I just got a few more picks from Disturbed, Cheap Trick and Rodney Atkins. Here we go...

Trevor & Bull from Disturbed donated a total of 30 picks:

Bryan with the Rodney Atkins crew donated 11 picks:

During a 3-day run of Cheap Trick I was able to collect 111 picks left on the stage after Rick Neilson's pick-tossing rampages during the song "Dream Police":

I was also given two unopened bags of picks from Paul. Each bag has about 100 picks in them. Thank you to Trevor, Bull, Bryan, and Paul for helping out Pickin' for Sick Children.

New Additions and nearling the $4,000 mark!

First, the good news. as of this posting, I have mailed another $700 check to Children's Hospital from pick sales and another round from eBay sales generated about another $850. I say "about" because I need to calculate the total that is to go to the Hospital. Total sales going to the Hospital would be awesome, but eBay and Pay Pal take their cuts. So, by my calculations, in just over a year we have been able to give The Children's Hospital of Wisconsin nearly $4,000!

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE DONATED AND / OR BOUGHT PICKS FOR THIS CAUSE!!!

Now, in the past week, the mighty Metallica and their equally mighty crew came to town and were very generous. Between the several people I spoke to, a total of 84 picks were donated. Thank you to Zack, Chad, Justin, Mike, Dewey and Lou for all of your help in either giving the picks to the fundraiser or pointing me to the proper people to talk to. I am certain that your help will generate a lot of money for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. So, without any further ado, here are the Metallica picks which were donated:

Touring with Metallica were Machine Head and The Sword. Andy and Brian with Machine Head went out of their way to donate a total of 274 picks, including an entire bag of the blue picks seen below. I want to thank these men for being not only generous, but gracious in giving me the time to talk to them and go through their cases despite being quite busy. Thanks again, gentlemen!

Equally busy was James with The Sword who donated a total of 18 picks:
Milo, touring with Reel Big fish was happy to give the fundraiser nine picks:

Happy 2009

Well, just before Christmas, I ran into an old friend, Moose, on Hinder's Jagermeister Tour stop in Milwaukee and he hooked me up with a total of 121 picks from Hinder, including several red picks that I did not see used on stage. Check them out here:

Also I was able to get my hands on four picks from Trapt:

And 21 picks from Rev Theory:

Here's to 2009 being more successful than was 2008 for Pickin' for Sick Children as well as The Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Merry Christmas!

Because of a family vacation, this will be the last posting of 2008. Since the last post, I have been fortunate enough to cross paths with my good friend Biffen when In Flames passed through town on their last show of their tour. Biffen, Fish and Neil were generous enough to donate a total of 171 picks and an autographed drumhead from In Flames.

Biffen & Fish donated these picks (a total of 125):

Neil, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time, generously donated 46 picks from his personal collection:

Some from In Flames that Biffen & Fish did not have (!?!)

Picks from Devil Driver:
Several picks from Rob Zombie, Hellyeah, Head Automatica and Snot:

Miscellaneous picks from Zakk Wylde, Darryl Hall, Sevendust and an unidentified band:

And, perhaps the coolest picks to be donated to the fundraiser, five different picks from the "fictional" band Dethklok from the Adult Swim program "Metalocalypse". These were made specially for the tour that happened earlier this year performed by the show's creators and members of the band that performs all Dethklok's music.

Last, and certainly not least, Neil had all five members of In Flames autograph a drumhead to be auctioned off for the fundraiser.

Thank you to the entire crew and the In Flames band themselves. They have shown an enormous amount of generosity and support for the Pickin' for Sick Children cause!

The band Gojira donated a total of 45 picks. Thank you to the band and their tour manager for their generosity. A nicer group of people you will be hard pressed to meet.


Last, and certainly not least, Tayler with the band 36 Crazyfists gave me four picks. He said he would have given more, but they were running low and they needed them to last. As with anybody who makes a donation, it is not about the amount of picks given, but the simple act of making a donation that is appreciated. That said, thank you a ton Tayler:
That's all for 2008. I wish you all the happiest of times this holiday season and more importantly, health and happiness as well as a successful new year!

As promised, a visual update via scans of picks donated since the last update. I apologize for the commentary brevity, but since 237 picks have been donated since the last update, I have a lot of ground to cover. These are in no particular order, so if you donated, plese do not read anything into the orser. Also, I will try to mention all donors by name, but some of my notes were misplaced. If I am not sure who donated certain picks, I hope you understand.

Here we go:

Carrie Underwood's crew donated these:

When the mighty Snot returned to Milwaukee, Brian donated six picks, two each of the following:

Hoogie with Shinedown donated these:

The boys in Rise Against:

John with Dir En Grey helped secure picks despite a language barrier:

Patrick with Death Cab For Cutie gave me several of these picks:

The Jonny Lang Crew donated over thirty picks total, consisting of the following:

This is the one that I feel really bad about. A gentleman who runs a comedy club sent me thse picks and I cannot find his information. These are promotional picks he had made up and are really cool!

After their show recently the guitarist for Bring Me the Horizon gave me four of these personally:

Sammy with the ZZ Top crew donated several of the clear picks and Mr & Mrs Anonymous gave me the black picks you see below after the show here a few months back.

Ron Vickers, tour manager for Alkaline Trio heard about the fundraiser and mailed me several picks and tour laminates to auction off for the fundraiser. This was perhaps the best surprise I have had since starting this fundraiser...

Matt with Alkaline Trio donated several picks as well on their stop in Milwaukee recently:

Pete and Za made their second rounds of donations since the fundraiser started:

Mike from Jack's Manequin donated some picks from the band as well as several from his personal stash:

Jason Mraz was cool enough to give me these:

Trace Adkins' crew gave several picks:

The Queensryche organization also again donated several picks via mail. Because their earlier donation generated nearly $100, they were happy to give another round for auction. They also donated a pair of shirts and a pair of autographed drumsticks (which, due to technical difficulties, I can't post at the moment, but stay tuned...)

The ever-gracious Mr & Mrs. Anonymous have donated many picks over the past few months...

Noah with 10 years came back and made another donation...

These were picks I found on stage after shows...

Thank you for checking these out. I will be more dilligent in future updates, I PROMISE.