From Chaos to Community: Craig Akey's Transformation - One Tattoo at a Time

Craig Akey, owner of Empire Tattoos in Oklahoma City, has lived a life that could easily be the plot of a riveting drama. Raised amidst the chaos of his father's drug dealing world, Craig found a guiding light in the powerful women around him, especially his grandmother. Overcoming addiction and crime, Craig's story is one of redemption, set against the backdrop of a newly legalized tattoo industry in Oklahoma. Discover the pivotal moments of his life—like the birth of his first child—that inspired him to break free from his past and become a respected figure in his community.

Craig's journey from a tough upbringing to business ownership is a testament to mindset, personal growth and resilience. After reconnecting with his mother and receiving a lifeline in Blanchard/Newcastle area, Craig turned his life around, learning new values and work ethics along the way. Despite facing relapses and legal troubles, his determination to change was unshakable. From drywall to tattoos, he shifted careers with the help of mentors, facing the challenges of a newly emerging industry with an open mind and a commitment to improvement. His journey underscores the profound impact of family dynamics and personal choices on one's path to stability.

Beyond his personal transformation, Craig is deeply committed to community and creativity. With ventures spanning his Low Rider community, fitness industry, and tattoo subcultures, he fosters a collaborative environment among artists and gives back through charity events and community support.

His story reflects the importance of breaking generational cycles and finding strength in adversity. Listen as Craig shares how embracing individuality and surrounding himself with supportive communities has shaped his life, allowing him to uplift others while celebrating the small joys amid life's challenges.


Empire Tattoo- 2600 S Meridian, OKC 405-600-9475-Owner/Craig Akey 
...along with some amazing artists! Please go check them out!!!  Support your local tattoo artists!

Transcript

Life Transformation From Rock Bottom

Speaker 1 1:12

Good morning and welcome to Breakfast of Choices life stories of transformation from rock bottom to rock solid. I'm your host, jo Summers, and I am here this morning with my guest, craig Akey. Craig is the owner of Empire Tattoos here in Oklahoma City. Craig is just one of those all around well-respected, decent men who you know. At a certain point, you're no longer just a product of your environment or upbringing, but the way you choose to operate becomes your personal responsibility, and I just think he has a great story how he was brought up and how he has chosen to live his life and just be in this world, and that says a lot about him as a person and just really shows that you can do awesome things, no matter what your start looked like, and I again am really excited to have Craig here today. Hey, craig, how are you?

Speaker 2 2:12

I'm good. How are you?

Speaker 1 2:13

I am doing awesome today, super happy to have you here. I know you're a busy guy, so I thank you for your time this morning on a Sunday. I appreciate that very much. Well, I'm glad to be here, thank you, so tell me a little bit about yourself. Are you from Oklahoma City?

Speaker 2 2:30

Yes, I'm from the south side of OKC. If anybody knows Oklahoma, you know it's a little bit different of an area. Yeah, yeah, born and raised.

Speaker 1 2:40

Born and raised, so been here all your life.

Speaker 2 2:43

Yes.

Speaker 1 2:44

Okay, so how did it start out for you on the South Side?

Speaker 2 2:47

Where do I begin?

Speaker 1 2:49

Where did all the fun start and how'd you get where you are today?

Speaker 2 2:52

Well, I started in a nice family, I guess. Guess you could say, at the beginning of things, you know, uh, I was the first born child and mom and dad were around, we had good times. And then, uh, a few years go by, my little sister was born. She's an evil little shit. She ain't gonna like it that I said that, but I love her to death. But because of after all that I guess I was probably around like 11 or 12 or so my parents split up. Once they split up, I had the choice of who I wanted to live with which is something.

Speaker 2 3:36

you really shouldn't give a choice to a kid Right. My mom would have been the better choice at the time. I didn't see that.

Speaker 1 3:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:47

I wanted to stay living in the city with my pops and that's where I chose. My pops had always been like a dope dealer of sorts. Growing up he was always like selling weed and stuff, you know. But then once my parents split up, everything kind of switched and he went all out getting into a lot heavier stuff, you know.

Speaker 1 4:10

Yeah. Were you 12?.

Speaker 2 4:13

Somewhere around there. I may not be exactly right on the year, that's okay, I'm an old man now so it's hard to remember. Yeah, let's see. My pops and my grandparents had two houses right next door to each other. It was basically the same property. So my grandparents were dealt, was helping me, helping my pops raise me and my sister. A couple years go by, my grandfather passes away due to cancer. That's funny.

Speaker 2 4:43

And that's really when the family just went in wild directions. You know, my grandfather was the one that held everything together. He was the strong role model in the family. Yeah, my pops got into the meth game, like cooking meth and stuff. After all, that happened, which really turned life around for everybody involved.

Speaker 1 5:14

Yeah, that kicks it into high gear right there. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 5:16

The house was gear right there. Yeah, definitely. The house was open to everybody 24 hours a day and you know everything from junkies on the streets, from junkie strippers living with us Junkie strippers Gotta love the strippers, but the house was always full of people all the time, which caused me to run the streets. My pops didn't really care whether I was around or not, so I was running the streets with a bunch of my friends. We were all little hoodlumps doing a lot of things that we shouldn't do, things that I'm not proud of nowadays.

Speaker 1 5:52

I understand Been there.

Speaker 2 5:54

I didn't know any better as a kid.

Speaker 1 5:56

Yeah, so you didn't really want to be at home then. It wasn't really your safe space to be at home no, yeah, no, no, no, yeah.

Speaker 2 6:06

I was out running the streets every day with my friends. Definitely, I came home when grandma told me dinner would be ready and I tried to be late, but my grandma tried to hold everybody together as much as she could. She was a really strong woman. I can definitely say I've had a lot of strong women in my life that have helped me through everything. That's awesome Men. On the other hand, I haven't really had no good role models, so there was no one to knock me upside my head whenever I was doing wrong.

Speaker 1 6:36

I totally get that. I am the strong role model for my son and that can be hard.

Speaker 2 6:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:41

He has a dad. I mean he has a dad but he's not 24-7. You know what I mean. He's consistent, as he can be, but he lives with me and I am the role model and that can be really hard.

Speaker 2 6:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:57

I'm raising a man man and you know, so you know it can be tough.

Speaker 2 7:01

Definitely. But you know, being there for him is a huge thing. Yeah, for sure, like I said, I've had a lot of really good women in my life that have helped take care of me and push me in the right direction, you know.

Speaker 1 7:14

That's good.

Speaker 2 7:16

You need a good, strong woman. Yeah, it definitely is. If you can hear any snorting, it's my dog. He's nosy. Let's see Running the streets and everything like that. That was things that a kid shouldn't have been doing at 12, 13, 14 years old.

Speaker 1 7:33

Yeah, 10 years old.

Speaker 2 7:34

Yeah, I didn't like going home because the house was filled with junkies and my pops was cooking dope and you can smell it all the way to the corner.

Speaker 1 7:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:44

It was a rough place to be. Let's see, I was doing a lot of things that I shouldn't have been doing.

Speaker 1 7:51

Yeah, I understand.

Speaker 2 7:53

I understand. Then I went to jail and Juby. I went to Juby a few times Just just doing stupid shit, run around with other kids. Nobody had real guidance. We were all doing stupid shit that we shouldn't have been doing.

Speaker 1 8:12

You're good.

Speaker 2 8:13

The life wasn't good, though, you know, did you feel like it?

Speaker 1 8:15

was then, because you know you're 12, 13,. You're getting to't good, though, you know. Did you feel like it was then? Because you know you're 12, 13, you're getting to run around, do whatever you want. So at the time you're feeling like shit. This is awesome, right? Because you're doing you.

Speaker 2 8:26

Yes, absolutely Honestly. I thought that that's how life was. I didn't know that it was any different back then. I thought that everything that was going on around me, that's just how everybody lived.

Speaker 1 8:39

Right. Yeah, how do we know right, how do we?

Speaker 2 8:41

know we're growing up into what we know. Right and all my pops really ever taught me was to hustle. You know the illegal way. He never held down a job. I can only remember him having a job maybe for about two weeks out of my whole life. He didn't work like that.

Speaker 1 8:57

Yeah.

From Addiction to Business Ownership

Speaker 2 8:59

Now I'm not going to say he wasn't a good father. There was definitely times where he was a stand-up man, but it was mainly all before all the heavy drugs came into play. Yeah, yeah, and around that time I also, as a hard-headed teenager, I stopped talking to my mom and seeing her, which I know that had to have been hard on her. I didn't see her for several years. The only time I did see her was on court dates. When I had a court date she would always show up and be there. I didn't talk to her much as a hard-headed teenager, but after I grew up I started to understand more as a parent and understood what she was doing, why she was there. My pops wasn't even there at my court dates. I was driving myself in his truck to court when I didn't even have a license.

Speaker 1 9:55

Yeah, it definitely shows you who's there for you, though, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 9:58

It does, but a lot of times you don't see it at the time or don't want to see it. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, you know. But then later on in life I guess probably around like 18, 19, a little more grown up but I still hadn't left the streets as far as doing the things that I was, I was doing and I was I was still still doing things in the streets, selling drugs and shit like that. You know shit that I shouldn't have been doing. Uh, probably about, like I said, around 19, I think it was. Um, I was living at a hotel selling dope. Out of the hotel, the hotel room ended up getting raided. When I got raided, they didn't really find anything on me, just some weed charges, and then I had like some back traffic warrants or something like that. They went and took me in. I had like some back traffic warrants or something like that. They went ahead and took me in.

Speaker 2 10:57

Then I'm looking at I don't know several months of being locked up. Is what I was supposed to be doing? That's when I let me backtrack about I don't know. Probably a couple weeks before I got locked up, my mother came around and was trying to talk to me. I went and had dinner, me and the girl I was with at the time. We went and had dinner with my mother and the man she was with at the time. She knew I was pretty bad off at the time. So once I got arrested I didn't have anyone that was going to get me out. So I started trying to reach out to my mother. I barely remembered her phone number. I was calling numbers out of jail that just sounded correct until I got the right number, you know. Finally I got a hold of her and you know she told me that she would help get me out. But the biggest thing was that she wanted me to move out there with her. Out to Blanchard Newcastle area. Okay, she wanted me to move out there with her.

Speaker 1 12:00

Out there, out to Blanchard Newcastle area okay, she wanted me to move out there with her and get my life straight there.

Speaker 2 12:02

You know, which is something that really needed done. I was. I was doing a little bit of drugs at the time. I wasn't real heavy into it but you know, with selling them kind of comes doing them and I was going down a bad road. My mother told me gave me the offer that if I came out there and paid her back all the money and got my life straight, you know she'd be.

Speaker 2 12:23

That was the deal you know, so I move out there, she she came and got me out of jail and I I move out there. She was still raising my little brother and sister at the time. They were really small. We were probably about 14, 15 years apart. Oh wow, that's a huge difference. Yeah, it's a lot.

Speaker 2 12:42

My closest sister. She was already living with my mom by that time. She lived with me and my pops throughout everything as well. I'm not really sure what age she moved out there. I was already out of the house by around 15, 15, 16, as far as living on my own. But my sister, she was in that meth lab every day, you know, inhaling all the fumes and all the toxic stuff that was around there. So that was not good on her, you know. Then, once I moved out there and got me a job and paid her back the money, I met a lot of different types of people out there than what I was used to here in the city, around the drug world and the street world that I was around A lot of good people out there, not to say that there ain't good people here in the city.

Speaker 1 13:29

I love all my people here. I don't know I get you Compared to what you were doing and who you were surrounded with it was a different lifestyle yeah, changing those people, places and things. That's huge in recovery.

Speaker 2 13:41

So yeah, yeah, it was. It was definitely different. A lot of good people, and they taught me a lot of good things that I needed to learn back then yeah you know, yeah um, I had someone else who was like a mother to me.

Speaker 2 13:55

She took me in under her wing. Her and her family basically took me in and never judged me for who I was or what I looked like or how I talked, which that isn't what I got from a lot of my father's side of the family family. You know I was judged for always being out here in the streets and you know, running with gang members and stuff like that. They all frowned upon all of it, which I understand, but they didn't really have the correct approach with it. You know the way they talked to me. They kind of pushed me more into it versus pulling me out of it.

Speaker 1 14:35

Yeah, yeah, and that's that's interesting, that it was your dad's side of the family acting like that, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, and I mean.

Speaker 2 14:44

I'm not going to say they were all bad, by any means there's. There's some good family members there. My, my, my grandma was my rock back then, you know, and she did everything that she could do to a hard-headed teenager. You don't always listen to the ones that you should, no pretty much never. Right, right, just try to go against the grain, yeah yeah, that nature, that rebellious nature.

Speaker 2 15:09

Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, moving out there and being around other people was a huge difference to me. I learned some work ethics and actually holding down jobs and helping people. I mean I did everything from sacking groceries for older women and taking them out to their car to being a security guard at the casino out there in Newcastle yeah, that's awesome To loading trucks up at Brahms.

Speaker 1 15:38

So pretty much, whatever you had to do, anything I could do. Yeah, that's awesome yeah.

Speaker 2 15:43

Awesome. I still kind of fell back in the past, you know, I don't know. A couple years go by, I still kind of fell back in the past of like hustling weed and stuff like that to other youngsters out there doing things that I should have already been away from completely, you know, but that's all I knew. I was still holding down a job, for the most part living in a trailer park out there in Newcastle in a little two-bedroom trailer. Then my, my, my baby mama got pregnant, you know, my firstborn, the one who just had the accident, uh-huh, and that really changed my life as far as wanting to get away from everything and it was a good thing as far as timing, because I had already started getting in trouble with the login out there. They raided my trailer, I don't know, two or three times trying to find whatever they could, but I was always a little sneakier a little, a little ahead of them you know, Thankfully.

Speaker 2 16:43

Well, at that, at that time, I had a friend of mine, a really, really close friend of mine. His mom was a dispatch for the police out there, so anytime something went down I had a heads up before they knew I did. You know, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 17:00

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's awesome.

Speaker 2 17:02

You know what I mean. It helped. It helped me out.

Speaker 1 17:06

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 17:09

But you know so, my girlfriend at the time, I guess you could say she got pregnant. And then I moved back to the city and got away from out there. Things were a little hot out there and I was headed for trouble again. So I moved back over here to the south side of the city and I started. I got a job with some friends of mine that I went to high school with. They were running their own drywall company doing taping and bedding, and they told me that they put me on and at the time I had no idea what drywall even was.

Speaker 1 17:40

I mean.

Speaker 2 17:41

I just my education, for anything was not there. I was out running the streets the whole time as a kid, you know, and I started doing drywall with my buddies and probably about a year and a half to two years into that, their, their, their drywall crew split up, which put me with my friend that brought me in and, uh, it was just me and him as a drywall crew for a while and at that point I I had to learn everything really fast. You know, because I really was the the lower guy on the total poll at the time. I didn't really know much, but by that happening it caused me to have to learn everything really fast, which pushed me also to be his right man hand in drywall and kind of learn all that business that I needed to know. Unfortunately he started falling off into drinking and other drug problems after that.

Speaker 2 18:41

That was way out of my control, you know. I couldn't tell him anything. So I had to cut myself loose from him and I decided to start my own drywall business, which, honestly, was not easy. I only had enough tools for one man to work, definitely not several. I did have a good friend of mine that I've known since grade school he was doing drywall with us whenever me and them split up, so I had a right-hand man with me. It took probably four months, four or five months or so before we even got any work.

Speaker 1 19:21

Yeah, wow.

Speaker 2 19:22

You know it was just a struggle out here trying to find work and you know when you walk onto job sites a lot of people instantly turn you down because they don't want you stealing work from them.

Speaker 1 19:33

Of course.

Speaker 2 19:34

It's a cutthroat business, just like anything else. And after finally getting some work, our first house actually, my best friend, my right-hand man that was with me, his son, was born the day I got the house to work, oh shit. So he had to go be at the hospital and I had no crew with me at all. It was just me trying to do this big two-story house and get it knocked out in the time period that they allowed us, and I worked all weekend on that house and finally I think it was a Sunday he was able to come back to work with me or come to work with me and we was able to get everything handled and knock all that out. But after that it led on to, I think, another six years of us working together and doing really well together. That changed everything as far as me being a businessman and teaching me how to run crews. It got to a point where I usually had a four-man crew at minimal and had enough tools for everybody to work by then. That's awesome.

Speaker 1 20:40

So you turned that hustle in the streets into hustle in business, which I think is awesome because it is a hustle in the streets, but business is a hustle too.

Speaker 2 20:49

Definitely.

Speaker 1 20:50

And it takes that same mindset right, get up every day and grind and make this happen. And it does take that same mindset and I think a lot of times come from the streets and changed their life around. You know, they're always like I don't know. I don't know If you've learned to use your same hustle from the streets into your life. You've learned some things, you know.

Speaker 2 21:13

Um, I've always been one to just jump in head first and sometimes, you know, you bump your head but, you know that's okay, you learn lessons from it and you move forward, yeah absolutely If you, if you never try, that's a failure.

Speaker 1 21:35

You know what I mean? Um, you just got to try some shit and sometimes everything doesn't stick, but it sounds like you did awesome Right.

Speaker 2 21:43

That's good to hear. You know that was my first business to ever run on my own. But backtracking a little bit, you know when my parents were still together they actually ran their own business out at Old Paris Flame Market.

Speaker 1 21:57

Okay.

Speaker 2 21:59

So I grew up out there I don't know, I was probably about seven years old until they split up a little bit. After that, I was out there working with them and learning business as far as like how to sell things to customers, talk to customers, learning math and how to count money back to people. That's awesome. Yeah, from what I see, nowadays, a lot of people don't know how to count money back.

Speaker 1 22:22

No, they do not. No, they do not.

Speaker 2 22:24

They get lost, you know.

Speaker 1 22:27

I haven't been there in gosh, I don't even know years.

Speaker 2 22:31

Yeah, I haven't been there in a while, but that was really something that taught me about business way before I knew anything.

Speaker 1 22:40

Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 2 22:41

How to deal with people which in the drywall business construction world, I didn't really have to deal with anyone other than the builders. You know, I didn't have to talk to customers or anything like that, just dealt with the builders and the employees so you were doing new construction mostly.

Speaker 1 22:57

Yes, that's awesome, that's, that's definitely the way to go it was?

Speaker 2 23:01

it was up until uh, what was it about 2007, 2008? That's when, like uh, uh, everything started going downhill with the housing market and everything I worked in new construction then as well.

Speaker 1 23:16

I sold this back then, and that's when the market kind of crashed that sucked.

Journey of Growth and Learning

Speaker 2 23:21

so by that time I was already tattooing like friends out of the house and hell. I was even teaching other people to tattoo just so I could get tattooed. Tattoo shops weren't really legal up until somewhere around 2006 or 2007, something like that, which I had started going to the shops and getting tattooed, trying to find my place with who I was comfortable with getting tattooed A good friend of mine that was a tattoo artist. I asked him what's the drywall business? I started going downhill. I asked him if he would bring me in, take me on as an apprentice, and he was all about it. That's kind of how I got my foot in the door with the tattoo shop.

Speaker 1 24:04

What was your first tattoo shop that you worked at?

Speaker 2 24:07

It was called First Amendment Tattoo Company. Okay, it was actually. It wasn't the first, but it was one of the first tattoo shops around in Oklahoma when it started getting legal. The owner that owned the shop he had four or five shops at one time when everything got legal he was a good businessman and he knew what he was doing he was also a part of getting everything legal here in the state for tattooing okay.

Speaker 2 24:35

so I learned a little bit from watching him too. You know he eventually wanted to walk away from owning the shop. He wasn't't a tattoo artist, he was just an owner. So he only came in about once or twice a week and picked up money and talked his little shit that a boss would do, and then he would be his way. So he eventually sold the shop to another artist that we were working with, which that other artist ended up becoming my mentor, because the guy that brought me in the door he wasn't really so much into paperwork or knowing how to handle any of that, so I kind of just scooted over to the guy that took over the shop.

Speaker 2 25:19

Once he took over the shop, all the other artists had left, yeah, and it left us down to just me and him, and it was a struggle. For a while I didn't even know if I was going to have a tattoo shop to go to to become a tattoo artist. Right, well, I don't know if I should say this, but going into the tattoo shop, I was there a few months, you know, trying to learn and draw tattoo shop. I was there a few months, you know, trying to learn and draw. The guy that took over the shop and another artist they had went out of town for the weekend, leaving me, and the guy that brought me in to fend for ourselves for the tattoo shop for the weekend. Back then, tattoo shops there was only a few of us yeah and they'd get really busy on the weekends.

Speaker 2 26:00

So the guy that brought me in told me to get my stuff after that friday. He told me to get my stuff after that Friday. He told me to get my stuff, bring it up there, start working. So I came in there and I started working. I was tattooing probably about two years before I was ever even licensed to tattoo. You're just kind of underground without anybody really knowing. Of course, everybody assumed I was licensed. Everybody outside of the shop thought I was licensed, but I was just keeping yeah, absolutely Okay, okay. So you were doing both. Still, damn, most people understand.

Speaker 2 27:01

Not just tattooing. But I went from running my own drywall business and making really good money on my own to starting at the bottom again and making crumbs, because I really didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Speaker 1 27:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:17

Even though I had been tattooing on and off throughout my whole life, since I was about 14, 15 years old, with homemade machines and stuff. Oh yeah, I never really knew what I was doing. I had no direction at all. But getting in a shop changed all that and I was able to learn with everybody while they were learning too. I say that because everybody was pretty much first generation tattoo artists here at that time. Yeah, we didn't have other generations of artists to learn from.

Speaker 1 27:45

Yeah, here in oklahoma yeah it just became legal yeah, yeah, so I grew up in california, I grew up in san diego, so it you know, I grew up around it. It's been a thing since I was a little kid and when I moved here I didn't even know that, I didn't even understand, I didn't even know that that wasn't legal, and I didn't even know what 3.2 beer was right like. I was like what is that?

Speaker 1 28:09

you know, I had no idea, yeah I had no idea what that water was, so it just it was. It was different, you know, yes, um, being in oklahoma was different for me. I had been some other places first, but being here was definitely different for me yeah, I'm sure it was the culture shop it definitely was yeah, yeah oh, is that your baby?

Speaker 2 28:27

oh yeah, hi, oh, how cute you don't like it when I give other people attention besides, I get it, I get it I promise I'm just in here on the screen, I'm not there. What a cutie. Yeah, he's something else.

Speaker 1 28:47

Aw, daddy's boy right there.

Speaker 2 28:50

Yeah, yeah, that's my buddy. Aw, love that yeah.

Speaker 1 28:54

So, like a common theme that I'm hearing, craig is you've always been open to learn.

Speaker 2 29:00

Yes.

Speaker 1 29:00

Like you, weren't hard-headed enough to know it all.

Speaker 2 29:03

You've been open to learn right and I'd have to say a lot of that came with getting into the tattoo shop and being around other artists. You have to be open to learn, um. You have to be open to criticism even when you don't want to hear it. Sure, you know that can be tough for a lot of people right there, but for me I feel like it really helped me grow and mature as an adult, as a, as an artist and as a business owner.

Speaker 1 29:32

Yeah, and just a man in general.

Speaker 2 29:34

Yes, you know absolutely.

Diverse Connections in Business and Community

Speaker 1 29:36

I think that's awesome. I think if people could understand being willing to learn and willing to grow and having that open mindset, life would be a little easier for them, you know yeah, you definitely got to be able to listen to other people, because even what you think is right sometimes isn't always right.

Speaker 2 29:55

It's very true and that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes it absolutely is.

Speaker 1 30:00

And I think the older that we get I I know I'm I'm probably older than you, but the older that we get I know I'm probably older than you, but the older that we get that becomes something that you just kind of have to. We don't take it for granted anymore. We like realize that we've got to listen to people that already know.

Speaker 2 30:14

Right, and it's good to have good people around you that aren't scared to tell you when something isn't right, absolutely. Absolutely you when something isn't right, Absolutely, Absolutely. I definitely have a couple people like that that'll tell me when I need to change something or something isn't right. Sometimes again, even now it can still be a hard pill to swallow. Sure Sure Sometimes, you know hearing that you're not doing right.

Speaker 1 30:39

Yeah, nobody loves to hear that, but I think the people in your circle. I know a lot of people, but my circle is small. If someone in my circle is telling me it's out of love, Right, and you've got to accept that sometimes.

Speaker 2 30:51

Right, right, yeah, fortunately I can say that my circle is really large. Yeah, that's good. I have a lot of great people around me. I'm into a lot of different things, which keeps me around tons of different types of people, you know. Rather it be, you know, tattoo artists, or people in the car and truck communities, or even people in, like, the gym and fitness world, you know. So I'm kind of involved in anything that I can be. You know, anything that I have time for.

Speaker 1 31:22

That's awesome. I ran Anytime Fitness for almost 10 years.

Speaker 2 31:27

Oh, wow, yeah.

Speaker 1 31:29

We had six clubs and it was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 31:33

Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, my buddy that owns the Four Star Fitnesses right now he's opening them left and right.

Speaker 1 31:41

That's awesome.

Speaker 2 31:42

But it's been really good for oklahoma yeah, for sure, and anybody, anybody that knows anything about the fitness world. They kind of go to his clubs, his gyms. Nowadays, you know, that's great, that's great.

Speaker 1 31:55

Yeah, and I see that truck behind you.

Speaker 2 31:58

Oh, yeah, right yeah, it used to look like that. I tore it all apart of course you did yeah, it's the second time I've torn it all apart, even though it was a running, driving, nice vehicle beforehand have to take it apart and change it around, right? You know, you always got to keep growing no matter what you're doing you got to keep growing.

Speaker 1 32:19

Absolutely sorry, I got y'all off track there.

Speaker 2 32:22

Sorry that's okay, that's okay I mean I love the the car and truck community and everything that goes on with it. You know, even with even with that, I try to mix my tattoo shop in with all that charities and events and do donations and raffles for families. I love that. I try to do all kinds of things that can help me get back to the community, especially when I feel like I took a lot away from the community as a youngster.

Speaker 1 32:51

Yep, I totally agree with that A hundred percent, understand exactly where you're coming from with that and that giving back is actually the 12th step Working through the steps of addiction.

Speaker 2 33:01

That 12th step is giving back right and so that's awesome to hear yeah, I'm definitely huge about giving back and trying to help out where I can that's awesome. That's awesome even, even though you will get a backlash from others sometimes for helping people out. Uh, it's okay, you know, I've just learned that I can't let people change me, or do I remember what I want to do for others, you know?

Speaker 1 33:27

Absolutely, absolutely. We can always take criticism, but we can't let people change us.

Speaker 2 33:32

Right, that is for sure.

Speaker 1 33:34

You got to be who you are. You got to know yourself. You got to love yourself. Those are all really important things. Before you can love anybody else, you got to love yourself first, and absolutely. Absolutely. I think everybody doesn't understand that.

Speaker 2 33:45

Yeah, and you know, even when you think you've gotten where you need to be in life, sometimes life can humble you and tell you that you're not exactly there yet.

Speaker 1 33:56

Yeah, life be lifin' that's what we say a lot. Life be lifin' sometimes, that's for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:21

So when you had your first son and you said that really changed things for kids, you know, because you don't want your kids to grow up seeing things that you know they shouldn't see, you know, as a good parent, you know my father didn't really give a damn.

Speaker 1 34:36

Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:37

You know. But growing up through all that and learning after I moved out that that's not what life was. I try to teach my kids better than that, Definitely.

Speaker 1 34:46

Yeah, so you kind of broke that generational cycle. Yes, which has to be broken. Someone's got to break it, or it just keeps on going.

Speaker 2 34:53

Exactly, yeah, so my kids didn't grow up around their grandfather whatsoever. They didn't really know him or that side of the family. Yeah, unfortunately. But at the same time I know it was better for them not to be around those types of things.

Speaker 1 35:11

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 35:15

But my kids did grow up in the tattoo shops so they still grew up around a culture that most people didn't. They got to be around a lot of things that were definitely positive for them to help grow up and be strong individuals on their own.

Speaker 1 35:32

That's good.

Speaker 2 35:33

I'm not going to say we didn't say things that they probably shouldn't have heard, but you know, yeah, yeah. So let me see, yeah, so I ran my drywall business about six years or so before walking away from it and going completely on to tattooing. We revamped the shop that we was at, like I said, my mentor that took me on. He was the owner of the shop and at the time it was just two of us. And then, finally, we tried to find a way to get more artists over there.

Speaker 2 36:03

So I went out and tried to get everybody that I could to come work with us and for us, one of them being boogie, you know, but we had, we, we had a shop full. We revamped the shop, we renamed the shop, we named it to stay true tattoo and it was. It was a pretty good thing at the time. We were a really strong shop and had a lot of strong artists and had a lot going for us and we were all learning and getting better really fast at that time, that culture of being around everybody that wants to grow man.

Speaker 2 36:35

Yeah.

Speaker 1 36:36

You can see the difference in a tattoo shop of just stagnant artists and people really vibing off of each other and wanting to grow.

Speaker 2 36:45

Correct. Yeah, we had about six or eight artists at the time.

Speaker 1 36:50

That's awesome yeah.

Speaker 2 36:51

There was a lot going on every day.

Speaker 1 36:54

All those different personalities too.

Speaker 2 36:56

Definitely, definitely.

Speaker 2 36:59

That's awesome though, and then we'll fast forward a little bit. Boogie had already opened up his shop and I feel like I needed a change of environment myself. So I went over and worked with Boogie for a little while and I helped Boogie get a few artists over there and we had a really good shop there for a long time. You did, you really did. It was a really strong shop, a lot of good artists and things were moving right along.

Speaker 2 37:24

As you know, he went through his struggle and was going through his troubles and stuff, and that's when I kind of had to step away, you know, and I actually went back and worked for Stay True again for about a year, which, you know, that was a blessing all the way around, even at the end of it. But during that year it was one of the worst years of my life, to be honest, even though, like I wasn't struggling with any like drug issues or alcohol issues or anything like that. It was just life. Life for me. The woman that I said took me in under her wing at a young age when I moved out there. She had passed away and I never thought she would pass away. I thought we'd grow old together, you know.

Speaker 1 38:09

Yeah.

Speaker 2 38:11

I lost her, I lost my girlfriend at the time and then I lost my house and I ended up. I was at that time I was living on the north side, not far from Heart and Soul Tattoo Shop at the time, so I lost my house, moved back over here to the south side and then I lost my dog.

Speaker 1 38:27

Oh no.

Speaker 2 38:28

So it was just one thing after another. You know nothing that I could control whatsoever, but it was really beating me down, and then I ended up losing my job at Stay True just for nothing more other than not showing face all the time.

Speaker 1 38:44

Yeah, you know you had a lot going on for nothing more other than not showing face all the time. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 38:46

You had a lot going on. Yeah, I had a lot going on. I was in and out and you know they needed people to be there, which I understood that I pridefully stepped away. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's hard. It wasn't like there was bad blood there or anything like that. So me trying to figure out my next step. I had no clue what I wanted to do. I talked to a few of the bigger tattoo shops hoping to get in the door because I didn't want to run my own tattoo shop. At the time. When a lot of these places are on a booth rent situation, it's easier to just kind of work for yourself come and go as you please without all the headache.

Speaker 1 39:19

Oh, I get it, definitely get it.

Empowering Community Through Business and Charity

Speaker 2 39:21

But then I just, I don't know, something happened, something changed, and for a reason right yeah, definitely they do.

Speaker 2 39:34

It was all like I said, it was all a blessing in disguise, even like the whole journey, that whole rough year that I went through, it was all a blessing in disguise. So I opened the tattoo shop, uh, in 2015 and for a couple months, a few months, it was just me there. I've gotten a couple little artists here and there, or I got one artist that really was new to the game and she, uh, didn't really know much as far as tattooing or anything like that. She was really fresh out of her apprenticeship that she had pressed under someone not so well. But then a buddy of mine came over and I got another guy that I took on as an apprentice that he's still with me to this day. That's awesome, yeah, which it's been 10 years. We're about to hit our 10 year mark in March. That's awesome, wow.

Speaker 1 40:26

So when you first opened it, craig, was it Empire Tattoo when you first opened it. Okay, yeah. Okay, I wasn't sure.

Speaker 2 40:32

Yeah, it was all a fresh start. Yeah, you know, completely new. I was rolling the dice on myself, you know I jumped in head first.

Speaker 1 40:40

Yeah, you know what, sometimes you got to bet on yourself, right?

Speaker 2 40:44

Yeah.

Speaker 1 40:45

Yeah, sometimes you got to.

Speaker 2 40:47

But you know, I went around trying to get the money. You can't just start a shop out of thin air.

Speaker 1 40:54

It costs money.

Speaker 2 40:56

I was definitely not in the position with the money. I was even tattooing out of my house in the meantime, just trying to the banks. They turned me down on money. I went to the streets. They didn't necessarily turn me down on money, but they wanted. They wanted me to give up my truck, you know, amongst other things, to get the money you know right. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do that.

Speaker 2 41:30

So, like I said, I'm surrounded by a lot of good people. A good buddy of mine I call him a brother he came forward and helped me out financially with a little bit of it and that was a huge thing right there for me to move forward and make everything happen yeah.

Speaker 1 41:47

It also speaks volumes about you, though, that somebody was willing to back you to make that happen. That says a lot about you also.

Speaker 2 41:56

Yeah, I mean hell. That little bit of financial help has gained me 10 years in a business. You know it's awesome and it's not only helped me but a lot of people, a lot of artists, a lot of families, you know, feed their families and make a way for themselves.

Speaker 1 42:15

Yeah, absolutely. You guys have a pretty tight shop too, don't you? Y'all are pretty close, pretty tight, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 42:22

Awesome. Yeah, in fact we, we have events together. You know we go out on the river every summer, or try to. You know we try to hit the river every summer as a shop and a family. We have Christmas dinners and New Year's dinners. We try to keep everybody as tight as we can.

Speaker 1 42:38

Yeah, that's great I love that.

Speaker 2 42:42

I don't know the exact number right off the top of my head, but there's probably been four or five other shops started from my shop.

Speaker 1 42:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2 42:49

As far as other artists being able to move forward with their own lives.

Speaker 1 42:55

Yeah, which is always bittersweet? Right, it's always bittersweet, but you got to let people grow, right, you got to let people grow.

Speaker 2 43:01

You can't hold them hostage.

Speaker 1 43:03

Yeah, you got to let them go and you got to let them grow and that's hard, that is bittersweet, because you're like damn man, I raised them pups, but you got to let them right.

Speaker 2 43:15

That's definitely a hard pill to swallow in the game. You know when, when you lose people, but you don't want to hold them back at the same time yeah, absolutely yeah, and I still try to keep all those people as close as I can for the most part you know, that's good that's good. The the empire is definitely a big, happy family most of the time.

Speaker 1 43:34

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 43:35

Just like any other family. We have our little spouts here and there, but we get through it. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 43:41

Yeah, and you do a lot of stuff right there in that parking lot, right? Yes, yes you guys do some events and some different things. I know I've seen some vehicles, some trucks, some things in that parking lot before.

Speaker 2 43:52

Yeah, yeah, we, yeah, I've been holding like uh, truck meets and little car events and stuff like that from from jump. It was really a a thing that I fell into with my truck.

Speaker 2 44:06

I've been around people in the car communities my whole life south side right, yeah, yeah but I was never in the position to have a nice enough vehicle to be a part of things. You know, yeah, um, and then having the shop gave me a place to actually invite people and have people around and do these different types of events for the communities and stuff. That's so cool, um, and then with with all that came, you know doing things, it kind of started out with like toys for tots you know, doing things like that.

Speaker 2 44:40

I'm doing little charity drives and events, and then we kind of started helping families. You know, um, I, between my, the truck group that I was involved with, we used to raise a lot of money for charities, families, people passing, and trying to help them out with funeral costs, stuff like that. Yeah, that's awesome To, even nowadays I don't know. The last two big events I really had up there one was to help a little girl who's fighting cancer. It's a good friend of mine's daughter. When I heard the news about her going through that it kind of touched my heart, you know, and I felt like I needed to do something to help them out.

Speaker 1 45:27

That's awesome. That's great to hear that you did that.

Speaker 2 45:31

Yeah, not that they asked or anything. I actually asked them if I could do that for them.

Speaker 1 45:37

That's so sweet. One of my best friends just passed away October 31st from lung cancer.

Speaker 2 45:42

Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 45:44

And so that really sucked. She was the owner of Haley's Carpet. I've been in rehab and remodel a long time and we were besties and worked that business together, so that sucked. So I'm glad to hear that you did that for them, because it is a lot.

Speaker 2 45:57

Yeah.

Speaker 1 45:57

It's a lot that they go through.

Speaker 2 45:59

Yeah, I can't imagine. You know, just going through what I went through with my son a couple weeks ago, I can't imagine what they go through with that type of problem.

Supporting Community Through Tragedy

Speaker 1 46:09

You know, yeah, it's a lot, a lot of appointments, a lot of doctors, a lot of chemo treatment, just so much stuff, just so much.

Speaker 2 46:18

You know I mentioned earlier about my grandfather passing away from cancer. Yeah, mother, she passed away from cancer. I had a dog that passed away from breast cancer. Oh wow, that I had for 13 years you know, so it's like I've lost a lot of people through cancer. So anytime I hear something like that, it really it. It touches on the heart, you know for sure, it's definitely my.

Speaker 1 46:47

I lost a rottweiler 12 year old rot from cancer. So, um yeah, it sucks.

Speaker 2 46:52

Cancer sucks, it really does I didn't even know that dogs could get cancer. Yeah, you know so it was a shocker, yeah, and so after, after losing a lot of people from cancer, I got my uh, I don't know if you can see it I got my fuck cancer tattoo I do see it.

Speaker 1 47:09

I need one of those. I think I need one of those everybody does. Yeah, I, I need one of those, I think.

Speaker 2 47:12

I need one of those. Everybody does.

Speaker 1 47:14

Yeah, I think I need one, it's not the only time.

Speaker 2 47:16

it's okay to put a bad word on you like that. Right, you know Right. Right yeah so, and then another one. Another big event that I held at the shop was I had a really good friend of mine pass away in a car accident last year, or it might have been the year before. I might be off on that, but he passed away on my birthday.

Speaker 2 47:37

I just talked to him that morning Before it happened. It was a bad vehicle accident. The really sad part about it is it was him and his wife that passed away together. Gosh, was there a kid? There was a kid in the car. They had their four-year-old son in the car with them. Now, by the grace of God and every angel that was available that day, that kid pretty much came out unscathed, Wow. From the accident I think he just had some minor scratches and bruises, but nothing major.

Speaker 1 48:11

But lost both parents.

Speaker 2 48:13

Lost, both parents Lost both parents, that's rough. That really hurt my heart.

Speaker 1 48:20

Yeah, for sure Shit.

Speaker 2 48:23

The guy was really a stand-up guy. He was involved in a lot of things. He was a tow truck driver. He was involved around a lot of the communities and people. He was a South Sider, so everybody knew him. Yeah, I wanted to do something to be able to help out his family. His parents took the child in under their wing oh good, you know, at their older age and they're having to raise a child again, you know. So I felt like I could do anything I could do to help With that. It put me out there that we were going to hold an event to help A lot of good people who came and donated so many different things to raffle off and to help the family.

Speaker 1 49:02

That's awesome.

Speaker 2 49:03

Including a whole truck.

Speaker 1 49:05

Really.

Speaker 2 49:06

Yeah, we had a truck donated to us and that helped raise a big portion of the money Wow, that's awesome. That helps raise a big portion of the money Wow, that's awesome, you know. So it was pretty great to see the community come together in such a big way for such a bad thing.

Speaker 1 49:21

Yeah, absolutely, and that always just warms your heart. You know Right, people really just come together to help somebody. That was a good stand-up person. You know Right, bad things happen to good people, yep, and it's very unfortunate, unfortunate, and it's nice to hear that yes, yeah, uh, you don't realize how short life is until stuff like that happens it's, uh, incredibly short and we take it for granted every single day.

Speaker 1 49:47

I I try not to anymore. My word this year is celebrate, and it's really, you know, jam Jamie, my friend that passed. She wanted us to celebrate her life, not mourn it, and that's a hard thing, you know, and that's definitely what I'm trying to do this year is just really celebrate the little things in life. I love nature, I love being outdoors, I love the water, all those things, and just remembering to not work so much. Right, get out there and celebrate life.

Speaker 2 50:15

Right.

Speaker 1 50:16

And all the little things it has to offer ups and downs and all the things. So that's really working consciously on that this year.

Speaker 2 50:23

You have to. It's a hard thing to do with everyday life and trying to keep up with everything, especially if you have a family or others that depend on you, and businesses and whatnot. My grandmother that raised me went through the dementia thing too. We lost her about two years ago now, which was a hard one, yeah.

Navigating Life's Challenges and Losses

Speaker 1 50:44

I haven't lived at home since I was 17 years old, having my mom who doesn't even really seem like my mom move in with me. It's been tough and I try to be nice, nice, but I feel a little ugly sometimes with the words that go through my head. You know, right, right, I'm just like man. It's freaking hard, it is shit. My brother tells me that's my test man. Um, but it is what it is.

Speaker 2 51:05

You know, we do what we got to do and yeah, yeah, you got to take care of the ones that take care of you too you do, you definitely do I told my kids put me in a home yeah, I don't I will have a blast yeah, I agreed yeah, a lot of the older generation.

Speaker 2 51:20

My grandma was the same way that she didn't want to go to a home, you know, I think. Where a lot of the older generation don't get it is it puts you around people that's in your same age, brackets, or going through the same things you know, it gives them uh friendships with people around their age, you know so what are you doing these days?

Speaker 1 51:42

what's going on with you?

Speaker 2 51:44

um, right now I'm just kind of building my truck and trying to keep the shop afloat. Uh, you know, trying to, trying to just keep life going you know, yeah, life be lifin' huh. Yeah, yeah, you know, last year I started off. Last year was a pretty rough year for me as well. I started off with getting a divorce.

Speaker 1 52:07

Kind of saw that.

Speaker 2 52:08

Sorry, I barely got married for about four or five months or so.

Speaker 1 52:13

Yeah, it's rough.

Speaker 2 52:14

It's rough. Yeah, it's rough because you know a lot of people don't see it, but you're expected to spend your life with a person you know. You thought that that was where it was and for it to be gone and over with so quick. Yeah it's hard, it makes you question your own self, you know.

Speaker 1 52:34

I was just going to say that you start questioning your own reality. It's like damn, but what? Yeah.

Speaker 2 52:38

I get it. I made some bad decisions myself, again, still at the age that I'm at, you know.

Speaker 1 52:44

I think it's a, because I I don't know you well enough to know, but you sound like a guy that knows what he wants you know to know. But you sound like a guy that knows what he wants you know right um and and does the work to get it right. Right, and everybody's not that person. I don't know, I, I, I don't know how fast y'all got together or how fast it happened, or all those things.

Speaker 2 53:06

Oh, as far as fast I. I move like I'm in hollywood or something. Everything is so fast, my life is just. It's so fast all the time and it never ends yeah yeah, it never ends. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, yeah, I really haven't even been like in the dating scene or nothing since everything happened, uh oh god, I'm sure I just kind of wanted to step away and focus more on everything I got going on.

Speaker 1 53:34

Absolutely which.

Speaker 2 53:37

I have learned I don't really have time for a lot of that, which was kind of the drawback on a lot of my relationships in the past. I can't put 100% focus on someone else when I have so much more going on in my life. That's fair I have so much more going on in my life, you know, that's fair Running a business you got other people and other families that depend on you. You know you don't want to let nobody down. It's involved all the way around.

Speaker 1 54:06

It's hard. You get pulled a lot of directions. It's hard.

Speaker 2 54:09

Definitely.

Speaker 1 54:10

Yeah, and you have your own family too. You know, right right, it's a lot, it's definitely a lot.

Speaker 2 54:18

Yeah.

Speaker 1 54:23

You know, a lot of people think that you have to give 100% of your time, and that's just not the case. Is that 100%? Of your time or the 100% of time that you have left Right. Where does?

Speaker 2 54:29

that fall? I'm not quite sure. I haven't figured it out yet.

Speaker 1 54:32

Do you pick people that also have a lot going on and have a lot going on in their life, or do you pick people that don't and expect you to entertain them?

Speaker 2 54:41

Good question.

Speaker 1 54:42

I'm full of those good questions.

Speaker 2 54:44

I think it's been both. Honestly, I don't know, I guess I just kind of fall into these relationships, okay, into these relationships, okay, you know, having a big heart kind of will put you in those situations. That's good and bad huh, that people may not feel the same way for you that you do for them, you know. But you know you just try to push through it and hopefully things work out.

Speaker 1 55:15

And if they don't, you keep pushing until they do. If they don't, yeah, yeah if they didn't, it's because it wasn't meant to be right. Right, just got to look at it. But we don't always know why the things happen that happen, but someday we hope we figure it out it's all a lesson it is one way or another, it is it definitely

Speaker 1 55:28

is I feel like we keep doing the same things over and over until we learn that lesson finally, um. So I feel like I've learned that one. I like to say I have. I hope I have Fuck. Right, I'm done repeating that one. So, yeah, I get it. I totally get it. So, with last year being a hard year for you, didn't start off so great with your son happening this year.

Speaker 2 55:51

Oh yeah, it ended with a bang.

Speaker 1 55:55

Yeah, definitely did. Um, I am super happy for you that he made it. I did see that video on facebook and I saw the motorcycle and I saw the ditch and I was like crap. But so I am glad to hear that that he made it me too.

Speaker 2 56:07

It was really. That was the scariest thing for me in life. Right there, yeah, getting that phone call and driving to the scene not really knowing what I was about to see or what happened. Oh, man. That was really scary on its own.

Speaker 1 56:24

Yeah, you're driving right to the scene.

Speaker 2 56:26

Yeah, and of course you know I'm a little anxious when I show up to the scene and I don't think the cops really like the way I pulled up on them from Jump Street. Yeah, by the time I pulled up my son was being pulled away in the ambulance already, so I didn't even see him.

Speaker 1 56:46

Okay.

Speaker 2 56:47

Is that?

Speaker 1 56:47

probably a good thing.

Speaker 2 56:48

I think so. For me, the bad thing was that my daughter and her mama were there and seeing him laid out on the concrete, you know, leaking all over the place, which is something no parent or sibling wants to see yeah.

Speaker 2 57:07

But of course I go up and I'm asking them what happened and everything and the cops were dicks to me, instantly Started telling me about him doing illegal stuff and they were sitting there writing tickets and they were going off hearsay that other people had told them as far as, like they were saying that he was driving into oncoming traffic which doesn't make sense on a busy road. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon I taught my son how to ride. I admit he does a lot of stupid stuff as a kid, but he's not that ignorant to do something like that, you know but, even if he was.

Speaker 1 57:46

Is that really the time to be telling you all about that? Yeah, it's really not.

Speaker 2 57:50

You know, I kind of bought heads with the cop with the first cop at that point and, uh, I started going around and trying to pick up my son's belongings out of the street when another cop came up and told me that not to touch anything, that it's an investigation. With this amped up as I was already, I blew up on that cop and told him fuck his investigation, this is a car accident. I told him that they're going to respect my family the same way I walked up respecting them, you know, and I didn't say it in a nice manner, so of course they're threatened to throw me in the car. So I just knew that I had to leave and get to the hospital because I was no good to my son in trouble, yeah, and just a heightened emotion, situation that you may not have it really was.

Speaker 1 58:36

Yeah, you may have acted differently in a different situation, but that's a lot of emotion, you know.

Speaker 2 58:42

Oh yeah, and pulling up and seeing my son's motorcycle down in a creek the way that it was, it scared the life out of me.

Speaker 1 58:50

Oh God, I'd imagine, like I said, I saw that post, I I was like you know, oh god, because, like I said I, I used to ride motorcycles and that that was always the. I've been in an accident or two and that was always the um thing. You know, just you hope you have your life. And I saw that in the ditch and I was like, oh lord, just you know, I hope that child is okay.

Speaker 2 59:12

Yes and uh, you know, luckily I always taught child is okay, yes and uh. You know, luckily, I always taught him to wear all his gear. He always, he always had helmets and he had a helmet on.

Speaker 1 59:19

I did see that.

Speaker 2 59:20

Helmet and riding gloves. He had his boots on which you know. Things could have been a lot worse if he did that on.

Speaker 1 59:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2 59:26

Um yeah. All I know is that he was trying to avoid someone in front of him and he had to swerve into oncoming traffic and clipped a car, you know, and that's what kind of sent him down. He blew his knee and his femur out the side of his leg, oh man, and then shattered his foot and his ankle on the other leg.

Speaker 1 59:47

Oh, no, so both legs.

Speaker 2 59:49

Both legs, which has left him unable to walk around or really do anything by himself. So you know, while making sure as a father, just trying to make sure that everything's covered on his end financially, I tried to put together a little GoFundMe and try to get some support from others.

Speaker 1 1:00:11

I did a little cash app for you on that.

Speaker 2 1:00:13

Yeah, Thank you for that Everything. Thank you for that Everything helps, you know.

Speaker 1 1:00:16

Yeah, it was little.

Speaker 2 1:00:18

Especially for someone. In those circumstances, you know, every little bit helps Absolutely. I have no idea how long he's going to be out of work, you know, and like I said earlier, he has his own place. He don't live with me under my roof anymore. Yeah, I would like to continue that. So I keep his bills paid.

Speaker 1 1:00:40

I can understand that yeah.

Speaker 2 1:00:41

You know what I mean? I don't know. He knows he's always welcome back home, him and my daughter both, but I would like for them to live life on their own as adults, absolutely. You know, yeah, but as a parent, I'm always here to help for whatever I can. Yeah, yeah, um, and you know, with last year being so rough for many different reasons, I just started kind of losing my faith in people and in humanity and and god and God and everybody.

Speaker 1 1:01:11

yeah, I understand.

Speaker 2 1:01:12

You know, I just didn't know why life was being so hard on me.

Speaker 1 1:01:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:01:17

Yeah, after you know, my son being in the hospital a couple days and me settling down, my emotions settling down and knowing that he was going to be okay, you know that's when I tried to help him out financially and get people on the boat with helping him out.

Speaker 1 1:01:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:01:37

And you know that really opened my eyes to how many great people I have around me.

Speaker 1 1:01:44

That helped your faith a little bit.

Speaker 2 1:01:46

Definitely it restored my faith in so many ways. That's good. That's good. You know, when I was driving to the hospital the day of the accident, you know I was praying for the Lord to take me and not him.

Speaker 1 1:01:58

Yeah, oh, I'm sure yeah.

Speaker 2 1:02:00

As a parent, I did not want to bury myself For sure, and those thoughts run through your head, whether you like it or not.

Speaker 1 1:02:06

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely, that's rough.

Speaker 2 1:02:12

So you know, like I said, after a a couple days of being in the hospital and knowing that, you know he's going to make it and you know he's going to have his own troubles but he's going to be alive and well yeah um, yeah, and seeing all the people that that reached out um, rather it be through messages or comments on post or or or others that have came by and, you know, tried to be there for him or me, you know, um, he also had a lot of good friends that showed up for him as well. It really helped restore my faith back into people.

Speaker 1 1:02:46

I think you needed that I think you needed it.

Speaker 2 1:02:48

I definitely needed it.

Speaker 1 1:02:49

Yeah.

Navigating Life and Redemption

Speaker 2 1:02:50

Because, uh, you know, emotionally, mentally, there was a part of me that was ready to just run and let everything go yeah, yeah, you're about to hit the fuck it button yeah, I definitely was. Yeah, I felt like, you know, I could just go be a beach bump somewhere and be happy with my life there yeah, I've said that many times, many times I am down yeah. More times than I wanted to in the past year.

Speaker 1 1:03:18

Yeah, I now call it the reset button instead of the fuck it button, because sometimes you just got to take a reset and you know, like I said, that helped to restore your faith a little bit and, you know, while that wasn't the way you would have wanted that to be restored, you needed it, so you know.

Speaker 2 1:03:34

Absolutely. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through as a parent. I'd imagine Dang, you know, and I can't imagine what others go through who actually lose kids.

Speaker 1 1:03:44

Yeah, you know that's a scary thought.

Speaker 2 1:03:46

Yeah, so, like as a parent, you know you try to keep them as covered and as sheltered as you can.

Speaker 1 1:03:55

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:03:55

Yeah, but still let them live life, it's hard.

Speaker 1 1:03:59

That balance is hard with kids. It's really hard.

Speaker 2 1:04:01

It's definitely hard. You know, but you know I spent every day at the hospital with him, every night, you know we I hung out on New Year's with him instead of going out and partying or doing whatever I could have been doing.

Speaker 1 1:04:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:04:15

I was right there where I wanted to be.

Speaker 1 1:04:17

You're right where you needed to be and right where you wanted to be, so I totally get that. Yeah, I can imagine being anywhere else if your child's in the hospital. Yeah Right, absolutely Damn.

Speaker 2 1:04:27

You know. So as the days in the hospital went on, things got a little easier on everybody. You days in the hospital went on, things got a little easier on everybody, you know. And then they, they finally let us out. I felt like they let us out a little sooner, but I'm not a doctor, you know. Yeah, I feel like you know they could have, they could have kept him under their care a little bit longer you know, um, but you know they like to push them out so they can get others.

Speaker 2 1:04:51

There's a lot of people going through things, so, yeah, but you know, uh, he just spent his first birthday in a wheelchair, hanging out at the house. Couldn't really even move around much other than being in his bed. You know, and it's not what either one of us expected out of his first birthday.

Speaker 1 1:05:08

Absolutely not yeah.

Speaker 2 1:05:10

You know, I'm still a little on the wild side, you know, uh, I'm still a little on the wild side. So I wanted to take him out and take him to the strip clubs and, yeah, just make some memories with him that I've never made before oh yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 1:05:23

You'll get to do it, though you'll get to do that exactly. That's the I will still get to do that.

Speaker 2 1:05:28

Yes, absolutely. Just because it didn't happen on the day we planned doesn't change anything. That's right.

Speaker 1 1:05:34

That's right, yep Still going to happen.

Speaker 2 1:05:37

That's good. I'm blessed to still have him here 100%. He's blessed to have the people around him that he does as well Not only his friends, but his sister has been a huge step up through all of this. That's good, you know. Huge step up through all of this, it's good. You know, um, when it's amazing to see your kids when they grow into themselves and be such good young adults.

Speaker 1 1:06:04

I am hoping for that.

Speaker 2 1:06:05

Yeah, and just to see them taking care of each other. You know a lot of siblings don't have that.

Speaker 1 1:06:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:06:13

And my kids are really close to each other. That's awesome.

Speaker 1 1:06:17

That's awesome. I love to hear that I have two older brothers and they're four and seven years older than me and so they were gone and out of the house, you know, way before me, and I was wild, craig wild for many years and the fact that we are still, that we are close and have each other in our lives and literally talk many times a week I have one that lives in Vegas and one that lives in Bakersfield, california, and we are still very close.

Speaker 2 1:06:45

That's good.

Speaker 1 1:06:46

Hearing that you know they're close and she's stepping up for him. That's. That's beautiful, right.

Speaker 2 1:06:52

Yeah, yeah, cause I got two sisters and a brother myself, and I'm I'm way older than all of them can't say that I've always been the closest with them just because that age difference though the age difference is is, yeah, such a huge difference and I've uh been busy with my own life, raising my kids, before they even had kids, you know.

Speaker 1 1:07:16

Yeah, and you were out doing your thing before they were even grown.

Speaker 2 1:07:22

So I mean that's pretty understandable.

Speaker 1 1:07:24

You know life.

Speaker 2 1:07:27

But it's good. They know I'm always there for them if they need me, you know, and vice versa, you know I know they're there. I don't really ask much from them, you know, just because, even though I've got brothers and sisters, I kind of grew up more by myself, you know, and not all my family's really accepted me for who I am. You know the way I look or the way I grew up. You know I'm different. You know the way I look or the way I grew up. You know I'm different thing. I'm a little more accepted nowadays, you know, as a, as being a, an adult, with, uh, businesses and and sure children, and you know they they

Speaker 1 1:08:04

see that I'm a good person, you know and learning not to judge a book by its cover that's so hard for most people and it's really hard for people.

Speaker 2 1:08:13

I see that on a daily. I'm sure you do, by having the tattoos all over my face and looking different from most other people, I definitely get judged all the time, sure, which, on one hand, I understand it, but on the other hand, don't judge a book by its cover.

Speaker 1 1:08:34

Absolutely. I grew up running drugs because of the way I looked, my nickname was Angel and I was schooled pretty well that I wasn't even allowed to get tattoos because back then that was a distinguishing mark and that's how all the cops know you and your pictures. So I didn't start getting tattooed till the 90s. All the cops know you and your pictures, so I didn't start getting tattooed till the 90s. But people look at me. We laugh about it at work because I've had guys be like you look like a kindergarten teacher what the fuck are you going to teach me?

Speaker 1 1:09:05

And then they think about me and learn my story and they're like okay, okay, don't judge a book by its cover. You know, I never used to tell my story. I used to be very quiet about it because of judgment. I've been in sales my whole life, which that hustle taught me sales. I'll be honest. But I'm not a corporate girl, that's not my thing by any means, and I work in an addiction treatment center, so they're okay with my mouth.

Speaker 2 1:09:30

Right right.

Speaker 1 1:09:31

Okay, I don't have to hide it, and I need that in my life because, right, right, okay, um, I don't have to hide it, and um, and I. I need that in my life because I have to be authentic. You've done that for yourself. You've created that environment for yourself to be able to be who you are. Um, and that's not always easy.

Speaker 2 1:09:45

No, it's not. Not everybody understands it either.

Speaker 1 1:09:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:09:49

No, a lot of people. A lot of people conform to what society thinks they should be.

Speaker 1 1:09:56

That's just not life, it's just not.

Speaker 2 1:10:00

Yeah, meanwhile I run the streets with a lot of people that don't look or seem like outstanding people, but they really are like you know outstanding people, but they really are. You know, I got a lot of people that look like you know gangsters for lack of a better word or really heavily covered tattooed people. Um, they get judged just off the way they look or the cars they drive, things like that, or how they talk, you know, but they're all really great. People know when you get to know I totally get it.

Speaker 1 1:10:35

That was my whole life growing up. Everybody I hung around. So when I grew up, everybody I hung around was tattooed and that was a long time ago. So that wasn't accepted at all, like even a little bit. You know, it was like they were prison tattoos back then, you know, um, and that's how I grew up and uh, so I was always judged I mean, I judged my whole of scumbags and you know my whole life and it's like, oh my god, that shit got old yeah and uh, you know, especially when I got out of prison, I mean that was, that was for my family, and every that was hard.

Speaker 1 1:11:08

You know that was really hard and it's just life. It just life. Life makes us who we are today and I'm happy for all of it. I'm grateful. I'm grateful to be alive. To be honest, it's been a blessing.

Speaker 2 1:11:21

Same here.

Speaker 1 1:11:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:11:22

I'm surprised I made it this far in life, you know, running the streets at such a young age and doing the things that I was doing. I never thought I'd make it to see 20 or 25. Me neither, much less going into 45. Right, right, well, you know, growing old is a privilege.

Speaker 1 1:11:40

It is a privilege.

Speaker 2 1:11:42

Not everybody gets to grow old.

Speaker 1 1:11:43

They don't, they don't. And I'm trying to age gracefully, but man, it's hard.

Speaker 2 1:11:48

It's hard with so much stuff always going on.

Speaker 1 1:11:50

It's hard Trying.

Speaker 2 1:11:53

It definitely is. Uh, the world can stress you out like no other it definitely can.

Speaker 1 1:11:58

Um, it definitely can, if you let it for sure. I start my day with my music and my my good shit. Every day, I gotta get my head right. Every single day I wake up. I still have tendencies too. I can wild out pretty quick. I work really hard, I really do. I got too much to lose and I don't want to lose that and I don't want that lifestyle. I don't want that anymore. I haven't wanted that in a long time and sometimes it seems easier, but it wasn't easy either. It wasn't easy either. It was stressful as shit. It wasn't easy either. It was stressful as shit. You choose your hard, right, yeah, and recovery's been hard, but regret is harder. So I'm choosing. You got to choose your hard.

Speaker 2 1:12:40

Right.

Speaker 1 1:12:42

You got any good plans for this year?

Speaker 2 1:12:48

You know I'm trying to put together my list of things that need to happen every month. It being January, I'm just getting started on everything, especially after spending the first week or so of January in the hospital. But I took last year I took over the Meridian cruise for Oklahoma City.

Speaker 1 1:13:03

OK.

Speaker 2 1:13:04

Which has been a big thing here for about 40 years now. Ok, I remember going to it as a child.

Speaker 1 1:13:11

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:13:12

Being a part of it and work Craig.

Speaker 1 1:13:13

That's a lot of work, Craig. That's a lot.

Speaker 2 1:13:15

You know, the community itself helps make everything happen. You know, as far as me, I just try to host it and make sure I put together like a date and get things to happen for everybody.

Speaker 1 1:13:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:13:29

And then everybody else helps, share it and shows up and brings everybody out and it makes it a really big thing, you know.

Speaker 1 1:13:36

Wow, I want to see that this year. I want to see it.

Speaker 2 1:13:39

So that's all yeah it should be a good one. I've kind of changed it up a little bit. Before it was always held with a hot rod show with all the hot rod guys and muscle cars and stuff like that. Because of the crowd that I'm around around I'm more around all the low rider guys and things um. So I'm switching it up to hold it during a weekend with a low rider show. That way we can get a lot of out-of-staters here. So you know, after 40 years it's kind of changed up, which is probably needed to happen, you know, um different know.

Speaker 2 1:14:12

Right, not that we don't welcome everybody out Every genre of car is always welcome, you know. But trying to switch it up to a little bit different of vehicles that are mainly out there is a huge thing. You know, I love all the hot rod guys and muscle cars. I love all them guys and what they do. They kind of paved the way for all of us, you know, with what they do and how they build their cars and stuff absolutely so you know, just kind of bringing a different flair to the, to the event, is a huge thing.

Speaker 1 1:14:46

I think that'll be awesome. Good for you.

Speaker 2 1:14:49

Good for you, and then, uh, you know, I'm sure I'll be doing some tattoo conventions and and whatever else may pop up. Yeah, um, sometimes I'm a spur of the moment type person and things just happen sometimes that's what works when you're busy.

Speaker 1 1:15:05

You know what I mean sometimes.

Speaker 2 1:15:07

That's how it just has to happen absolutely um and for me it's, you know, it's a big thing just supporting the community from oklahoma as a whole. I try to do everything I can to give back. You know, from the community that I felt like I took from when I was young. You know I kind of abused the community, it's you know. The drywall business helped me build and give back and the tattoo community has really helped me give back to the people themselves and the tattoo community has really helped me get back to the people themselves.

Speaker 1 1:15:35

I love that. I love that a lot. That's beautiful. That really is. I appreciate that about you, I do.

Speaker 2 1:15:40

It can be overwhelming sometimes to be honest.

Speaker 1 1:15:43

I understand that too.

Bright Truck Transformation and Growth

Speaker 2 1:15:46

I understand that side of it, but it's all worth it in the end you know, yeah, and when you get the praise from everybody for what you do, it makes it all worth it.

Speaker 1 1:15:55

It definitely feels good to give back. I do a lot of things for no charge and for free, as I'm sure that you do.

Speaker 2 1:16:04

Right.

Speaker 1 1:16:04

You know, giving of your time and that's why I keep telling you thank you and I appreciate you and thank you because giving of your time, your time is really all you have and it's very valuable and it's very important. And when you're giving of your time, that's a lot, you know, that's a lot to give uh to me anyway. Uh, to give someone your time means the world to me. So you know, I appreciate that really.

Speaker 2 1:16:28

Yeah, no doubt A lot of people don't understand that. What's that? Oh hell, sundays are my free day. That's my favorite day. It's my free day, but it's my favorite day, it's my one free day and you gave me your free day, oh no. So once we're done here, I'm going to head to the shop and start working on my truck again.

Speaker 1 1:16:50

Okay, okay.

Speaker 2 1:16:50

All right, I'm in the middle of rebuilding the truck and doing some paint and body work to it, that way I can come out with a fresh truck this next season.

Speaker 1 1:16:59

Oh, I love that. So we're going to stay tuned to see what we get.

Speaker 2 1:17:03

Oh, yeah, yeah. Everybody's been asking me what color I'm going to paint it and everything.

Speaker 1 1:17:07

You're not going to tell, are you?

Speaker 2 1:17:09

I'm not telling.

Speaker 1 1:17:10

Damn no sneak peek yeah.

Speaker 2 1:17:13

No sneak peek Okay. I'll probably stop taking pictures and posting pictures once the truck goes to paint.

Speaker 1 1:17:20

No one will see it again until I hit the street. So we got to gas, we got to gas, we got to bat, we got to take some bats on what color this truck should be.

Speaker 2 1:17:28

I'll just say this it's going to be bright, which is unlike me, okay. Okay, it's not going to be the same as any other truck out here as far as color goes, either.

Speaker 1 1:17:41

Oh, I love it. Okay, I'm loving this.

Speaker 2 1:17:43

I'm trying to be as different as I can be and stand out With a truck style that's so popular it's been built over and over again for the past 40 years. Yeah, it's hard to do.

Speaker 1 1:17:54

I'm sure it's really hard to do so. Yes, um so like a new focus for you this year. A new focus yes on everything on business on the trucks.

Speaker 2 1:18:05

I love it on life in general it's going to be a growth year definitely that's awesome I love it already has.

Speaker 1 1:18:12

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you so much today and just you know, sharing a little bit about past, present and future, I think gives people not only hope and encouragement but just the will to keep pushing. You know, keep growing, learning, keep pushing. There's always hope when people lose hope as you know, you had a pretty rough year last year when you start losing hope, that fuck it button is pretty easy to hit and it needs to be a reset button. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 1:18:42

And sit down and just take some, take a minute, you know, to take it all in.

Speaker 2 1:18:47

Yeah, never, never give up, because you never know when things will change. And not only that you have so many people that need you not to give up.

Speaker 1 1:18:57

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 1:18:57

You know whether it's to be there for them or just to show them that there's more out there than giving up, that they can do it too.

Speaker 1 1:19:05

Yeah, and just you know, teaching people to be strong and it sounds like you have done that, you've been a role model for your kids and you broke that generational curse and that right there is huge.

Speaker 2 1:19:16

Definitely.

Speaker 1 1:19:17

That right there is huge, so I appreciate that about you very much. So thank you for today, craig, and I appreciate your time again. I'll probably say that a million times. Thanks for having me, it's been fun. I've been fun to get to know you a little bit and been fun I've enjoyed it.