The Latest and the Greatest...

I would like to thank first and foremost the members of the guitar pick collecting community who have taken to this fundraiser with great enthusiasm. In the last two weeks, I have had offers to buy guitar picks which - to date - have totalled nearly $900...and I have not yet finalized all the offers to buy picks yet. These people who typically only trade picks have been (literally) overwhelmingly enthusiastic in their interest. I want to thank them all publically for their thoughts, well-wishes, pick donations, and general support by buying picks to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Now to the most recent donations:

Dave, J.L. and other members of the Jimmy Buffett crew donated the following this year, five of Jimmy's picks and 11 picks from members of the infamous Coral Reefer Band:

As well, I was awestruck and very happily surprised when J.L. (the band's drum tech), at the end of the show, handed me a pair of unused drumsticks - still in the Vic Firth sleeve. The true surprise came when he showed me the sleeve...hand signed by Jimmy Buffett!

To all of the guys on the crew - and to Mr. Buffett for signing the sticks - Thank you so much for your support! If any of yo urun across this crew, please make sure to treat them well, not only do they deserve it for their generosity, but I can honestly say that the entire crew is a great bunch of guys that I look forward to seeing year after year!

Next, Matt, with the band Dream Theater donated nine picks - three of each:

When I approached Matt, he handed me three each of the standard sized picks. As I always do, I thanked him for his donation, shook his hand and walked away. As I was standing outside the venue on my break, he found me and handed me three more picks. He called them the "Super-Secret Picks" because these are the ones John Petrucci uses on stage and are typically not given out to fans or pick collectors. With that in mind, I want to thank Matt for his generosity and thoughtfulness for tracking me down with the special donation.

David with Devil Driver gave me a bunch of picks (27 total) and was very enthusiastic about th efundraiser, he was a nice as could be and said he wished he could give more, but the band was running low. Thanks David!


Ian and Ernie were just in town and donated a total of eight picks. I, unfortunately did not have a lot of time to talk to them, but in the time I had, they were gracious enough to listen to my pitch for pick donations and did not hesitate for a moment. Thanks a lot guys...

Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous strike again with a 9-pick donation from a Daryl Worley show they recently did in the Chicago Area. I was not able to get a tech name who donated, so if you have a name for me, please let me know.

Thanks for checking in and for all of your support!