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RIVERSIDE - Dominic Felicetta loved giving advice -- whether those around him asked for it or not.
Whether it was about music, shoe repair or just life, the longtime Riverside and Rialto resident wanted to help others by dispensing his wisdom.
A big-band musician, a third-generation shoe repairman and a 1953 Riverside Poly High School alumnus, Mr.

Felicetta died Saturday at age 71.
No public services are planned, but his family and friends will deliver a tribute to him at the Riverside Poly High School picnic at Fairmount Park in June.
"He was kind of like the neighborhood psychiatrist.

He was a pretty special guy," said Craig Roubinek, who owns Riverside Stamp and Coin, which is next door to Mr. Felicetta s shop, Tom s Shoe Repair in the Brockton Arcade. "He always had a little time to give everybody advice.

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Mr. Felicetta grew up working in his father s first shoe-repair shop on 7th at Market streets.
He learned to play the bass guitar when he was 15 and started his big-band career after graduating from Riverside Poly.

From Fairmount Park to nightclubs in Palm Springs and The Alpine, a former nightclub in Colton, Mr. Felicetta made a living by strumming music throughout the Inland area. He played with Fritz and the Sharps and the Perez Prado Big Band.

Louise Felicetta met her husband while dancing at a performance his band was giving in Fairmount Park in 1953.
"There were never any problems with our upside-down life. Our evenings didn t start until 2 a.

m. and we went to bed when the paper was delivered," said Louise Felicetta. "He didn t think he was very good, but his music was why I fell in love with him.

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Mr. Felicetta spent his days with his children and making home videos, his wife said.
He also piloted small planes from the Rialto Airport to Catalina and the desert.

Occasionally flying the single-engine planes to Vegas, he started as a pilot to overcome his fear of flying, said his brother, Peter Felicetta.
In 1978, he took over his father s store, Tom s Shoe Repair, after it moved to the Brockton Arcade in Riverside.
Louise Felicetta said her husband took pride in his work and created strong relationships with the community and his customers.

"He cultivated people," she said. "Most people garden or have other hobbies, but he loved giving advice and doing things for others."
The shoe-repair shop will remain open through at least the end of the year, Louise Felicetta said.

Though she described it as a dying trade, Mr. Felicetta s brother Peter and his colleagues still hand repair and polish shoes.
"In this small village everyone knows my brother as the cobbler," Peter Felicetta said.

"I miss him terribly, but I pray that he s watching over me. I know he will."
In addition to his wife in Rialto, Mr.

Felicetta is survived by his sons Tom, of Los Angeles, and Tony, of Las Vegas; daughters Claudia Davis, of Lincoln, and Cherrian Shelton, of Solvang; his brother Peter, of Riverside, and sister Rosemary Custard, of Grenada Hills; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.