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...
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