
So they gave that to us, which is more than we would ever need.

Tom Heath
I did see that in. And that’s a massive. Yeah, that’s a huge.

James Owens
Like the last person to play on that was Kenny G. So we’re like, cool. We got a professional.

Tom Heath
I hope the first one to Fletchers was punk.

James Owens
Yeah, we even did that. Don’t worry about that. But, yeah, I think long story short, or we do the that pay out, right? We provide sound for free if you need to make money and you need to you have a big artist come and they need to get paid. We will keep the bar and we’ll give you 100% of the door if you run it.

James Owens
So that means if you did $10 tickets, right, and ten people show up, you make $100, which is the equivalent to our free show or thousand. Right. So and there’s sky’s the limit with that. You can make a lot more money. Depending on you. Do it $30 a ticket there. If it’s somebody really you.

Tom Heath
Have to pay for the for the stage.

James Owens
No, we provide everything for free to you. The only thing that we do not cooperate with or we’re not interested in is pay to play. Whenever you charge artists to play on the show. I know that that’s how a lot of people run their businesses. If if they do that, then we charge them to be there.

James Owens
Basically, House is going to get its money before you do. So if you’re charging artist 20 bucks to to get on the show and then you have, you know, five artists, I’m going to take a percentage of that, a hefty percentage of that because I’m the one paying for the lights. I’m the one giving the sound.

James Owens
So it’s really kind of built to discourage that.

Tom Heath
Yeah. So if you if you’re doing a show, charge the door and you don’t charge your artists. Yeah.

James Owens
Then everybody wins. So it’s kind of a way I did music for a long time, and that was how business was always done, where everybody gets a piece, everybody eats and there’s no reason to cut anybody out. And so we just realistically providing a space for artists, whatever art they choose, to have the freedom to create without being, you know, charged or stuck for what they’re doing.

James Owens
And that’s just on the art. And, you know, we do a lot of other, you know, events and things like that. I think that the big thing for me was when we opened, I always tell people, we’re not a brewery, we’re not a distillery. We have those licenses. We’re not a restaurant. We have that license. We’re not we’re not these we’re not defined by these things.

James Owens
We’re a space. It just happens to make our own beer, happens to make our own rum, happens to have a chef in the back that’s running his own kitchen. I just think it’s easier to not be conformed whenever your space is fluid, as opposed to being structured as one thing. And I, I’m not one thing. I’m a very diverse person.

James Owens
And so I was my partner. And we both believe growing and continuing to change and pivot is the only way that we’re going to stay alive. So that’s kind of where our focus is at is being available backed by the community, but also able to change at, you know, any given moment.

Tom Heath
So what Jim owns it’s Brick box. People can check out your website, brick box.

James Owens
Brick box brewery. Scott. Okay.

Tom Heath
And, we’re gonna have to have you back, because what do you even get into? How you’ve been incubating restaurants and everything else. So I appreciate your time, appreciate you joining downtown and appreciate all the experience you’re putting into it. And, it’s been a pleasure hanging out with you today.

James Owens
Absolutely. YouTube. Thank you so much for having me.

Tom Heath
James Owens, co-founder, co-owner of Brick Box Brewery. And as I mentioned there at the end, they’re doing some really cool things with, incubating restaurants and giving them a place to, really kind of find their footing as well. So interesting concepts happening over on Broadway at Brick Box Brewery. And I just like saying Brick Box Brewery.

Tom Heath
You say enough times and it’s, it’s to become a little bit of a tongue twister. My name is Tom Heath. You’re listening to life along the Street car downtown radio 99.1 FM streaming on downtown radio.org.

James Portis
Support for downtown radio is provided by the Tucson Gallery, located in downtown Tucson. Instead of the proper shops at the East, Condit Street, the Tucson Gallery offers original work, reproductions, and merchandise from Tucson artists like Joe Patrick, Just Curtains, others, Ignacio Garcia and many more. For information about other artists, including when they open up at the gallery, head to the Tucson gallery.com or find them on Instagram and Facebook as Tucson Gallery.

Tom Heath
Thanks for joining us today for episode 351. Thanks to James Owens over Brick Box Brewery for spending some time with us and, sharing their vision and what’s happening over there. You know, it’s a new business. So I know if you’re out supporting local businesses, we all need a little love, especially in those first few years.

Tom Heath
So if you have an opportunity, maybe check it out, see what they’re doing, spread the word. Coming up here in just a few minutes, we’ve got Ted Brazil ski with words and work. Ted interviews writers and others from the labor movement. That’ll be coming up here at 1130. And then the top of the hour is Ty Logan, with heavy metal back and a little bit of music.

Tom Heath
And then tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., we can count on paleo Dave the Unfrozen Caveman to bring us our scrambled sunrise. I look forward to that every every morning, 7 a.m.. Turn on the radio. Well, play the app. Next week Brittany battles back. You know, she’s been on a couple of times in different roles. This is a completely different role than, we’ve had her on in the past, and, she’s joined by another superstar in our community, Ricky Hunley.

Tom Heath
U of a football star, NFL Super Bowl, I mean, all kinds of star power next week. Just incredible. Something’s going on with life long street car. People are are coming out, and, we’re getting some some fabulous guest. So is episode 351. We’ve had 300 plus fantastic interviews. But to get Britney battle Ricky Henley on the show.

Tom Heath
Oh my gosh, it’s, it’s like we’ve turned a corner. Anyway, that’ll be next Sunday. And then a special guest treat, the following Sunday, which I don’t want to give you too much on that, but, another superstar power couple, duo. And if you’re involved in anything, if you’ve got a passion, you want us to share it, hit us up.

Tom Heath
Instagram. Facebook. Contact at lifeline streetcar.org, our website. Just get out there and, let us know, what we should be talking about or sharing. And if you got social media, tag us. We’ll we’ll take you back and amplify your message if we can. James Ford is our executive producer. Amanda Maltose is our associate producer. I’m Tom Heath, your host.

Tom Heath
Our opening music is by Ryan Hood, and we’re going to close today with a group called The Front Bottoms. It’s from a 2023 album called You Are Who You Hang Out With. And, the song very appropriate for James Owens and his team over there, Brick Box Brewery, it’s brick. Have a great week and join us next Sunday for more life along the streetcar.