Freeze Flame Productions Inc

Monday, April 25, 2011

Set Backs & Milestones: The Rizes & Falls

PART 37:  Mini Biography, Vol.14: The Conclusion, Pt.5

Rise & Grind part 5, the longer this goes on, the longer the story gets... we ain't finished yet, just keep reading and enjoy.



The Autobiography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 13: 2000 & BEYOND, The Rize & Grind Era Pt.5




After their first performance, Jae Spillz & Kenjhons started working together full time, and soon came to a decision to head overseas in the coming months... It was around April 2004, when they left Toronto headed for the Philippines to focus on music. What happened next, nobody could have anticipated...

The Duo became Def Concept, as they networked amongst the industry they met a few key players in the country's growing Hip Hop Community, Mike Swift being one of them...

The following months North American Pinoy Artists returning to their home country began to take the industry by storm, Commercials, Radio, MTV Philippines, Benefit concerts that filled stadiums... Def Concept performed at the 1st annual Philippines Hip Hop awards, as did Mike Swift with his powerful words, inspiring the next wave of artists, home grown and otherwise...

Def Concept was signed to a short term Recording & Management contract with Universal Records in the Philippines... Due for at least one album.

Later that year, Kenjhons focused shifted to his Dance/Choreography... The Philippine All-Stars were formed soon after and took the Hip Hop Dance scene by storm competing and winning competitions all over the world...

It was during this time that Jae Spillz took his music production into his own hands, creating a New Mixtape name "All By Myself..."

It was shortly thereafter that Jae Spillz & Kenjhons parted ways to continue their current focuses, it wasn't long afterwards when Jae Returned to Toronto with the hope of building some Canadian/American presence since his new found associates had also returned...


..............................................


When 2006 rolled in, Studio was the new project after experiencing a slow production routine over the past year or so... Reunited, Jae & Red began building a studio in order to do their own work... stalled by previous attempts to work with other artists and producers.

They decided it was the way to go after doing more waiting than anything else... However...

After receiving a settlement for his 2001 motor vehicle accident, Red Brown was able to start purchasing equipment... it was also at this time, Red decided to make a long term decision to incorporate the company...

In March 2006, Red Brown Entertainment became Freeze Flame Productions Inc. He believed it would bring new life to the company and keep it going for the long term, legitimately.. Red Believed that the company would eventually be able to make money and by the time it did the books would be organized... Rather than doing everything at the last minute...

What Red didn't really anticipate was the cost of such as process... Incorporation costs plus new equipment purchases caused a significant delay to progress during the summer of 2006..

After finally paying his legal bill off, Red was forced to make some lifestyle changes; home, work, friends, focuses... again.

Red began working a summer job at The Docks, a local nightclub and performance venue... the networking possibilities were endless. Red met many people that were doing the same thing he was trying to do, and many others that had great potential to work with in the future...

A prominent Drum & Bass DJ from Halifax that had taken a hiatus to attend Trebass Institute in Toronto and had run into similar financial issues as Red... The two made quick friends and began making business plans...


....................................................


Unfortunately, The job was seasonal so Red needed to make yet another change in order to keep moving forward. It was near the end of 2006, Red decided he wanted to learn more about how to operate his business properly, as well as upgrade the knowledge he had already gained from Harris Institute...

By October 2006, Red had began working a night shift in a warehouse to make ends meet... this took him out of the mix with his nightclub friends... This also made the decision easier....

Red Decided to go back to school one more time, to see what he could learn that might be useful for his business and also to get out of the warehouses once and for all...

Red hoped that gaining an education in business might open up his options... So, from after Christmas 2006 and well into 2007, Red was on a grind... to make his money as needed, but also get another diploma under his belt...

Working a night shift, Midnight til 7am, then going straight to school at 8am til 1pm... he did this for the next 8 months. He didn't sleep much, but he was feeling good about his accomplishments and taking care of his young puppy at the same time...

It was tough, but They managed... Red had a few random 1 week breaks here and there, and with them Red and Jae began to plan the next CD Mixtape....

Recording had been completed for the most part in February 2007, but financing wasn't ready until April... with that they were able to manufacture a run of 500 Cds and some promotional posters, etc...

During the next few months, Red took to the Downtown streets, as well as work, school and wherever else he could access within his gruelling schedule... As the CD was titled, it was CRUNCHTIME!!

He was able to sell enough to break even fairly quickly which afforded him the ability to do some giveaways to the skeptics...

Along with some posters, Red was also able to get some Cds into the Record stores in Downtown Toronto, On Consignment, under agreement. Which means, the artist gets paid if the store sells it first, and if the artist checks in regularly...

It was surprising to Red that, even by 2007, many people were already downloading a large chunk of their music, only a handful of people were still using actual CD players...

This first came to Red's Attention while trying to sell Cds while riding the subway, introducing himself to a couple people with head phones and finding out they were listening to mp3 players and Ipods...

He still needed to hit up some of the local campus/community stations again... this was next... He got out to the big three in Toronto with stations; U of T, York & Ryerson...

Red's initial reaction and mental evaluation of the project's release was that the next one needed to be much more planned and better executed as well...

...................................................




--

Friday, April 15, 2011

Set Backs & Milestones: The Rizes & Falls

PART 36:  Mini Biography, Vol.13: The Conclusion, Pt.4

Now, I know these title may be starting to get confusing, but bare with me... We are getting close...  The conclusion wil be complete, however,  we will continue at this point for the time being.  Rize & Grind Pt.4... ENJOY!




The Autobiography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 12: 2000 & BEYOND, The Rize & Grind Era Pt.4

It was March 2003, Red started attending classes at Harris Institute for the Arts.... It wasn't long, not even a month before he realized just what he had gotten himself into.... He was seeing his vision come alive before his very eyes, all those ideas he had thought of for years now were possible...

Before long Red Brown Entertainment was born, Red had started a management company... supposed to be a school group project, but after a less ambitious partner didn't see it as real as Red did they parted ways... He was taking his industry training seriously, as one of the older students and with probably the least knowledge and experience, he felt as though he had a lot to prove among his peers...

Through an old friend, Red was introduced to an up and coming artist that was struggling to be heard and they began to work together... Red Brown & Jae Spillz now working together, began to build the vision of the company together, bringing in other artists and producers to work with... things started happening very quickly...

Red now had a subject to work with, every project & assignment was made to showcase the artist known as Jae Spillz, marketing plans, tour plans, etc... graphic design classes were used to design CD covers and other needed visuals. Red was assigned to the student run record label as the publicist, so he was able to meet and work with other talent and get some photography into the mix as well...

Red had been attending the school for at least a semester before things outside the building actually started happening... Red was able to land a volunteer internship at Toronto's Aboriginal Radio station, which happened to be only a couple blocks away...

By the second semester, with only a 2 week break, Red was full steam ahead... working full time at the radio station in the mornings, and attending classes late into the evening....

It was the second semester when Red was introduced to Music Video Production... and was given an opportunity to both have a part in writing the script for the video, and also to do a major portion of the final editing of the class project...

By this time, Red had also moved back to Toronto from Hamilton to be closer to the school and to get home sooner, etc..

With his new residence came much more drama in Red's personal life... Things that almost prevented Red from completing his program, something he vowed not to let happen...

It was during the second and third semester, that Red and Jae began a little recruitment drive of artists and producers.. A young songstress by the name of Miss Stress came into the picture for recording purposes, Jae Spills' brother D.E.U.C.E. and cousin CNS were introduced into the picture even though the process was much slower in those days... Kenjhons was a late edition to the team, but essential at the time...

..............

It was Early in the near new, 2004 , but late into Red's Third semester when they landed a performance gig and a Toronto venue along the Waterfront... Kenjhons & Jae Spillz in the early days had not realized what they created, but by the end of our programs, they both had decided to head back to their roots and Go hard on their musical careers...

Jae Spillz & Kenjhons left for the Philippines in April 2004, and started reppin Red Brown Entertainment on an international basis, while Red himself, and the others tried their best to keep the company and the artists in forward motion during their absence...

While trying to secure employment after his life in school, Red Brown Entertainment had to make a move... he left Toronto once more. Both to represent the name and take it across the country in a way...

Red was struggling financially by that time, had lost his apartment in Toronto, and had been more or less living in his car... By the end of the summer in 2004, Red had been in 2 serious car accidents in 2 different provinces, and worked in 3 provinces and drove across the country on at least 3 separate occasions, in 2 directions....

Still not completely recovered from the first accident in 2001, Red was also dealing with that in civil litigation trying to come to a settlement. He had been requested to attend a hearing in Vancouver, between his lawyer and the Insurance Company of BC. And during the week of Halloween 2004, Red packed up his car, fixed and returned to him with anything that may benefit his trip... still thinking of musical ambitions he even took a couple crates of Vinyl records...

Those records became a source of income on a couple occasions along the way, getting a rare opportunity to spin as a Dj in a couple strip clubs, unfortunately, the locations they were in weren't accustomed to hearing Hip Hop Records in a Strip club and those became short lived experiences... However, generating some much needed cash flow for the new trip...

Along the way he stopped again, in places and cities where he had known people and had current friends at the time. Thunder Bay, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, and some smaller towns in between... By the time he reached Edmonton, his finances had been exhausted...

Even before that, Red's lawyer had called him to let him know the hearing had been postponed, that was as Red was leaving Regina... So when he arrived in Edmonton, He had a forced decision to make and stayed there to look for work and a place to stay...

After a couple weeks of meaningless temp work, Red landed a job at the airport. Work wasn't even hard to find, accommodation on the other hand was the challenge...

Red found himself stuck in the city of his birth, not hating it, but having difficulty making enough money fast enough to live off... He was introduced to music scene in the city late one night just by chance. He spent any spare time he could attending shows and concerts at the cities many intimate venues where he was actually able to interact with the artists after their sets and shows, etc...


It was at these Venues, in Edmonton, where Red was introduced to the music of Toronto's K'NAAN as well as Edmonton's vast Somalian/African population...

................

He spent the next year, in an observation type of mode, looking for talent but not being able to do much for them... his own residence was changing almost monthly, and at times really had no where to go and spent the time off in his work place... waiting for his next shift.

Red was introduced to a young Metis girl, through a friend, who happened to be a country gospel singer, with quite a unique voice and a talent of playing the guitar... Much to Red's delight she was also able to write her own songs...

Red's business mind kicked in again, and after a year of struggling to meet new artists, he had one under his nose the entire time...

It was early August 2005, when Red had been hired for a good paying job, but needed to returned to Toronto to receive his training... He decided to take the singer with him for the ride, he wanted to surprise her with some recording time in the studio with Jae Spillz...

The two collaborated on what would end up being a hidden track on Freeze Flame's first manufactured product... Jae Spillz second Mixtape of that year, first in Canada...

That was the birth of the M.O.B. Trilogy "Man of Business."

...............

This CD, opened up some doors, not yet explored for the company known at that time as Red Brown Entertainment still.... Red shopped that record to every Campus Radio Station he knew of in southern Ontario in the days before he had to leave to go back to Alberta...

It was the Height of Toronto's Carabana weekend, First long weekend in August, and Freeze Flame had now given birth to physical product... Red & Jae had got only 100 copies made with cover art and all... Red took them all back to Edmonton with him shopping them along the way to more campus radio stations, in Sudbury & North Bay all the way up to Lakehead in Thunder Bay as well as some small trading posts along the way...

When He got into Winnipeg he stopped at both university campuses and delivered Cds to the radio station. He did so again in Regina, Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer and finally in Edmonton.. He also mailed out others that weren't on the driving route...

The Cds actually paid for his return trip... He planned to go back to Toronto after his brief contract job was completed in order to get back together with his now business partner....

When Red arrived in Edmonton, with the Cds, he delivered them to the Campus Radio station, that he just happened to be working at a few time a week and preparing to audition for his own show... But he also made the effort to get out to the club nights and sell or distribute as many CD Mixtapes as possible...

One night, he passed one directly to one of the club Djs, and within a couple days, one of the tracks was being played on air, on the overnight Hip Hop show...

By the end of 2005, Red had set plans in motion to start building a studio, and allow Freeze Flame to become much more independent from having to rely on others to get studio time to record get a beat made, etc... Which at times took months longer than was really necessary...

......................................................................



--

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Set Backs & Milestones: The Rizes & Falls



PART 35:  Mini Biography, Vol.12: The Conclusion, Pt.3



Here we go, Red Brown Back at it again... this is turning in the conclusion series... We do hope you enjoy the read.  More is yet to come.




The Autobiography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 11: 2000 & BEYOND, The Rize & Grind Era Pt.3

It was a few months after suffering a fairly severe car accident that Red was forced to leave his life in Vancouver behind and finally head back to Toronto... It was almost the end of October 2001, by the time he arrived back... With the help of his father, Red packed up his one bedroom apartment into his dad's van. The Three bags he left Toronto with had turned into a small truck load...

By the Middle of November 2001, Young Red Brown had caught another case, and spent the next several months struggling and stressing with his family over his Bail conditions & restrictions. He had gone from being on his own in a completely different province, to being forced to live with his parents due to legal restrictions. Red had now lost his freedom once again, and was very disappointed with himself, but felt he had a very strong defence in his current situation...

Red's reasoning for coming back to Ontario, for one was to pursue his allusive goals, gain more knowledge, etc... about the Music Industry. He had researched more school programs and become aware of a small private industry school in Downtown Toronto.... The next steps were very important in order to gain acceptance into this institution...

By Mid-February, Red needed an escape of sorts. He had planned on coming back, but needed to get away and still had over a month before his next court date, so he borrowed his mother's car for the night and told his parents he was going to a movie... And didn't come back for a week....

Red spent this time cruising around Canada's Eastern Provinces, first stop was Montreal, then he headed toward the east coast. Red ended up spending much of his time in Fredericton, NB... just relaxing and keeping to himself...

It wasn't long before the End of March rolled around, Red even with a strong defence was talked into pleading guilty to two of four charges and was sentenced to 2 more years of Probation... Red was not happy with the outcome, but he accepted it...

It was shortly after this time, that Red decided he was going to make his application for entrance into Harris Institute for the Arts, a very prestigious Music industry focused school. Many of the instructors were industry leaders in their respective fields, and various as they were all had a common goal... They all had a good sense of what needed to be done to change the industry for the greater good.

The application package requirements were pretty intensive, Red was to gather reference letters, and write an essay, among other things... but most importantly, was to secure funding before the first day...

In the summer of 2002, Red and his family were due at a wedding in Western Canada, this was a positive coincidence, as Red was planning to return to Vancouver to obtain one of his Reference letters. He approached the guidance counsellor he had met a year or so earlier... She was glad to help out, and appreciated the personal touch, but insisted a phone call would have been enough...

Deep Down, Red just wanted to go back to Vancouver, he missed it and after his recent legal troubles, he regretted even going back to Ontario at all...

With all the new found drama in his life, he wasn't happy with just having an idea... Red wanted to start doing more to make his vision a reality. He had his application done before the end of the year, and was accepted to his program. Red was to start in March 2003, but still needed to secure funding...

Since Meeting his birth mother, and with all the travel, he felt bad for not going to see her more often... Red arranged to spend his Christmas in Whitehorse, and tell his mother the good news about him going back to school for something he was really interested in....

He was away for about 3 weeks, ironically 2 of those were spent travelling by bus, sort of... That was just the way it felt..


This bus trip in the Winter months turned out to be quite an adventure in itself... after arriving in Edmonton, he found out there would be a 43 hours lay-over, and had to find a place to sleep... in that time, however, Red was able to make his rounds and visit many of his friends and Family in the city... When he went to see his Grandmother, for what turned out to be the last time... the first thing she told him was that he couldn't stay with her.... Red replied simply by saying "Merry Christmas to you too, Gramma."

While Red was in Whitehorse, and told his mother about the opportunity he had been accepted for, she was very supportive, so much so that she offered to pay his tuition... Red was truly surprised, accepted reluctantly, but was very grateful for the offer... he was so excited about being accepted that he didn't really think ahead to how he would pay for the schooling...

The Winter Road trip seemed to bring good fortune, to Young Red... He had only purchased a one-way ticket due to black out dates over the holidays, and with his stopovers in both directions he was able to wander out to some of the near by Casinos in Edmonton's Downtown core, and at West Edmonton Mall... He was able to make enough money to pay for his return trip, and buy a change of clothes along the way, as both cities were in their deep freeze season...

Immediately upon returning to Toronto, he moved out of his Parent's house into a small cheap apartment in Hamilton, and went straight to the school for his acceptance interview, where he told them he was able to secure funding and would start in March...

While looking for funding, Red had also been fortunate enough to locate an agency that ended up giving him a grant to attend the school... Red made contact with the Metis Nation of Ontario and because of his ancestry, he was able to secure not a loan, but a grant... this was such a relief to him. They would pay his tuition, directly to the school, and his living expenses on a bi-weekly basis over the next year, the entire length of his program...

That good fortune had followed him home, however, he continued to work as much as he could before his start date... unfortunately, that saving time was cut short by a work place injury, he had torn the rotator in his left shoulder working at an auto parts plant.... Painful to say the least.

When Red, called up his Mother in Whitehorse to let her know the news, she was happy to hear the news, wished him all the best in his program, and soon after began her own program to become a teacher... hers was a four year program however, with placements and what not... Red thought that was great news as well.

Red's plan was now underway, and he was pleased with his efforts...


.................................................................









--

Friday, April 1, 2011

Set Backs & Milestones: The Rizes & Falls


PART 34:  Mini Biography, Vol.11: The Conclusion, Pt.2

As we draw near the end of this story, we come to realize that it is never really over, take notice that in this conclusion of events there may be some significant gaps, or lapses in time... This is because much of these time frames has been covered already... Keep on reading... 




The Autobiography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 10: 2000 & BEYOND, The Rize & Grind Era Pt.2




It was a few months later, Red had been working at a gas station in Vancouver. Because he was the newest employee he was prevented from taking any time off over the christmas period... While working on Christmas eve on night, He decided to try something and see what the results would be...

At the time, Local gas prices were hovering around 69cents/Litre, he changed the street sign to read 96cents/litre... People seemed to flock to the station. Red's hope was that people wouldn't come at all, especially on Christmas eve.... He was later suspended...

Red's Room mate situation had also come to quick end after an altercation with a bunch of party kids, a cat, a machete and a broken ashtray... Let your imagination run wild with that for a while...

Shortly after finding an apartment for himself, only blocks away from the first, Red enrolled into a college program... Only a semester in length, but his first experience with post secondary. It was there, that Red met a school guidance counsellor that became intrigued by a Young Red & his stories of life and struggles getting out of his troublesome youth...

Red's was hoping to land a good job in a fairly popular trade in the automotive industry, painting cars, but he knew that any extra money he made would go towards his musical aspirations... and it wasn't long before things started falling into place in that regard...

In early 2001, Red had started his program, and soon after found a job at a night club, in the next city to the South of Vancouver, Richmond... This was an asian night club run by Koreans... Red thought he would stick it out as long as possible... They played Chinese music, and a lot of House, etc..

Red's experiences within the club over the weekends, were very different from what they were during the week, which was converted into a karaoke bar during the week...

It was during his trips to Richmond, where he started to find some equipment that he was in search of... Red located a store that sold music equipment, what he had been looking for was a new set of turntables to replace the ones he had lost years earlier... Red, also found a DJ supply store where he could find everything in between...

Because of the relatively mild climate in Vancouver, Red was able to keep active.. he played basketball damn near everyday, and became a regular at that Granville Island community centre court he had found the summer prior...

It was right around the New Year, when the pubic transit system in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver went on strike, all the busses stopped running, but the Skytrain ran normal hours since it was unmanned, operated by computers or something... They were also half way through the construction of a new line... that was put on hold... til 5 months later...

During this time, Red found himself falling into bad habits again, not too serious but serious enough to have to run from certain situations... Red had bought a cheap old car, for about $500, something that allowed him to get to work, and get things done...

Red was beginning to accumulate quite a large amount of equipment, so much that he was starting to look for a bigger apartment, in order to be able to set it up and use it...

In the meantime, Red kept himself busy Vancouver was a hot bed for some real nice West Coast Hip Hop Shows, The First was the Up In Smoke Tour, the previous summer, that brought Snoop Dogg, Dre and Eminem to the city, not to mention others at the after party...

While Toronto's Concert season is somewhat seasonal, Vancouver's is more or less all year round... When the artists from US West Coast weren't in town, Canadian Hip Hop Artists from across the country came into town to put on some great shows... Choclair, Swollen Members, Rascalz, Maestro, Checkmate & Concise, and many others to many to name...

Red was amazed at the climate of his new city, it was April before he saw any real amount of snow. He had attended a show on top of Cypress Mountain, a ski resort...

Some of the best underground Hip Hop Shows Red had attended took place in some of Vancouver's smallest clubs and lounges.. Hieroglyphics members, Souls of Mischief along with the X-Executioners & BUKO-1 (Diggable Planets)... Talk about fuelling a fire...

Then there was the Rahsel show, with Mood Ruff(Winnipeg), and Ugly Duckling and Pharcyde... The Too Short Boat Cruise, with The Clique (E40 & The Bay area) coming to town soon after... July 4th & Canada Day Weekend were celebrated together...

Red was pretty inspired by some of the shows he attended, one thing he noticed was a huge difference was the treatment of the fans by the artists and vice versa... American artists seemed to want to be left alone, where Canadian artists would come down after the show and jam with the crowd.... mingling, etc..

One show Red went to earlier in his adventure in the west, was one that really sparked some of the major concert attendances... Right before Red left Edmonton, Ice-T came to town and put on one of the sickest shows in a small venue inside West Edmonton Mall...

Months later, Red could have sworn he saw Ice-T out on the block.... but couldn't be sure... Red was living his life, working hard and enjoying his night life... running some ball on a regular basis... getting away with a lot of things that didn't really get much notice in this new city of his... Police had better things to worry about and to deal with...

It wasn't until later in the summer, when Red... Working up a sweat during a half court game of 2-0n-2, as a couple of those guys... the ones that drive around trying to sell home theatre system, etc... this time they had some studio monitors, that would be perfect for his set up...

Instead of paying, a few guys offered the sales guys to play for the speakers, a game of 3-0n-3. Red's group put up $600, $200/each and the sales group put up three sets of speakers... Red's group won the game and the speakers...

It was late August, while Red was waiting for a bus, wondering through a convenience store when he noticed a newspaper and a headline that shook him momentarily.... R&B singer, AALIYAH had died in a plane crash coming back from The Bahamas? What? She was damn near the same age as Red was at the time...



.........................................................................................





--

Set Backs & Milestones: The Rizes & Falls


PART 33:  Mini Biography, Vol.10: The Conclusion, Pt.1


Welcome to the beginning of the end of this story, and the entrance into the New Era of Freeze Flame.  This is the first Part, in a recap in some of the events that brought us to this point.  It is the overlap, from Set Backs & Milestones into the Decade of Development.  This is The Rize & Grind Era, enjoy!    




The Autobiography of Freeze Flame:
Vol. 9: 2000 & BEYOND, The Rize & Grind Era Pt.1




As The new millennium came about, a young Red Brown came to realize that his plans were becoming realized. He was steadily accomplishing goals on a much more regular basis, including making contact with his birth Mother in the first quarter of the year, and earning his High School diploma only months before...

It was on July 4, 2000 that Red finally realized that changing his mentality about changing his life for the better, and getting to the point where his goals were achievable would benefit from a change of venue, or a new perspective...

As he took his seat on the bus, and watched Toronto pass his eyes for the final time, at least for awhile... Red knew how long his bus pass was valid for, but that didn't stop him from thinking far beyond that... Red carried everything that mattered to him at the time, all contained within three bags. The necessities, clothes, etc.. and in his carry on, a book of Cd's and a half dozen of the latest music industry magazines... Which would all be updated along the way, adding to his collection...

He knew... As Toronto flew past him, that this new change in perspective would be a good move for his mental state as well as his business ideas. It was one of those things Red felt needed to be taken care of before he could really move forward in his new life...

Red's thoughts shifted towards more positive things, his focus on music, among other things.. it wasn't that he was a musician or anything, or even that he wanted to be. He just had a passion that was fueled by a need to change his whole lifestyle, get out of the street and into a studio-type thing. Red had applied to a college program before leaving Toronto, a school with a focus the Music & Entertainment industry... But he also made the application to the Vancouver campus, just so he had a reason to get out to the coastal city...

It was near the end of the summer, before he actually got there. Before he arrived, Red had a stop over in Calgary, where he was able to obtain tickets for the concert series he missed back in Toronto. With an August date in Vancouver, and an After party at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom... Not really knowing what that was, yet...

By the time August 2000 rolled in, Red had been to Every province west of Ontario, and met his Birth Mother who happened to live in The Yukon Territory, all by bus... travelling was another big interest of  Young Red Brown, He managed his time wisely and was able to meet up with a great number of both his new found birth family as well as members of his other family that he hadn't seen in most of his life...

So, Upon arriving in Vancouver, a city where Red had relatively little knowledge and absolutely no friends or family... he decided to explore. He stored his bags in a locker and went for a walk, and what he found he probably never imagined... He needed to check his email, so he went to the nearest library... The bus station was on Main street, the Library Red walked to was at the intersection of Main & Hastings...

The walk was only a few blocks, not that far away, but in that short time, Red was approached over a dozen times by people either looking for or wanting to sell, a variety of drugs, or simply themselves for the former... Red's mind was blown. He was completely caught off guard by what he saw, but he continued to where he was headed... The library was more of the same, inside and out...

What stunned Red further was that one of the biggest police stations he'd ever seen was on the opposite corner of the same intersection. After completing what he needed to, Red stayed in the area for a short time, and went for a walk around the neighborhood... A change in perspective? That is exactly what he got. He'd been to most places in Toronto, but never really seen such a concentrated amount of poverty and drug use in one area...

He needed a place to stay while in the city, so he went back to the bus station to get his stuff and try to find a place to get settled for a few days... Red found a brochure for a hostel in the west end near a beach...

Luckily, there was also a shuttle bus to and from the bus station. Red climbed a bored and went out to the beach hostel... It was roughly the middle of August 2000, he sat quietly looking out the window at a city he didn't remember ever being to, and took notice to the colors, something sparked a thought, this city almost felt tropical in comparison to Toronto...

Red spent the next week or so hanging out in the City of Vancouver and at the hostel... just exploring the strips and what not. He found a community center on Granville Island that he could play some basketball for free and feel like a local and less of a tourist, he then figured out where the school was in which he applied and had been accepted early that summer.. Red then called to set up an appointment for a tour, etc.

Although Red had been accepted to attend the Industry school, he would be obligated to pay the entire tuition up front, that alone prevented him from attending. The students weren't very encouraging either, in passing, quite a few of them stopped him and told him not to waste his money...

It was the night before the concert, Red was running out of his stash... it had lasted for quite awhile, but he wasn't concerned, he also wanted to get his drink on before getting to the show... This was the first time all summer he had been on his own and had the chance to party a bit, he went to the stadium concert sober, and enjoyed it, he saved his buzz time for the after party... The Commodore Ballroom was a nice big performance venue in the middle of downtown Vancouver, probably one of the nicest places he'd been... good seating and a big dance floor, not that he was going to dance... And the stage could be seen from damn near any seat in the house...

A couple days later, Red decided he'd like to head back up north to Whitehorse, this time the trip was from Vancouver, so the bus trip would be different... all the way through the mountains... By this time it was late August 2000, Red only had a couple more weeks remaining on his buss pass and was hesitant about going home, he was more interested about finding a place to live or settle in for the fall...

Although it was still summer, Red noticed the weather changing, the mountain tops already had snow, and the winds were increasing... Whitehorse in late August felt like Alberta in November... After a series of Job interviews with no success, Red decided that he wasn't going to stay in Whitehorse. He decided to head back to Edmonton and take a chance on finding a job there...

Red just wasn't ready to return to Toronto, and with only a few days left on his ticket, he really needed to find a place to stay for a little longer. He went to see his grandmother, since his visit earlier in the summer was cut short by travel plans. She always welcome him for a visit, but this time as he discussed his plans with his Gramma and his Aunt... They told him he could stay with them for awhile...

Red was able to land a job within a week of his bus pass expiring, his living situation was volatile... It was Red's Birthday in late September, when his Grandmother told him she wanted him out of the house by the end of October... It was a good thing he had already been looking for a new place to go.... He just seemed to have a feeling that was going to happen. Luckily, he found a shared accommodation in Vancouver. He decided that he would take it and was gone two weeks earlier than he had to be...

He boarded a bus, once again headed towards Vancouver... Looking forward to meeting a new friend and seeing what life would be like in a new city...

This time Red departed from Edmonton with four bags, headed to a new place, to start over again and meet some new people. Red was feeling good about the move, even though he had never met his new room mate in person... The two of them were both in need of some assistance, one, Red needed a place to live, and the other needed a room mate in order the keep her place to live...



......................................................






--