All right.  After a LOOOONG absence, I have returned.  I am currently feverishly working on thoroughly documenting, scanning and posting all of the picks I have collected for the fundraiser.  I apologize for the lack of updates.  I have no real excuse that is acceptable.

Check back in soon and I will provide more updates.  I promise!

More technical difficulties

I've been having trouble with my scanner again, so until I get it up and running properly, I want to take a moment to thank those who have made pick donations in the last several weeks:

Jeff Schauer donated two picks from the Who's Superbowl performance.

Steven from Flogging Molly donated 36 picks (4 different styles).

Bill donated 4 Los Lobos picks during the Experience Hendrix stop in Milwaukee.

Joe Satriani donated 4 picks from the Experience Hendrix tour.

Marco donated 13 Los Lobos and two Kenny Wayne Shepard picks from the Hendrix show as well.

Hippie with Foreigner donated two unopened BAGS of picks.

AJ - also with Foreigner donated 26 picks of four different styles

Mike with The Black Eyed Peas donated four different picks.

Farmer with Gov't Mule donated six picks (three different styles)

Darius Rucker also donated 13 picks of various design.

I will get scans up as soon as possible. Thanks for looking and thank you to all of the donors!

Happy 2010!

It's been a bit slow since the last post thanks to the Holiday Season, but I have been going forward a aggressively as possible with the collections, so here we go with the latest round...

Meep and Rob with Theory of a Deadman made a generous donation of 25 total picks when they were through a few days ago:

Noah and James Senter with Sick Puppies donated 4 picks, as well as some recording session picks from the legendary Dicky Betts:

Chris, from the Las Vegas band Taking Dawn gave me 3 picks after their set in Milwaukee. Hopefully next time they are in town, the weather will be a bit more hospitable to my mew desert-dwelling friends...

Justin, with Milwaukee's latest "local" band (they have been here about 5 times in the past 6 months), Halestorm , donated 6 picks:

Eric Gromley donated a total of 43 picks from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra:

James Hellman gave me a total of 8 picks, 4 from Nick Jonas's latest solo tour when he was in town last week as well as 4 from the Jonas Brothers' 200 tour. Thanks James!

Galen, Ryan and Colin with Shinedown were all very generous with their picks, giving a total of 33 picks of several different (and quite clever) styles:

Wookie, with Breaking Benjamin, donated a total of 12 picks along with one of his own personal variety...

Diaz, with Notion City Soundtrack donated 5 picks:

Thank you again to those of you who have donated picks, bought picks or simply made donations to the Children's Hospital in the name of Pickin' for Sick Children. Stay tuned, the season is starting to ramp up again...

Pictures as promised

Here they are. Based on the last post (in no particular order...):

Thanks to all donors. I will try to update the website again soon.

Two Months?

I've neglected updating the blog for a myriad of reasons. None of which are good. Among other things, my scanner is on the fritz and I am just now on the verge of getting it back to working condition. So, until I can put up scans I will give proper credit and hopefully pictures will follow in the next few days.

• Kenny and Randy with Trace Adkins crew donated 7 picks.
• Martina McBride donated 6 picks
• Fred with Megadeth donated 14 picks
• Willie Gee with Megadeth donated 24 picks
• Larry with Machinehead donated 10 picks
• Chief with Machinehead donated 21 picks
• Nate with GWAR donated 6 picks
• Grape with Lamb of God donated 14 picks
• Adam with Boys Like Girls donated 12 picks
• Josh with Boys Like Girls donated 14 picks
• Mike with Versa Emerge donated 9 picks
• Darren with Mastodon donated 3 picks
• Warren with Mastodon donated 3 picks
• Elwood with ZZ Top donated 10 picks
• T.J. With ZZ Top donated 10 picks
• Paul with Cheap Trick donated 46 picks

I promise to post images of the donated picks as soon as possible. Until then, thank you for looking and Happy Holidays.

More and More...

Sorry for the time between postings, but life has been pretty busy lately. Not an excuse, but that's the way it is.

Straight to business:

Steve with Sugarland donated three picks when they were here in mid-September:
A special thank you to Chad, Scott and "Punk-Rock" Dave, as well as a few other Alice In Chains crew members who wish to remain anonymous, for a great donation of 32 picks and four drumsticks from their recent show here in Milwaukee:

To the boys on Marilyn Manson's crew who geve me a total of 26 picks, thank you:

Like a fool, I forgot to write down the name of the tech who hooked me up with four Loggins and Messina picks when they were in town about 3 weeks ago. With apologies to this donor, please contact me if you wish to be properly thanked. Also a fifth pick was donated by "Ms. Jane" who was given a pick at the end of the show. Thank you Ms. Jane...

Finally, my new giveaway or promo picks arrived this morning. With a nod to AC/DC, here they are...I hope you like them:

Until next time, take care and thank you for looking and supporting the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

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!