Doodling, Concerts & Gowns | Drift Off with Cozy, Meandering Talk

Looking for a sleep podcast to fall asleep fast, reduce anxiety, and quiet an overactive mind? This calming episode of The Insomnia Project is designed for insomnia relief, stress reduction, and gentle nighttime unwinding through slow, soothing conversation.
Marco Timpano welcomes guest Phil Luzi for a relaxed discussion about doodling, creativity, and everyday artistic expression, offering low-stimulation, easygoing content perfect for bedtime listening. From simple lines turning into spontaneous sketches to the calming act of letting a pen wander, this episode creates a cozy and meditative atmosphere.
The conversation also drifts into memories of concerts and live music, along with reflections on sharing creativity online, blending familiar experiences with soft, meandering storytelling. With unhurried pacing and gentle topics, this relaxing podcast episode helps ease racing thoughts, reduce anxiety, and create a peaceful environment for sleep.
Whether you’re searching for a sleep podcast for insomnia, calming background noise while you work, or a gentle way to unwind at the end of the day, The Insomnia Project offers a comforting, reliable escape.

Doodling Dreams & Calm Conversations | Episode 6 with Phil Luzi
Marco Timpano: Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a conversation about the mundane. One thing that we can promise is that our conversation will be less than fascinating, so you can feel free to just drift m off. Thank you for joining us. We hope you will listen and sleep. I'm your host, Marco Timpano, and joining me is a dear friend, Phil Luzzi. Welcome, Phil.
Phil Luzi: Thank you, Phil.
Marco Timpano: Before we go on, let me say that our listeners can follow you on twitter @Philluzzi. Luzi spelled L U Z I. So it's P H I L L U Z I. Or go to your website, which is philluzzi.com.
Phil Luzzi: yeah.
Marco Timpano: You're an actor, a writer, a performer, a creator, and something that I've always enjoyed is a cabaretist.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: You've hosted and performed in cabarets and you're quite delightful to see live.
Phil Luzzi: Good word, by the way.
Marco Timpano: Thank you. So if you get a chance to see Phil Lucy, please do so.
Phil Luzzi: Thanks.
Marco Timpano: And we're in Sudbury because you're performing in Sudbury.
Phil Luzzi: That's right. With your wife.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. So it's like I'm gonna. I'm gonna go to Sudbury and record some podcasts and Sudbury for our listeners who aren't Aware is a city in, on Northern Ontario that is well known for its mines, in particular mining nickel.
Phil Luzzi: Yes, I thought you meant mines. Like a bunch of smart people live here.
Marco Timpano: You know what, I think there are some, Sandra Battolini, who is a mutual friend, was talking about a whole bunch of scientific and things that are going on in Sudbury that are quite. Maybe I'll get her on a podcast to talk more. We share a common passion.
Phil Luzzi: What's that?
Marco Timpano: Doodling.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, I love doodling very, very much.
Marco Timpano: I oftentimes when I'm doing a podcast, I'm making circles or whatnot. What's your go to doodle?
Phil Luzzi: it started off being simple, doing geometric things 2D, then went to 3D.
Marco Timpano: Oh, you started 2D, you went to 3D.
Phil Luzzi: Now I'm, I like, I'm obsessed. My go to doodle is an eyebrow.
Marco Timpano: A single eyebrow.
Phil Luzzi: I always do the left side of a face. I can't do a matching right side for some reason. I try challeng myself.
Marco Timpano: Okay. What is it about the left side that you find?
Phil Luzzi: I'm left handed.
Marco Timpano: Oh, I see.
Phil Luzzi: So I find balance when I draw with that hand. I can't draw with my right hand, but I draw eyebrows if I, if I feel so inclined. An eye follows.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: And then a nose. Half a nose and half lips.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah. I don't know what it is. I love doodling. I can't, I can't do it enough. Do you get in trouble doodling in meetings because people think I'm not listening?
Marco Timpano: See, I find that when I doodle, it actually allows me to focus and listen and not be distracted because it's like by doing a simple repetitive pattern on paper with a pen, I'm actually able to clear my mind and really listen to what the person is speaking.
Phil Luzzi: That's what happens to me. I can absorb information. I'm listening and focused. But I think it gives off the wrong impression to people who don't know your obsessions.
Marco Timpano: Really. You know, a technique you one could use is do you mind if I take notes during this meeting? Nice, right?
Phil Luzzi: And you didn't specify whether those notes are going to be written in letters
Marco Timpano: or in eyebrow pictures. Perhaps you're doing.
Phil Luzzi: See how surprised this eyebrow looks? Well, what you're saying is shocking.
Marco Timpano: There you go.
Do you prefer a pen or a pencil when you doodle
Do you prefer a pen or a pencil when you doodle?
Phil Luzzi: Well, I prefer either a pencil or. You know those markers that teachers use in grade two to mark papers?
Marco Timpano: Like a thin point marker?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, I love those. Any particular color well, baby blue. I found one. I don't know how, but I got lucky. It's in my bag right now. I carry it with me everywhere.
Marco Timpano: See, I prefer to use blue ink. I don't like writing in black ink. It's never, I don't know, I prefer blue ink. Pen?
Phil Luzzi: Yes.
Marco Timpano: And in fact, at home I've got a drawer full of pens that I don't use that are black ink. So you know how you acquire pens from, I don't know, a bank or restaurant and have a logo on it. And then you get home, if I see it's black, black ink, I just throw it in the thing.
Phil Luzzi: You're partial to blue, I call it. Maybe you're old fashioned.
Marco Timpano: Is it?
Phil Luzzi: Maybe. Okay, like ink is traditionally blue.
Marco Timpano: No, no, I think it's black. I think really ink, when people were using it was like dipped. It was a black ink that people would use. I think blue came in fashion. I really don't know. I don't even know.
Phil Luzzi: That's really odd. And then red made its way in there. Who knows what happened there.
Marco Timpano: But your preference is the baby blue.
Phil Luzzi: Well, in that marker I also share your love. If I had to write in pen, I prefer. I like blue ink.
Marco Timpano: Oh, there you go.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, when I used to, when we stuffed to write in school, I wrote so hard, my grade six teacher, Mr. Maranka, used to make fun of me and say, I could read your essay by just feeling the other side of it because it would be like braille.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. I press hard too, when I write. I always have. And so oftentimes I'll have a sheet of paper under what I'm writing so it won't come through to the next sheet when I turn the page.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Ah, because I press so hard. In fact, if you go to my mom's house and you look at one of her, what do you call them little tables that you have by a. By a chesterfield or a sofa. What's that?
Phil Luzzi: Coffee table. Yeah, coffee table.
Marco Timpano: Coffee table. You'll see impressions of. When I was a kid and I was writing things, I had an obsession with fish. So I was always drawing fish. Oh, is that your go to.it was when I was a kid. Actually. I do that. I do a lot of under underwater
Phil Luzzi: realism or more like, the shape of a fish. If I had to like explain what
Marco Timpano: a fish was, more like kind of, a cartoon version that kids would understand. So if I drew an octopus, it wouldn't necessarily be a realistic octopus.
Phil Luzzi: Right.
Marco Timpano: But it would be something With a big head and eight arms. And kids would know, Right? Because I do it for my nephew.
Phil Luzzi: You said five arms. What do you think an octopus with five arms would be?
Marco Timpano: Well, you know, if it got into a fight and lost three of them.
Phil Luzzi: A pentapus, I guess.
Marco Timpano: I guess.
Phil Luzzi: Must be.
Marco Timpano: There are creatures under the sea that have five. Like a starfish.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, right.
Phil Luzzi: He got a glamorous name, though.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, it's true. It's true.
I use Instagram as my, um, vision board
What about your love of Instagram? Because I've been an Instagrammer.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And right now I'm on a trend.
Phil Luzzi: Okay, what is it?
Marco Timpano: So I love cappuccinos and our listeners.
Phil Luzzi: I saw your cappuccino post today.
Marco Timpano: So I always, if I get a great cappuccino, I will take a photo and then I use an app called, font Candy, where I can write words on it or whatnot. I'll show it to you after and then I'll post it. So if it's a great cappuccino, I'll say, this is a cappuccino. But more often than not, I'll go to places and I won't get a good cappuccino and I'll write, this is not a cappuccino. And so I've got a series of
Phil Luzzi: Instagram photos that are not cappuccinos, just
Marco Timpano: cappuccinos or cappuccino fails.
Phil Luzzi: Right.
Marco Timpano: What's it. Yeah, what is it about Instagram that you love?
Phil Luzzi: Okay, so I like it because it's pictures and I love picture books.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I'm not much of a reader.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: I like looking at photo albums and stuff.
Marco Timpano: Nothing wrong with that.
Phil Luzzi: Also, I use Instagram as my, vision board. So I follow people that I admire. I like to see images of things that inspire me.
Marco Timpano: Oh, that's wonderful.
Phil Luzzi: And so when I'm scrolling through it, I'm not getting inundated with all this information that I don't want to hear. I filter it from myself. I don't like Facebook. I took it off my phone.
Marco Timpano: Oh, you did?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, I had to. I just thought it was really pointless.
Marco Timpano: Fair.
Phil Luzzi: And I felt sort of obsessive about scrolling through people's information.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: Not just once, though. Like multiple times a day.
Marco Timpano: And it can get quite depressing because a lot of people will put news items or items up there that political stuff might be against your, you know, belief system or whatnot. Right? Yeah, but Instagram doesn't have that necessarily.
Phil Luzzi: If you look for it, it does. But that's the thing about Instagram, you can you only see who. Who you follow?
Marco Timpano: I see.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah. It's my vision board.
Marco Timpano: Oh, that's wonderful. I never thought of that. So for listeners who don't know what a vision board is, help me define it. I feel like I'm always defining something forward because I want to ensure that our listeners, oftentimes, it's something Canadian, are aware of what we're talking about. So in this case, a vision board.
Phil Luzzi: A vision board, I think, is just a board with images that allow you to envision things that you wish to occur for you in the future.
Marco Timpano: Goals.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Or inspirational. things.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, they could be pictures, words. I wouldn't say stories. It's more of a visual thing. Something you can glance at and become inspired by and screaming, yeah, great.
You follow a lot of fashion designers on Instagram
Marco Timpano: So is there a particular Instagrammer that you enjoy following? because I have a tattoo artist who I think is fantastic. Now, I don't have any tattoos because I've never been able to think of something that I would want permanently for
Phil Luzzi: the honest part of your life.
Marco Timpano: And I'm a hand model, so I'd have to be careful not to get any.
Phil Luzzi: Not to get anywhere close. Right. I love your hair.
Marco Timpano: So thank you. So I follow this tattoo artist who I think does amazing, amazing work, and I just love looking at the art that she does on people's skin.
Phil Luzzi: It's not Kat Von D, is it?
Marco Timpano: No, no, it's. It's, Tammy Kim.
Phil Luzzi: Okay, cool.
Marco Timpano: I'll check her out. She has a very particular style, but that's someone I find. Follow an Instagrammer.
Phil Luzzi: Right.
Marco Timpano: How about yourself?
Phil Luzzi: I follow a lot of fashion designers.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I love gowns. I'm obsessed with wedding gowns.
Marco Timpano: Do you doodle gowns?
Phil Luzzi: All the time. You should see my script, actually, for the show we're doing Has a lot of gowns in it.
Marco Timpano: So, you know when, designers design gowns and they do, like, I don't know what it's called, but it's like a. It's almost like a piece of art where they, like, color it in and all that stuff?
Phil Luzzi: I don't get to that point.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: No.
Marco Timpano: Would you want. You know how you can purchase, like, a Jean Paul Gaultier design of a gown that he did for, say, Lady Gaga?
Phil Luzzi: Oh, that would be amazing. I don't. I've never even checked all the prices of those.
Marco Timpano: If anyone's looking to get Phil Luzzi a gift. Yeah, there you go.
Phil Luzzi: A Lady Gaga costume. That'd be pretty sweet. I actually Googled Nope. Because what I have problems with is body dimensions.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: Like, I like drawing the outfit, but then I'm like, oh, the breasts are too big for those legs.
Marco Timpano: Right.
Phil Luzzi: Like, that part I can't get. So I looked at. They have notebooks, like sketchbooks, where the bodies are already there. You just have to dress them with whatever creation.
Marco Timpano: Oh, that's fantastic. So that, that it's. It's interesting because we've kind of threaded, if you would, your love for doodling, your love for Instagram and things you follow and your love for fashion all sort of weaves into one.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, wow, that's so interesting. My dream is to play a character that's very like a fashion designer.
Marco Timpano: Oh, I could see that. I could cast you in that in a heartbeat.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, that'd be great.
Marco Timpano: In a heartbeat.
What are your thoughts on wedding gowns? I also think they're so important
So let me ask you this. have you ever designed clothes for yourself?
Phil Luzzi: No, I'm not into men's fashion. Like, I love it because that's what I wear.
Marco Timpano: Because you're, you're our listeners. Can't tell. But you are a very fashionable individual. Thank you.
Phil Luzzi: But, yeah, I don't draw men's stuff.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I always draw gowns. Dress. I don't even draw women's pantsuits. I draw only gowns.
Marco Timpano: Oh, wow.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And do you have a love for nostalgic gowns? So gowns from, you know, the 30s or 20s, or is it just a gown as a gown for you?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah. I think because my fashion recycles itself all the time, it's kind of hard to see, say. Yeah. If it's from the 30s.
Marco Timpano: Oh, wow, that's awesome. I think that's great. I think that's a lovely sort of way to spend your time on something you love.
Phil Luzzi: I know, but wedding gowns in particular, do you think that says something about me?
Marco Timpano: No, I just think wedding gowns are sort of the ultimate gown. Right. So it's kind of like if you're going to draw something like that, you want to draw towards the ultimate gown. Because what I find about. Interesting about wedding gowns is it's a gown that has a lot of importance, but it's a gown that's, generally speaking, spoken, only worn once.
Phil Luzzi: Right.
Marco Timpano: What are your thoughts on wedding gowns?
Phil Luzzi: I also think they're so important. It's like the, dress that girls will make the most fuss over for their entire lives.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: So when you design it, you kind of have this, responsibility to make something awesome. And so.
Marco Timpano: And you know, generally speaking, they say, oh, a bride on her wedding day. Doesn't matter.
Phil Luzzi: What.
Marco Timpano: She has always looked beautiful. Yeah. With the exception of my cousin's first wife who wore a gown that was God awful. Just. Just insane.
Phil Luzzi: Tell me about it.
Marco Timpano: Like, it had. It was like, you know when people just can't stop.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And so she had a gown and then they put a huge crown on her.
Phil Luzzi: Okay.
Marco Timpano: It kind of looked like a Statue of Liberty crown.
Phil Luzzi: Okay.
Marco Timpano: And then they threw a. What do you call it? It was kind of like.
Phil Luzzi: Like a shrug.
Marco Timpano: Like a shrug that was kind of like lacy.
Phil Luzzi: Do you know what that is? A loophole one. Okay. Shrugs on wedding gowns are loopholes because some churches don't allow exposed shoulders when you get married. So brides are like, oh, yeah, you don't want me to be showing stuff. Okay, I'm gonna throw this on my shoulder and as soon as we walk
Marco Timpano: out of this church, I can take it off. Aussie. I didn't know that. Yeah, well, she had one of those. And it kind of came to a point at the thing, you know, like,
Phil Luzzi: how did it loop around?
Marco Timpano: Yeah. Okay. One of those. And then it had like a bit of a Dracula.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, she was into the drama. Like bat wings underneath.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. Kind of look like bat wings underneath. And, Yeah. And it was just too much. It was thing, on top of thing. On top of thing.
Phil Luzzi: I often go to weddings and I'm like, oh, I wish the bride would have just brought me along to the fitting. I would have been a little more honest about what's affair.
Marco Timpano: Now I think that's important.
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Weddings give me anxiety, love, so many details
Marco Timpano: What rituals do you have when you go to weddings? Do you have any sort of rituals or any things that you like to do or like, like to see at weddings?
Phil Luzzi: Weddings give me anxiety.
Marco Timpano: Oh, do they really?
Phil Luzzi: Yes, because I think, oh, so many details. I wonder what, what trouble this couple went to to like, make sure this wedding is perfect. And quite honestly, the more sense I get that they are relaxed and not worried about the details, I'll have more fun.
Marco Timpano: Oh, interesting.
Phil Luzzi: When I see couples are like, trying too hard to make it perfect, it gives. It puts me on edge and I have a hard time relaxing.
Marco Timpano: Well, there you go. What about cufflinks, love? the reason I ask this is because your show the opening night, I had a shirt, but I forgot my cufflinks. Amanda texted me and my wife texted you and said, do you have a spare pair of cufflinks? Do what you said. Tell them to use paper clips.
Phil Luzzi: I said, it's Sudbury. Tell him to use paper clips.
Marco Timpano: I didn't, I didn't use paperclips. I just, I worked it out myself. How?
Phil Luzzi: You're being vague.
Marco Timpano: Well, I was, I was going to wear a different shirt, but I was like, no, I'll wear this. And I wore a sweater on top,
Phil Luzzi: so you didn't need to.
Marco Timpano: I didn't need the cufflinks because. Because the.
Phil Luzzi: Kept it in.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, I kept it intact. But I usually travel with a pair of cufflinks in my toiletry bag.
Phil Luzzi: Just like general.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. Because I. I would do a lot of corporate, work, so I would be flying everywhere and oftentimes for some reason I would. And fill. I have a lot of cufflinks. I don't know why I never take them with me. So I'm like, I'm gonna just have a spare pair like in your glove box. Yeah. And I. Exactly. And I had it. And sure enough, couldn't find them.
Phil Luzzi: Isn't that the thing?
Marco Timpano: Do you have a favorite pair of cufflinks?
Phil Luzzi: I like to keep them classic. But my favorite pair is actually from my. It's a pair that my dad had.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: and I stole them.
Marco Timpano: Okay. Friend.
Phil Luzzi: I told him recently that I did. I don't think he was looking for them. M. These big purple jewels.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: These big purple stones.
Marco Timpano: They're amethyst.
Phil Luzzi: Maybe. Maybe.
Phil Luzzi: And yeah, they're the kind that when you undo them are attached. They haven't like, they're attached like, you know that part that flips sideways enough. so the hook that goes into it is attached Like, I don't know.
Marco Timpano: Oh, I see what you're saying. It has, like, a bit of a chain.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: So that they. That they. Yeah, yeah, I know.
Phil Luzzi: It's not just the flipper thing. There's another thing on top.
Marco Timpano: I know.
Phil Luzzi: Exactly. For those of you at home can
Marco Timpano: visualize it, I have a pair that I love that my buddy Mark gave me, which is a. They're a round pair, and they have little sheep. Right. Little white sheep. And there's one black sheep, and its eyes are red. Ah. And it looks like a, you know,
Phil Luzzi: a demonized black sheep.
Marco Timpano: Yeah.
Phil Luzzi: In the.
Marco Timpano: In the group of the white sheep. So that's my favorite pair. of cufflinks I have. But I have to tons of them. And then I've acquired a bunch. Like, I don't know, like, you know, when you have something that you like, and then people just go crazy and
Phil Luzzi: they buy that, they're like, that's his thing.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. So that became a thing.
Phil Luzzi: Okay.
I've got more cufflinks than I could ever wear
Marco Timpano: I was like, enough.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: I've got more cufflinks than I could ever wear.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And I was cleaning my basement, and I just found a bag of them, another bag of them, and I was like, I just can't. I just. And yet I don't bring them with me.
Phil Luzzi: I know. You just, like, like to keep them in their safe space.
Marco Timpano: I'm gonna find a pair and I'm gonna get. Give them to you.
Phil Luzzi: Okay. Because if you have so many share,
Marco Timpano: why I have a few. And then someone sends me an email saying, I'm going through my. My. My house, I'm getting rid of stuff. I have a pair of Vespa, cufflinks.
Phil Luzzi: Do you want them?
Marco Timpano: And I'm like, no, I have enough cufflinks.
Phil Luzzi: Vespa.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, I know. But I was like, I just. I. What's funny is I have Vespa cufflinks. They were different, but I already got a pair of Espa cufflinks. I know.
Phil Luzzi: I don't think I have a go to. People say I'm a hard person to buy for.
Marco Timpano: People say that about me too. And yet I feel like I'm an easy person to buy for you.
Phil Luzzi: I think, like, if you buy me something that when you saw it, just made you smile or think of me, then get it. It doesn't matter. I think gifts are things that you get people that they wouldn't buy for themselves.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: Because they just wouldn't think of it.
If you bought me a concert ticket, I would go in
Marco Timpano: Is there. Is there anything that you're like, you know, what I love is blank as A gift?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: What's that?
Phil Luzzi: Concert tickets. Oh, yes.
Marco Timpano: See, so you're easy to buy for. I am. now is it specific concerts or is it just. If you bought me a concert ticket, I would go in.
Phil Luzzi: Chances are I'd enjoy all of them if you got me.
Marco Timpano: Like, they don't have to be like hundred dollar tickets is what you're saying, right?
Phil Luzzi: Well, I don't like going to see concerts where, say if they're playing at the Air Canada center and you're sitting in the third balcony at the back.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I'd rather not.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I find it depressing because I'm like, I'm in the same room as this person, but I can't have to look at a TV screen to see them. I'd rather just listen to their cd.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: So I like seeing people where you could sit a, little closer and not spend $5,000.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: I love going to Dolly Parton's concerts every time she's in town.
Marco Timpano: You were there this time. She's fantastic.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: You know, I'm a big fan.
Phil Luzzi: I'm a huge fan. I'm so happy to hear that her
Marco Timpano: music won a love about her in particular is not only. There's her music, like classic and timeless and can be sung by any artist in different genres, which to me that proves a great song.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: But she's a great songwriter, a fantastic songwriter and she's quite a powerful woman.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And I respect that.
Phil Luzzi: Me too.
Marco Timpano: So there you go.
Phil Luzzi: and she plays a million instruments.
Marco Timpano: I know. I was so impressed. She paid 10, I think 10 or 12 that day. And I was like, wow.
Phil Luzzi: And she just entertains the audience. She's not even trying.
Marco Timpano: Did you have great seats for great tickets for that?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, pretty great. Like, we weren't in the. On the grass. We were in the the. Under the band shell.
Marco Timpano: Okay. Which.
Phil Luzzi: The Molson Amphitheater is one of my favorite concert venues.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: but in the middle section. Like in the middle. Yeah.
Marco Timpano: We were where the grass starts, but we weren't on the grass. We were on the concrete bar.
Phil Luzzi: The concrete bar. I love that place.
Marco Timpano: Yeah.
Phil Luzzi: Summer concerts are the best.
Marco Timpano: What about like an intimate small concert? Like a little tiny bar that has live music.
Phil Luzzi: Is that like the Opera House or something?
Marco Timpano: Yeah, sure. These are all concert venues in Toronto, so you can view. The Molson Amphitheater is a medium to large theater. It's a big outdoor amphitheater. And then the Air Canada center is
Phil Luzzi: a huge, huge, huge.
Marco Timpano: It's a stadium. And then this One here. The opera house that you're mentioning is a little bit smaller, more intimate.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, I like it there. I saw Keen there. Do you know Keen?
Marco Timpano: No, I don't.
Phil Luzzi: They're like, They used to be indie. They're not around. I don't know.
Marco Timpano: Okay. And was it great? Was it?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, because you could hear. You could see them sweat, you know, I want to see you perform this song for me. Yeah. Otherwise, I can't go. I remember my mom. I was obsessed with Michael M. Jackson when I was a kid. Oh, super obsessed.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: And, so. So my mom got me tickets when
Marco Timpano: he came into Costco, because I'm. One of my first concerts. Victory Tour, was the Victory Tour with his brothers. Yeah.
You went to Michael Jackson's concert in Toronto, right? Yeah. You were. Where did you see. I honestly don't remember. You
Yeah.
Phil Luzzi: I still have the.
Marco Timpano: Where did you see.
Phil Luzzi: So we were on the. On the. The flat part, not the balcony.
Marco Timpano: In Toronto.
Phil Luzzi: You were.
Marco Timpano: You saw it in Toronto?
Phil Luzzi: I'm pretty sure. I don't remember. I honestly don't remember.
Marco Timpano: Because you grew up in Stony Creek.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: So you could have seen them in,
Phil Luzzi: Cops Coliseum, but they can guarantee they didn't go there.
Marco Timpano: Or in the States because you could have gone.
Phil Luzzi: No, it wasn't in the States. Oh, right. Is that what you're gonna say? Yeah. Yeah. And it was so far away, but we. It was, like, not far away enough that I had to, like, watch the Jumbotron. I could still see them, but it gave me this bit of anxiety, depression feeling because I'm like, oh, like, it's Michael Jackson, but I'm so far away.
Marco Timpano: Yeah.
Phil Luzzi: it's just like a strange thing.
Marco Timpano: Like, great concert. That was.
Phil Luzzi: Ah. Yeah, it was really well done.
Marco Timpano: That was one of my first concerts.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: One of my first English concerts. Because my first concerts I went to were Italian bands that my mother took me to see.
Phil Luzzi: I love it.
Marco Timpano: But that was. And I went with my neighbor, and tickets were expensive back then for that particular concert, and I went with my neighbors, and I was just blown away. It was the first time I had ever seen something of that magnitude. It was the first time I saw firecrackers go off or fireworks, I should say. It was the first time that, you know, I had an experience as grandiose as that.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Wow.
Phil Luzzi: I loved it. I can't believe you went to that concert, too. Michael Jackson.
You worked at a casino for seven years. What did you do at the casino
Marco Timpano: Any other concerts that really left, an impression on you?
Phil Luzzi: No.
Marco Timpano: No.
Phil Luzzi: I don't know. I just. I'm picky with my concerts.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: But the reason I like getting concert tickets for a gift is because it's Something somebody can share with you. Not necessarily knowing if you're gonna like the music.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: It's like, hey, you know what? I'm gonna take you to a concert, and I don't know if you're gonna like this music, but I'm gonna expose you to what I like.
Marco Timpano: Right.
Phil Luzzi: And I love experiences.
Marco Timpano: And it's the experience.
Phil Luzzi: Right.
Marco Timpano: Because sometimes it's not necessarily what you see, but it's who you see with and watching them get excited or emotional over something.
Phil Luzzi: Exactly.
Marco Timpano: I once bought friend my friends tickets to see lover boy for Christmas. And when I did was I put the tickets in a box with two headbands for him and his wife. And I had wrapped the tickets so he didn't see. He just saw headbands. And he's like, why would he give me headbands? And then he searched through the box
Phil Luzzi: and saw there were two tickets. You're so creative, honestly.
Marco Timpano: That's hilarious.
Phil Luzzi: Where did they play? Casino Rama.
Marco Timpano: It was a casino they played at. I don't know if it was Casino
Phil Luzzi: Rama M or which casino, but it was a casino.
Marco Timpano: But I've seen some great concerts at casinos.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, yeah.
Marco Timpano: I saw Heart.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, good.
Marco Timpano: Fantastic. I saw Dolly Parton at a casino.
Phil Luzzi: No way.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, she came. She was at a casino. Casino Rama. And she was. It was great. It was such a. Like, it was much more intimate.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And it was just phenomenal. And I believe I saw. Is there a casino in Niagara Falls?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah, I worked at it for seven years.
Marco Timpano: Oh, you worked at a casino. What did you do at the casino?
Phil Luzzi: I started off at the players Advanced Manage Club.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: Where you get your cards right with points. And, then I moved up to. In that department. Then I went to player services. I became a supervisor, and then I went. I left when I got a job at 22.
Marco Timpano: And that's where. That's where.
Phil Luzzi: That's where we met. Yeah.
Marco Timpano: What.
Are there any tips you would give people who go to casinos
Are there any tips you would give people who go to casinos?
Phil Luzzi: my tip is, bring only the amount of money you want to lose and leave all possibility of accessing more money away from you because you lose kind of your sensibility.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Phil Luzzi: So if you're like, you know what? I think I Max. Want to lose 200 bucks.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: Bring 200 with you, and when it's gone, it's gone.
Marco Timpano: That's your day.
Phil Luzzi: That's your night. yeah. Because it could get so dangerous. I've seen people really hit a low.
Marco Timpano: Wow.
Phil Luzzi: Like, lose money to the point where they would come back and say, can you do something for me. Can you get my money back or can you, like, help me out? Because I spent way too much money.
Marco Timpano: Money. Wow.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: That's heartbreaking.
Phil Luzzi: It is heartbreaking.
Marco Timpano: But did you get to see concerts while you were there?
Phil Luzzi: No, at the time. Because that casino was relatively new.
Marco Timpano: Right.
Phil Luzzi: They didn't have a concert venue.
Marco Timpano: Oh, wow.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah. But they do now.
Marco Timpano: I saw Loretta Lynn there.
Phil Luzzi: Oh, that'd be a good one too.
Marco Timpano: It was fantastic.
Phil Luzzi: No, I never, like, if I don't know what it is with country music, I don't see why I would have, like, felt this attraction to it. But when I hear it, I love. I just want to be at a campfire.
Marco Timpano: You know what I love, Phil, is that there's a simplicity in a lot of the lyrics. So, ah, it's scaled back because when you listen to a lot of overproduced music, ah, it's great. And there's merit to it and people love it and as do I. But sometimes when you strip something back to just a basic, you know, guitar, drummer, keys or whatnot. And a voice.
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And simple lyrics, there's just something so sublime about. That's true.
Phil Luzzi: And I find country lyrics are, narrative.
Marco Timpano: Yes.
Phil Luzzi: They have a story.
Marco Timpano: They tell a story. Yeah. And that's beautiful too. You know, that's funny. I was just listening to a, A Johnny Cash something or other. I was like, what a great storyteller he was. Eh. Oh, my goodness.
Phil Luzzi: Because if someone was strumming on the guitar last week and they were playing, I think, Folsom Blues, they were
Marco Timpano: playing the chorus chords.
Phil Luzzi: M. They were like. The chords are so simple. I'm like. But it wasn't about the chords. It was his voice. Sure. When he told the story.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Speaking of voices, you have a fantastic voice. Do you do voiceovers
Speaking of voices, you have a fantastic voice.
Phil Luzzi: Thank you.
Marco Timpano: Do you. Do you do voiceovers? Do you do anything?
Phil Luzzi: I go on a lot of auditions, but I never ever landed.
Marco Timpano: Really?
Phil Luzzi: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: With that voice. Come on. Oh.
Phil Luzzi: I don't know what I'm doing wrong in those rooms.
Marco Timpano: Oh, my goodness. I think they just need to discover you.
Phil Luzzi: And I had a deep voice kind of early in my life.
Marco Timpano: Oh, really?
Phil Luzzi: I remember having a deep voice at a party in grade six. And, I called my friend Enzo. I called all my friends to invite them.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Phil Luzzi: And I called Enzo, Lardi's house, and her dad, who was rather strict because he had two daughters. And they were really nice, pretty girls, very respectful also. But I called and said, hi, is Enza home? And he said, who's this? Because he thought I was an older guy. I'm like, I swear I'm in her class. Like, I'm just inviting her to my party.
Marco Timpano: Oh, my goodness. Well, I'm glad we discovered your voice, in particular on this episode, Phil. Thank you so much.
Phil Luzzi: Thank you so much, Marco.
Marco Timpano: You're listening to the Insomnia Project. As always, it's produced by drumcast Productions, and this episode was recorded in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, Sa.