Very Important Plectrums

A guitar pick is among the most disposable objects in music—a thumbnail of celluloid, lost between cushions, thrown into crowds, manufactured by the thousand. And yet a signed one behind glass stops you cold. Mando Diao, Maximo Park, Michi Beck—each had touched one and left their name on it for an exhibition called "Very Important Plectrums" at the Ben Sherman store on Hackescher Markt in Berlin. All money raised that evening went to Trekstock, which works alongside young people going through cancer treatment.

The evening then moved to Cookies, where The Rifles—London indie band, understated and reliable—stripped everything back for an exclusive unplugged set in front of five hundred people. Crash:Conspiracy supported them. The Musikexpress DJ team kept the rest of the night alive until nobody had a reason to leave. No keynote speeches. No lanyards. The kind of charity event that forgets to remind you it’s a charity event, which is the only kind worth attending.

The signed picks went up for auction afterward. Small objects, serious money, serious purpose. There’s something quietly persuasive about the plectrum—it’s the contact point between a musician’s intention and actual sound, and then it vanishes into the dark. That they ended up funding something that helps people through something enormous feels like the right use for that kind of proof. Kicking cancer in the ass, as someone put it that night. I see no reason to phrase it more delicately than that.