Occupation: I’m a full-time musician. I teach guitar and bass, I do detailed repair of string instruments, and I build string instruments. My business is Arrowhead Guitars. I’m a vocal coach, as well. My own band is Off The Hook, and we’ve been around for 20 years, playing rock, blues, funk, jazz, folk — a little of everything. I’ve been in bands since I was 15, and started playing guitar when I was 10 years old.

Family: I’ve been in a relationship with Gisela for 35 years, another musician and artist. My extended family is all the wildlife we rescue and care for.

Pets: Well, that would be the wild animals we rescue and release. A few become pets because they can’t survive in the wild. Right now, we have a ferret, Weezie, and Rascal the raccoon. And we have a barred owl with an injured wing.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I’ve been here for 35 years. I moved here from Fairfield. Gisela and I have a place in West Haven, too.

What do you like to do in your free time? We run Fog Pocket Wildlife Shelter. We’ve had up to 30 animal rescues that we care for until they can go back to the wild, from opossums to squirrels to skunks and deer. We’ve cared for hawks and owls, too. The DEEP and local animal shelters know that they can bring me animals when they have overflow, and I get calls from individuals in town, too. So the animals take up a lot of time. I write music for our band, and I like to hike and camp. I also organize a kids’ group called Wiped Out. It’s made up of my students from Newtown and surrounding towns. We’ve played at some local places. It give them the feel of doing a real gig.

What music are you listening to these days? Anything and everything. I’m an open-minded musician.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? We go camping in Canada. We like to be near the water, but we don’t really plan it. We just go, to get away from everything.

What is the best thing about Newtown? The open space. Having all the acres and land here is the best thing.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? The Beatles. I was 10 years old when I saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show. I started playing guitar and decided to do it the rest of my life, no Plan B. Everything about them influenced me; the world kind of stopped and said, “This is cool!” The other influence is Jaco, one of the most famous bass players in the world, and another is Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian singer/songwriter. Then there’s Taj Mahal. He had that American roots blues style.

What was your favorite toy growing up? It was called Soaky. It was a little bubble bath container shaped like a character: “When it’s empty, it’s a toy,” was the tag line. I was a little old, maybe 12, when a relative who worked for that company gave it to me. That made me mad, but I loved it. I can’t remember any other toy in the world.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? I used to have guilty pleasures, but then I grew up…