This Part III of the Syn origin story.  If you haven’t yet I suggest you read Part I and Part II before reading this.  I thought this would be the final part however there is just too much context to tell.  Looks like there will be a part iV. 

So, we moved to a little town just outside of Vegas called Laughlin.  I loved it there.  I was getting good royalty checks and making a profit playing poker.  It never really got below 70 during the day even in winter so I rode my motorcycle everywhere.  Typical day I would take my son to school on the bike, have some breakfast, ride to play poker, pick him up and then go catch late games after he laid down.  Me and my wife still weren’t intimate a lot however since I wasn’t surrounded by overwhelming sexual energy every weekend, I didn’t notice it nearly as much.  She was loving and wonderful just not a high sex drive. 

When I wrote my music, I never expected anyone to hear it and I was simply writing it for me so I never did my due diligence on clearing the samples I use.  This came back to haunt me as all the sudden my royalty checks stopped coming in.  (To this day there is about 11K still tied up in legal issues) Even the songs not in question got yanked off of all the streaming platforms and my main source of income literally dried up overnight.  Now that I HAD to win, I started playing poker with “scared money” and lost what I had put back. 

We had all assumed with all the entertainment options in the area I would have no problem finding employment.  I learned quickly being a well-known and successful club operator in Tulsa, OK didn’t carry much weight in Vegas.  I was competing against guys that ran clubs in New York and LA.   Same thing with the DJ work though I was picking up gigs at smaller venues that wasn’t on the radar of the more well-known names. 

I was telling my Dad the issues I was having and he let me know he could get me on at his job pretty easily.  It was blue color work but was with a good company.  So, I sold everything off (Including my bike) and headed back to T Town.  I felt good on the drive and along the way we stopped a few places to play poker and I won all the way home. 

Me, my wife and my son all moved in with my mom in her 1-bedroom apartment.  It was a 55 and up complex so we couldn’t stay long.   We found a 1 bedroom on Cherry ST and moved in after my first check came in.  I rented furniture from Aarons for my sons’ bedroom while me and his momma slept on an air mattress in the living room. 

People found out we were back in town.  All the other clubs had shut down and there was no place for anyone to go.  This always struck me as Ironic as the other places use to tell anyone that would listen how I was the problem and causing all the issue.  Yet when I left, they all shut down. 

The main instigator ran a club called Secret’s.  While I was in Vegas he posted an event, took thousands of dollars in pre-payment and then disappeared.  Christy’s ex got ran out of town after telling everyone his other son died and used it to get money off everyone.  My former lover tried to start her own club and no one showed up.   Karma does balance everything out in the end.  It just takes a little longer than I would like. 

Everyone is after us to start up another club.  I was adamant we were not going to do that.  I had a good job with a 401k, insurance and opportunity for growth.  There was no way I was going to go through all that stress and drama again.  I was a family man now and trying to do what’s right for my family.

Then I got laid off. 

For those that don’t know I have a felony on my record.  When I was running my mobile DJ company my house got robbed and I lost everything.  I bounced some checks to get equipment to cover the gigs I had booked.   I ended up doing 8 months in prison for it. 

So, at the time for me to score a “normal” job is pretty hard.  Former customers, my wife and even my mom are pressuring me to open another club. I have a son I need to provide for and I can’t seem to get a regular job. 

Connie had bought the strip club while we were in Vegas.  Christy had gone to work for her and was now managing the strip club.  Connie just had bought the bar and was asking me to host events there to try and get business going.  I still wasn’t biting until the space opened up that is now the Naughty Room. 

I thought “man for one price you get access to the club, strip club and naughty room that could be something special.”  So, I caved in and agree to open the club.  I called my Dad that night and told him.  I said “I’m probably making a mistake but I don’t see any other choice.”  We opened in May 2014 and by Father’s Day 2015 my marriage was over. 

Our last club had a pretty neat Naughty Room.  You looked down from the second floor into the room. We made it a jungle theme with vines, fountains and a private bathroom.  It was very nice but I always wanted to have an attendant down there to change sheets, bring water and just in general watch things.  Christy always pushed back as she didn’t want to pay the extra staff. 

This time around we were going to do things exactly my way or we weren’t going to do them.  I can’t give Christy enough credit here.  I laid down some stiff terms on how much rent had to be, securing financing and how many times a month we were going to be able to do a bar takeover.  If it wasn’t exactly what I wanted I was going to walk.  She got it all done.  The room was also trashed when we got it.  She cleaned it up did all the painting and worked really hard while I watched our son and started doing the marketing. 

I can’t tell you exactly where I got the name Syn from.  It’s been in my mind for years and I was always saving it should I ever open another club.  My favorite Nine Inch Nails song is Sin and I’m sure that influenced it.  I wanted that feel for my club.  Dark, sexy, forbidden.  Obviously, I didn’t quite get there but that was the direction I was wanting to go. 

Why I decided to spell it like that I really can’t tell you.  The most important thing to me after running GD for all those years was something unique. I HATED that my club was named after another club, and wanted far away from that as possible.    I had a friend do the logo and didn’t come out exactly what I asked for but I loved it.  I love the name and the logo.  It sums up the vide and direction I wanted in the club even if I’m not quite able to achieve it.  I’m sure there is somewhere a club called Syn, but I couldn’t really find one anywhere.   There is a band that spells it the same way.  Ironically, I never listed to them. 

I did find a couple of you tube videos that that are labeled Sin and Syn Tulsa but they are years before we opened and not of my club.  I can’t find any information more then these 2 videos. 

People really get confused on the name.  Ask me what does S.Y.N mean anyway?   Or if I named it like Sin or like Synergy or Synthesis.  For a while I played with the name “House of Syn.”  I think on google maps that’s still how we are listed. 

I branded the Naughty Room NR2K.   It stood for Naughty Room 2 Thousand which was supposed to been the budget for it.  I had concerns about the bar and I wanted people to know that the room and the bar were separate entities. 

Now a days most of the clubs have a pretty nice playroom.  At this time that was not the case.  Most still didn’t even have a play space and if they did it was pretty forgettable.  I wanted our room to be the crown jewel and really be better than anything anyone had seen before.  Other clubs have pretty much caught up now and similar rooms are the standard.  It was way above anything else when we first opened.  This was the room I had complete control of and I wanted it to be amazing. 

Michelle was the first staff member I ever hired.  She was the first one to really run the Naughty Room.  I had several interviews that day and made sure my wife was present for all of them.  It was important to me that I conducted the interviews professionally.  That the ladies understood that even though they would be working in a sex club I was a professional and not just some sleazy swingers club owner. 

This threw Michelle off a bit and at the end of the interview asked.

” So…. you want to see my tits?”  

Of course, we did.  She was already hired before that but that sealed the deal. 

All the work was done now it was time to open.