We'll Always Have Toronto with Louis Fabrizi

Louis quit his serving job at P.F. Chang's by simply never going back. No notice, no phone call — he got an email from Capitol Records in the parking lot after his last day of training and disappeared. As far as they know, he's still on the schedule. Louis Fabrizi has been one of my best friends since he showed up at my bus stop in eighth grade, and this episode covers all nine of his lives: booking a DIY band tour up and down the East Coast from a Caribou Coffee at 18, getting accepted to West Virginia University in a hallway (he does not remember this), the Marine Corps bomb-diffusing phase, and moving to Nashville at 19 with four guitars to become a touring musician — which actually worked. Then the harder stuff: turning down what became a Brad Paisley tour a week after leaving Nashville, asking his now-wife out three times (she said no three times — Toronto is involved), the darkest season of his life after an unexpected pregnancy, and how the most type-A planner I know ended up moving to the middle of nowhere, Texas, to build his family's house with his own hands. Having never built a house. It went so well that a neighbor asked him to build theirs, and now he runs Willoughby Homes, a custom home building company named after his two-year-old daughter. We also cover crab cakes with Bob Goff, a live Virginia thunderstorm, and why you should never show anyone a YouTube video. This is take two. The first take was three hours long and will never see the light of day. CHAPTERS 0:00 – Should we Schedule Louis F? (take two, let's go) 1:17 – Oh nothing, we're just at a crime scene 1:29 – Never show anyone a YouTube video 2:21 – Who is Louis Fabrizi? 4:06 – The Cabaret McDonald's incident 5:56 – Church circuit at 19 6:43 – Booking a tour from a Caribou Coffee 9:03 – Accepted to WVU in a hallway 10:10 – His mom's skip-day lunches 10:55 – "Let's go diffuse bombs" (the Marine Corps phase) 12:42 – The guitarist who can't read music 13:39 – A pawn shop guitar in Pittsburgh 15:15 – Nashville: "Mom, where are all the cowboys?" 17:16 – P.F. Chang's and the Capitol Records email 19:36 – Life on the road & hotel bar strangers 21:00 – Giving away a book he was 16 pages into 23:11 – "If you're playing in Nashville, you haven't made it in Nashville" 23:46 – The Liberty leap 27:17 – The Brad Paisley email 28:55 – Meeting Summer: three no's and Toronto 32:52 – The darkest season 35:41 – Thunderstorm intermission (for Nairobi) 36:09 – The pendulum swing 39:32 – A proposal at a Thai restaurant 41:20 – Crab cakes with Bob Goff 42:42 – Back to NoVA (and a "great departure") 45:08 – The intentional friend 47:40 – "On paper, what are you thinking?" — Texas 49:41 – But why'd you do it? 52:17 – Building the house 55:40 – The glass house: living with the in-laws 57:38 – Builder grade crap & thoughtful design 60:46 – "I woke up one morning and I'm a custom home builder" 61:48 – Willoughby Homes 63:21 – The Falls Church dream 64:12 – Trust the process 66:23 – Theme song (for real this time) CONNECT At Least It'll Be a Good Story with Peter von Kahle Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6UyiJpG... Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ada... Instagram:   / atleastitsagoodpodcast   Peter:   / vonkahle   | https://x.com/petervonkahle SEARCH at least it'll be a good story podcast, peter von kahle, louis fabrizi, willoughby homes texas, how to become a touring musician, moving to nashville with no plan, nashville music industry stories, capitol records guitarist story, quitting a job without notice story, building your own house story, owner builder first house, custom home builder story, liberty university worship, worship leader story, bob goff love does story, brad paisley tour, marrying your college crush story, she said no three times, new dad struggling story, postpartum for dads, faith over planning, trust the process meaning, leaving a career for family, moving to texas from virginia, funny podcast for mowing the lawn, two friends podcast, long form conversation podcast, christian podcast funny