Back in his college days, in the early 1990s, Barry Synoground helped organize Chico’s first-ever rave. The exhilaration he felt running that DIY show has stuck with him for more than 30 years now, fueling a career that’s seen him produce hundreds of live concerts and dance parties. 

Synoground, the longtime general manager of the venerable San Francisco club the DNA Lounge, has tapped into that passion for art and connection time and time again. But he says the real allure of live music is the ever expanding community it introduced him to. So, too, is the appeal of Freemasonry, which he says deepens social bonds between friends like nothing else he’s found. “Sharing an activity and a set of goals really causes friendships to bloom,” says Synoground, the junior deacon of Pythagoras No. 862, who’s known locally for his eccentric suits and a bowtie collection numbering in the gazillions (give or take). “You get that by working in the live music industry too, but it tends to be fleeting.” 

Now, as he steps away from the DNA Lounge to focus on producing larger events, we asked Synoground to reflect on the shows he’s been to, produced, or taken part in that have made him who he is and introduced him to ”all those smiling faces that fill my soul with glee.”