Greetings!

... Welcome to the PickNET website. Whether you are a veteran guitar pick collector or a newcomer who is just
learning about picks, I hope you enjoy the features, information and companion links on this website. I have been
collecting guitar picks for more than 2 decades now and I do it all because I love music and appreciate the great
musicians who create it. Getting a guitar pick from one of my musical heroes is my way of connecting with the
many artists who have inspired me throughout my life. These "little pieces of plastic" as I like to call them are
quite special to me and I hold them dear to my heart. I have gotten the majority of my collected picks either directly
from the artists during concerts or by writing a letter to them asking for a pick for my collection. Music is like a
religious experience for me, so to better understand my love for this hobby, it may help to know about me first...

... My name is Steve Leavitt, but all my friends call me Stevie. I grew up in the NorthEast corner of the USA in the
great state of Massachusetts, spawning ground for such diverse artists as Extreme, Godsmack, The J. Geils Band,
The Cars, Boston, James Taylor, and perennial hometown heroes Aerosmith. I come from a working-class family
and was raised with 3 brothers and 3 sisters. I am the second oldest, and like most kid brothers, I spent a lot of time
following my older brother around town (whenever he would let me). I also spent a good amount of time holed up in my
bedroom, drawing/painting pictures and listening to whatever music was on the radio. Like the great lyric recently
written by Everclear's Art Alexakis, "You had to wait 'til you could hear it on the AM Radio". Everclear's nostalgic song
brings back wonderful memories for me as well. I can still recall local disc jockey Dale Dorman's voice blasting out
of my handheld radio as he would do the song introductions on W-R-K-O, THE cool station in the region. You could
hear your favorite tune if you were willing to sit through the other stuff they would play. If nothing else, this service
exposed listeners to a wide variety of music styles and artists...a spectrum which I still have today. I enjoy music as
varied as the sensitive stylings of the ever-lovely Carly Simon to the sonic bombast of Metallica and AC/DC. Most
radio stations today are too restrictive with their formats to offer listeners much of a variety any longer.

... I cannot tell you how cool I thought it was when I bought my first stereo. A turntable with a built-in AM/FM radio tuner.
This was the high-life, I tell ya! Now, I could control ALL of the music I heard. I began to spend most of my allowance and
any extra I money earned shoveling snow or doing yardwork for neighbors on rock & roll record albums. Kiss, Cheap Trick,
Queen, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and so on. I would visit the local record store every week. I would thumb through all
of the records in the bins, reading the album jackets and checking out the covers for whatever looked or sounded cool. If
I heard an artist on the radio or saw a group perform on a television show and I liked the music, I would go search for
the album it was on. If I brought it home and liked their sound, the next step would be to dig deeper into their catalog of
albums. I spent countless hours learning the lyrics or just re-listening to the ones I liked the best. I still remember the
lyrics to these songs when I hear them again nearly three decades later! Of course, I also had the ultimate air-guitar (a
tennis racquet) and the accompanying rock star stage moves. No one in my family played any musical instrument, but that
would soon change because of me. Music was gradually tightening its pull on my heart and soul. Could it get any better?

... High school was not the most fulfiling experience for me, but I did meet my eventual wife Sandy there so I can say that
it wasn't completely bad for me. I filled my free class schedule up with art courses and 4 years of drafting. When me and
Sandy started dating during our sophomore year, we soon began attending local rock concerts. Our first experience was
a Cheap Trick show...my favorite band at the time. I was so amazed by the concert and their onstage energy. It was like
attending a church revival to me. I decided that I needed to do this again, and my next opportunity came when another
band I liked a lot, some new group from California called "Van Halen", came to Boston. This evening resulted in a life
changing event for me. While I played the air-guitar as a youngster, I never had any interest in playing for real until I
heard Eddie Van Halen play that evening. After picking my jaw up from the floor, I decided that I wanted to get myself
a guitar as soon as possible and learn how to play it...I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen when I grew up! I bought my very
first guitar from the classified ads and set about becoming the world's next guitar hero. That sounded a lot easier than
the reality of the situation. Guitar playing sure sounded easy, but it clearly wasn't. I cannot even make a guess as to
the sheer number of hours I spent trying to figure things out on my own. I could pick up a bit here and there, but I was
not about to set the world on fire by a longshot. There was no such thing as TAB back then so the only sheet music that
you could buy was for piano and voice. Sure, they would have the guitar chords pictured above, but trust me when I say
that the basic chords shown within Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" sheet music did not even come close to the correct
way the riff is played and fingered! Budding musicians just had to plod through this and try to figure things out on their
own. If you were really lucky, a friend may be able to trade a learned lick here and there with you. The best we could do
was to play our 33 RPM albums at the 16 RPM setting (for vintage recordings) and hear things slower, but much lower.
Very low-tech, but effective. I must have worn out 3 copies of each of the first 2 Van Halen albums playing and replaying
the songs in an effort to learn Eddie's magic riffs! Still, music gave me so much excitement. I spent my free time with
my hands around a guitar neck, while my friends were out getting into trouble and drinking. (I spent all of my beer money
on records and new strings!) Music kept me out of trouble and taught me focus, tenacity and persistance, which would
pay off for me later on in life in all aspects. The drive and dedication I developed during this period is with me forever.

... I went through many guitars over the next few years, beginning with my original Hondo Lead II cheapie. From there, my
axes improved as my earnings increased. My first "real" guitar was a Kramer Pacer Imperial, which I bought brand new in
1985. It was the first commercially-available guitar to feature the magical Floyd Rose whammy system made famous by
my hero Eddie. When he began to endorse these guitars, I knew I had to get one. It has served me well over the years and
was always my main "baby" as far as my guitar preferences went. I had a Les Paul Custom and a Standard, various
Ibanezes, but I always found my way back to this sweet old Kramer axe. I still have it and use it as a stage guitar and
although she has logged many miles and gigs without ever letting me down, she has nary a battle scar on her. Recently,
she was delegated to backup guitar duty, taking place just behind my brand new Peavey EVH Wolfgang Flametop.

... I've been in a few different bands through the years and played many kinds of music. My first band was called "Pyramid"
and was just a bunch of high school friends doing our best at making listenable noise. I've played in a heavy metal band,
an R&B band, and other Top-40 bands before I met up with a great bunch of guys and got involved in a long-lasting band we
called "Speed Of Sound". We commonly used the initials "S.O.S" just so that people would not be expecting a metal band.
We played mostly classic rock and it was the first time I got to work in a band featuring two lead guitarists. My partner in
crime was a gent named Don who became a big influence on my sound, ears and technique through his endless
patience, talent and attitude. We worked well together and never had any volume wars or arguments over who would
play a solo during any songs...it was a great experience that endured for many years and only ended when the members
had career changes that required them to move away. In the time we were together, we played many memorable gigs.

(Click on either of the camera icons below to see a few pictures from a couple of vintage S.O.S. shows. Great times...

... S.O.S. Stadium Shots

... S.O.S. Club Shots

... When S.O.S. came to an end, I started a new funk/R&B band with friends from work. We were called "Washington Street
Connection", naming ourselves after the street where we converged. There is one substitution for 2 guitars...a cool horn
section! I always wanted to play with one and now I had the chance. It took us a longtime to get a complete line-up intact
but eventually we had the material down and we lined up a few gigs. Here's a few shots from a downtown festival we did:

... W.S.C. Festival Shots

... Washington Street Connection disbanded in mid-1997 after losing our second drummer. It was a couple months later when
I got a call at work from WSC's second drummer Rick, who wanted to get together and jam with Darren, a former bandmate
of his. They were talking about starting a new band and Rick thought I might be a good fit with them since we liked the same
bands. We had Kevin, the talented bassist from WSC join us and English Range was born. Darren proved to be a great guy
and talented frontman, as well as being a good guitarist in his own right. Kevin wasn't really into a lot of the music we were
doing so we parted ways amicably. He was replaced by Mike, the young'un in the band. Fairly new to the scene but very
talented, Mike was a great addition to the band. His energy and sense of humor were endless. I liked him immediately. During
Mike's tenure with the band, we performed many gigs, but my personal highlight had to be when Van Halen frontman (at the
time) Gary Cherone and former Extreme bassist Pat Badger sat in with the band. I found no small level of irony when I realized
that I was performing onstage with the singer for the band that made me want to first pick up a guitar so many years ago! We
even got a brief mention on Van Halen's Official Website when it happened (it is still listed in the News Archive on the VH
website). Being too involved with his own computer business, Mike quickly found himself too busy to continue gigging, so
we went about searching for a replacement. We ended up playing out our remaining gigs with a stand-out bassist (and
great guy) named Todd, who we "borrowed" from a friend's band. He plays fulltime with his band "Hat Trick", a great 3-piece
band that gigs frequently in the Massachusetts area. While we would have loved to have Todd join us fulltime, we knew of
his loyalty to Hat Trick and searched for a permanent replacement. We are happy to finally find one. Joe is also very
talented and a great guy as well. We are currently writing and rehearsing original material while playing occasional gigs
with friends' bands. We hope to be ready to roll out a regular gig schedule shortly and who nows...maybe we'll end up rich
and famous someday soon. Crazier things have happened. Check out our Official Website below for the latest info.

... As for my life outside of the band and picks: I have been married for 17 years to my high school sweetheart Sandy. We
don't have any children, and we share our cat's home. (Anyone who has a cat knows just what I am talking about!) I work
as a CAD/Graphic Artist in the design department of a local vinyl company, where I have now worked for over 20 years. On
moments when I'm not busy working, I enjoy concerts, catching the latest films, helping Sandy with her garden projects
and watching NHL hockey, with a focus on my beloved Boston Bruins. (I bleed black and gold!) I plan to collect guitar picks
and play music for years to come. Maybe someday, you may hear me on the radio or see one of my band's concerts.
If you see me, c'mon up and say "hello". I'm always happy to chat about music or picks with new friends.

What can I say...these things are in my blood...they will remain a part of me forever.

Ciao for now!!