Closing in on 2,000...

It has been a busy few weeks. I will keep it brief by starting with the addition of 154 picks donated since the last update. That brings the new total to 1,967 picks donated!

Let's start with Jimmy Buffett. The men in Mr. Buffett's crew were quite generous and promised a "care package" to be forwarded in the next couple of weeks. I cannot wait! All I was told was that it would contain "goodies" for the fundraiser. I gotta admit, I am as anxious as my 5-year-old is just before Christmas. At the show, though, I was given five picks by Dan. His comment as he gave them to me was great: We're in Wisconsin, so green and gold seem appropriate..."
An old friend of AVMT, Mr. JL donated three pair of drumsticks to auction off as well. One of each is shown here...

The boys from 3 Doors Down and Hinder made a donation of a combined 82 picks (40 from 3 Doors Down, 42 from hinder). Thanks to Chris, Matt, Todd & Judah from 3 Doors Down and Moose with Hinder. You may remember Moose from the previous record holding donation of over 300 Three Days Grace picks. Thanks to all of these wonderful men.

I dropped in to solicit donations at the Kittie / Dope concert recently and Joe from dope gladly donated 16 picks.
After his donation, he actually went and talked to the ladies in Kittie and asked them for a donation. Unfortunately they do not use custom picks, but I was told that they now want some so they can make a donation. That was good to hear and I hope that if I ever cross paths with the gals in Kittie again, I can take them up on their offer.

Finally, I collected most of the donation of picks made at Summerfest this year between June 26 and July 6. I was able to collect a total of 51 picks from various artists who stopped through and were gracious enough to drop a few in the collection boxes I left out. Unfortunately, I do not have any individual names to thank, but I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to any and all who took the time to read my donation request and drop a few picks into the boxes. Below are pictures of some of the picks donated.

Independence Day update!

Alright. I will keep the commentary to a mininum for now. But I will say that to date, I have over $1,000 in pledges and donated over $600 to Children's Hospital from pick sales on eBay. Speaking of which, there has been a slight change in the way eBay sales are going to be run. Because Childre's Hospital does not reimburse me for expenses incurred from running the fundraiser, it is up to me to collect these expenses off the top from money coming in through sales or pledges.

Such expenses have been primarially eBay fees, but also include purchase of materials for the Summerfest collections and the picks I had made up for the fundraiser. I try to keep these expenses to a minimum, but they DO exist. I am keeping meticulous records and will gladly disclose them to anyone who requests them. That being said, I will continue with the eBay sales as they appear to be the most effective method of raising money for the Hospital.

Now to the good stuff. I will start with one of the cooler things that has been donated. At the Jack Johnson Show at Alpine Valley this summer, one of the opening acts, Money Mark, donated to me one of his personal laminate passes from Bonnaroo 2008.

Jack Johnson's tech, Boogie, donated several picks from Jack's stash. I do not know if these are stock picks or custom made for Jack, buth they are pretty cool.I received a total of ten picks from Steve Vai's organization. eight from Steve Vai and two from Billy Sheehan:

One of my eBay buyers wanted to help by not only buying picks to raise money, but donating four picks from his personal collection, the two from the Misfits, I am told, were given to him by the band directly. Thank you very much for the support from the Holcombes

The boys in the Type O Negative pitched in with an eight pick donation:

Mick from the Hatebreed crew threw in for 19 picks:

Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous made another contribution of 11 picks, including four of the cool Willie Nelson picks (destined to raise a lot on eBay):

Finally, a fellow stagehand and friend, Jimbo, just passed on a donation of 18 picks from his personal collection. Here are a few...

Thank you to all who have donated during this past round. Words cannot say enough...you all are awesome!

A new, and HUGE, supporter!

As of this past Friday (June 13), I have been given permission by the good people at Summerfest in Milwaukee to post pick collection boxes at eight of the main stages on the grounds!

For those of you unfamiliar with Summerfest, it is a 10-day festival on the Milwaukee lakefront that is as much an institution to Milwaukee as Beer and The Fonz. Over the course of the festival as many as a dozen different stages are continually showcasing local, state, regional, national and international musical acts.

With this many acts passing through the area in a relatively short period of time, it is not practical to try and collect picks in the conventional method I have been using. Which is to say, I can only be in one place at a time. Which is why I presented to the Summerfest marketing people the idea of providing multiple collection boxes at many of the stages. Initial reaction was positive, but due to the hectic schedule of this time of year for these people, I only recently got the official clearance.

This may very well be the greatest influx of donations to the cause possible, simply due to the volume of acts coming to town. Wish me luck, and I will keep you updated as things progress.

Also, I received the promised two bags of Three Days Grace picks from Moose. There were a total of 325 picks in the package! Big, BIG thanks to Moose.

Finally I have started selling picks on eBay. Response has been overwhelming. The second wave of pick sales is scheduled to end this evening. I will give you a sales total soon, but to give you a general idea, I will have sold about 60 picks and raised over $800 in the process!

Stay tuned...

Something Big is coming up...but first an update.

I have not updated for a while, as I am in the process of negotiating something pretty big that should substantially add to the fundraiser stock. As things get a bit more certain, I will let you know.

I need to make this update brief, so here I go...

I want to thank Jordan from The Hives camp for donating eight picks of various styles:

Locksley was on tour with The Hives. They are a great live act and I would recommend checking them out should the opportunity arise. They were good enough to donate an even dozen picks to the cause, thank yo uKai, Jason and Jordan:

Adam and Justin with the Panic at the Disco tour were gracious enough to donate a total of 10 picks:

Touring with Panis at the Disco was Motion City Soundtrack. Brian offered 10 of the picks you see below:

Phantom planet was also along for the ride on the Panic at the Disco show. I was not able to get the name of the tech who gave me these picks during the set change, but he donated five picks:

Thrice rumbled through Milwaukee recently and Joe fave me a fistful of picks totaling 53:

Thank yo uto everyone who donated to the cause. So far it has been a success. I have ventured onto eBay to sell some of the picks donated and I will give yo uresults in the next update.