Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

There’s something about when I pick up my guitar. Sometimes something comes out of my hands that hits me hard. It turns into a feeling, then a song, then a memory. I write and produce everything in my home studio, shaping ideas from acoustic sketches into full‑blown tracks with my bandmates. I’m drawn to music with grit, melody, and a pulse you can feel in your chest — songs that tell a story, hit a nerve, and leave something behind after the last note fades.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in the small things — a memory, a moment, a feeling that comes out of nowhere. NY and NJ shaped who I am, and 53 years of playing and jamming — now with my Schmegmatics bandmates Brian and Mitch — helped form my style into my own voice. Sometimes it’s life, sometimes it’s struggle, sometimes it’s just a spark that becomes a song. I’m always looking at things from a different angle to see if music can come out of it.

What would you do with $25,000?

I'd use it to upgrade my home recording gear so I can capture the music that flows from my fingers while I still have the time and health. I'm retired now, and this is my time to do the work I love. Since I was a teenager, I've hoped to write that one song everyone knows, and I never lost that hope. I'd make my process simpler so I can focus on creating, and put the rest toward recording and releasing more songs and videos with my band, The Schmegmatics, to keep our momentum going.