Well hello!
My name is Luigi C. Saracino, and thank you for the opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself, and to give you a better idea as to where I’m coming from as a writer and an artist. I’ve been fortunate and blessed enough to have been able to work as an artist, in several fields, for over 3o years. And I’ve been writing in one form or another for at least that long. Whether lyrics, scripts, blog posts, jokes, or pretty much anything else requiring the written word. I’ve done, and do my best, to write as honestly as I can, using tools like humour, empathy, irreverence and satire, to hopefully deepen not only my insight of a given topic, but others as well. And I always write 100% from my heart. I’ve been writing a “Pop-Culture” column for Ottawa Life Magazine online for about the last five years.
http://www.ottawalife.com/author/luigi-saracino
I’m also a musician and lyricist, Stand-Up Comic, podcaster, actor, and voice actor. (To answer your next question, my parents are super-proud. Yup. Super-duper proud.) I play, write, and perform with a few Ottawa-based musical acts, namely, a rock-outfit called Better Living Through Chemistry, an “80’s revival” band called The Phoenix Lights(Formerly dreams go colour), a folk-based duo called Boca Del Lupo, and I also write with a House DJ under the moniker, Young Hollywood.
https://genius.com/LuigiSaracino
https://betterlivingthroughchemistry.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-CUIFwPrB3Bfz4EOrvO5Dw?view_as=public
https://soundcloud.com/luctheriault/aint-no-sunshine-deep-house/s-38VC1
I’ve worked as a Stand-Up Comic for over 18 years, and toured nationally, and internationally, as I also did with several different musical acts throughout the years. (I’d love to include a link here, but I started doing comedy in 1985, so before this whole “interweb” thing that the kids are into nowadays.) I’ve worked with stand-up comic luminaries like Tom Green, Norm McDonald, Mike MacDonald, and Jeremy Hotz. And I cut my comedy-teeth on people like Steve Martin, Robin Williams, John Candy, Dan Ackroyd, Carol Burnett, The Marx Brothers, SNL and of course, the great SCTV.
I’ve also been writing, producing, and hosting an interview-based Pop-Culture podcast called “Free Inside” for the last four years.
Luigi180
Luigi180 is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
(To answer, your next, next question, no, my high-school guidance councillor’s pleas to re-think my “Life-plan” did not make a difference.)
And while they are seemingly disparate, they have helped me to grow and evolve into what I feel is a truly unique and heartfelt point of view. Each field in turn informing and expanding the others. Those elements armed with my life-long love of music, comedy, film, comic books, theatre, etc, has not only filled my head with a girth of uniquely-skewed knowledge and added to my perspective and voice, but it has also all but insured that I am super-annoying to play Trivial Pursuit against. And they have also, in all sincerity, allowed me to live a fuller, richer, life.
Regardless, I can remember spending countless happy hours lost in those things. Well, as much time as I could spend between accordion lessons, I mean. (Yes, I am in fact trying to hit as many Italian stereotypes as I possibly can. As proof, as I write this, I’m also consuming an entire leg of prosciuto, a soccer-ball sized chunk of provolone cheese, while finishing to plaster my mom’s “Madonna/half bathtub” in my parent’s backyard, all while complaining loudly to my neighbours about Italy’s National soccer team. Clearly, I can multi-task like a mofo.)
And even more clearly my passions have always been rooted in the need to communicate, to connect, to learn, and to evolve. I am fascinated and motivated by the everyday “dramas” of “Life”. Also, being Italian, and knowing my people invented both the Mafia, and opera, my love of drama should surprise absolutely no one. (My people also love to buy a dozen of anything as long as it’s on sale, and we hang our cheese from clotheslines in the basement laundry room, but that’s a whole other thing.)
It should go without saying at this point that,
1) I’m an “Artsy” through and through, and
2) My Italian immigrant parents are still worried about my future. (Bonus fact:Most of my ex-girlfriends shared their concerns)
But working in these different fields has taught me all kinds of invaluable lessons. Like, that it takes thirty-six hours to drive from Toronto to Winnipeg, for example. (Bonus fact #2: Thirty.Six.Hours!) Although I wouldn’t recommend doing it in one shot, like many of my bands did. Because I’ve also learned that after consuming a dozen or so “energy drinks”, you will literally start to see your heartbeat. Sorry, I meant to say you can see your heartbeat through your gol-darn parka. It’s like the “chest-burster” scene from “Alien”, but with like, 47% more toques and “Tim Horton’s”. (Uncoincidentally, “Toques and Tim Horton’s” is also the name of my 18-piece, fusion Ska/Klezmer/Punk/Prog, band. Also, uncoincidentally, we’re still trying to book our first gig. And it’s not ’cause we suck. Because we’re like, wicked, awesome. Also, my mom says we’re cool, so there’s that. No, you shut up!)
Here’s more fun things I’ve learned on the road:
1) Border guards, perhaps unsurprisingly, have little to no sense of humour. (Especially when we keep asking which way to “J&E Grocer”. Okay, admittedly, that’s an overly specific, if not totally obscure reference, but if you grew up in Rochester in the 1980’s, you’d be totally plotzing right now.)
2) It takes exactly three feet of Target brand longjohns, and six empty Yoo-Hoo containers to jury-rig a broken fan-belt and rad hose while sitting in a truckstop parking lot at 3 a.m.. Which, when touring in a reconverted 1974 Ford Econoline “van”(in the loosest sense of the word), held together with nothing but rusting parts, Burger King wrappers, and good intentions, was something we had to do. A lot. No, I mean, a lot. Seriously. Like, whatever you’re thinking, double it.
3) ”Rashes”, of any kind, require immediate attention. (Seriously, I cannot emphasise this one enough)
4) When sitting in a small-town county jail drunk-tank in Texas, do not drunkenly yell loudly that Boss Hog would get his ass kicked by Tony Soprano in a bar fight. (Look, this one would just take way to long to explain, just trust me, okay?).
5) Though you may be flat broke and haven’t eaten in 2 or 3 days, trading some of the band’s CD’s for meth, while very slimming, is not a good idea, nor an ideal “appetite suppressant”.
6) When being stripped searched at the Canada-U.S. border, by a very-near-retirement-age border guard with nothing to lose and no time for, quote “You damn smart-ass Can-a-dians!”, don’t do a word-for-word rendition of the proctology scene from “Fletch”. Trust me on this, it won’t get any laughs. It just won’t. Nope.
7) Most cities do in fact have blood-banks if you ever find yourself in a pinch for some quick cash. And if you’re ever at the B.C. blood bank in Tofino, B.C., make sure to ask for Janet. She’s not overly “jabby” and knows where they stash the macadamia nut cookies.
8) Some club owners will offer to pay you in ways that might, and most probably will, make you uncomfortable. Just say no. Or yes, y’know, I’m not here to judge. Just do your thang, man.
Now, I’m not a doctor, (In this country, at least. But I do own a thriving back-alley teeth-whitening practice in the Philippines.), but I’m almost entirely sure that none of that is even remotely or quantifiably “good”. As you can see though, one of the major commonalities among those fields, is “writing” in one form or another. The true love I have for words, written or otherwise, and for languages, is one going back to my earliest childhood. Being the only immigrant Italian kid in my French grade school, communication quickly became both compass and touchstone. Soon after, the discovery of music, comedy, film, stand-up and theatre, insured I was hooked for life.
Working as an independent artist certainly comes with its own set of challenges, both personal and financial, but life without Art, to me at least, is not only as boring as a Terrence Malik retrospective whilst (yes, whilst) on an ether binge (The binge bit sounds fun though), but one I’m as interested in, as say, a clearly weeks-old tuna-fish sandwich sold to me out of a depression-era vending machine, at a gas station next to an IHOP out on I-90. That is to say, only mildly interested.
At the heart of it, I try my best to write about the experience of being “Human”, of our victories, ridiculousness, limitations, foibles, etc., and hopefully entertain and provide insight as I do. As I’d mentioned, I tend to approach my writing using humour and empathy to make my points. It’s a behaviour I’ve had my whole life. And one I think reflects who I am, and one that I think serves me well.
Although admittedly, I am still working on explaining some of my other behaviours, at least to myself, as my ease and comfort in bingeing every damn episode of “Russian Doll”, last night, came a little too easily. In my defense I can only say, that there was a CostCo.-sized tub of chee-z-poofs involved, as well as what some might refer to as an “unreasonable” amount of grape-flavoured Mountain Dew, Triple-Blaster-Happy-Fun-Time-Arctic-Power-Zone. (Y’know, now that I think of it, it was a pretty great night.)
A sincere and heartfelt thank you for reading this, and I hope to be connecting with you soon! I am grateful to have this platform to discuss ideas that I think are important, and I hope that you enjoy my take on things :) Hopefully I can add a smile or an insight to your day!
Kindest regards,
Luigi C. Saracino
