12/11/2024

Dear BYO Members and Friends,

Happy Holidays to each of you! Today we find ourselves on the eve of arguably BYO's most visible event, Holiday Rocks!

I just wanted to send a quick note to remind each of our participating musicians that our organization's goal is to have as many BYO Members to perform for the MMM event as possible, and accordingly we will have more sets than usual. We have a great sound engineer at The Kessler, and he and his crew will do their humanly best to make sure we put our best foot forward as an organization.

That being said, Jim Reed needs your help tomorrow night! Our sets are tightly scheduled in 30 minute increments, which means that within that 30 minute time frame, you and your group must be ready to perform, play your sets, and expeditiously vacate the stage for the next set, each of which will repeat this time-sensitive drill.

Translated, this means get to business on stage, don't tarry, fiddle around, tune or generally waste time while on stage. Your set may have scheduled 5-6 songs, but time may only allow for 4 songs, for instance.

Please be courteous to your fellow BYO Members and if you have a "best" song in your set, be prepared to play that a song or two earlier if time is tight! Most of all, respect Jim Reed, who is doing to do his very best to keep us timely and moving professionally from set to set. Please understand that every 5 minutes of "late set" situations will result in the final sets getting squeezed due to circumstances beyond their control, and we do have a hard deadline on stage tomorrow night, as I understand it.

Tomorrow should be a great night for BYOM and for Music Meets Medicine. Thank you in advance for helping us be our professional best!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

11/17/2024

Dear BYO Members and Friends,

It's hard to believe, but we find ourselves in the middle of November. This year has truly flown by. Including the Acoustic Jam at Guitars and Growlers this past Thursday evening, we have hosted 8 All Hands Jams, 5 Acoustic Jams, multiple Charity Events, including multiple visits to CC Young, a trip to Abilene, a performance as the house band for the DSA Hall of Fame event, and other performances, not to mention our upcoming big event of 2024, Holiday Rocks on December 12 at The Kessler to benefit our friends at Music Meets Medicine! I know a large number of our BYO members are already well under way with plans and rehearsals for the BYO sets for the singular Kessler stage!

We have also revitalized our BYO Committees and welcomed several new leaders of the Committees and a large number of new Committee members! Thanks to each of you who have generously offered your time to BYO and its activities and events. And we are just getting started!

I wanted to reiterate the renewal of a terrific BYO tradition next Wednesday night: The BYO Blues Jam! Our own Jim Martin has generously offered to host the Blues Jam, which will be held at Shakertin's Midtown on Nov. 20 starting at 6:30 pm! Those of you who have been asking for more opportunities to open jam, here is your opportunity with a full night of open jam! Bring your weapons and your attitudes, because NOBODY LEAVES UNTIL THEY SING THE BLUES! For any questions, please contact Jim Martin.

Finally, just a reminder the Holiday Rocks committee is still seeking big ticket items for the fundraising portion of the event. If you have access to concert tickets, sports tickets, restaurant dinners, hotel nights or even flight vouchers, please reach out to Jane McGregor and her committee. Let's raise some cash for a great cause–Music Meets Medicine. The kids deserve our best efforts!

It has been an honor to lead your organization this past year, and like each of your Board Members, I take this responsibility very seriously. Lots of great ideas, events and jams coming up in 2025!

I look forward to seeing each of you at the Acoustic Jam, the Blues Jam and/or Holiday Rocks!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

5/7/2024

Dear BYO Members,

I just received the incredibly sad news that one of our own, Mike Huddleston, passed away earlier today. I don't have many details at this time, but I'll try to update and pass along any news on a memorial service for Mike.

Mike was not only a stellar saxophone player and a renowned lawyer, but he was a fine gentleman and a good friend of nearly 25 years to Pam and me. I had the privilege, along with several other BYO Musicians, to perform with Mike at the DSA Hall of Fame ceremony on April 20. As usual, Mike brought down the house and was a pleasure to work with.

Please keep Mike and his family in your thoughts and prayers. RIP, my friend.

Thank you all,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

12/28/2023

President's Email--Year End Edition

Dear BYO Members,

Happy Holidays and Happy 2024 to each of you! What a year 2023 has turned out to be, as we are all blessed to find BYO running on all cylinders after December's remarkably successful Holiday Rocks event to assist Music Meets Medicine! As I hope you know by now, we were able to raise over $31,000 to benefit the MMM program! Kudos to each of you for both your efforts at fundraising and your great sets that we all enjoyed at The Kessler! I'm still grinning about that event!

Lots of exciting news coming up in 2024 for BYO and its Members, but I wanted to get a couple of upcoming dates and events on your calendars:

* Our first Jam of 2024 will be an Acoustic Jam at Guitars and Growlers in Richardson on Thursday, January 18 at 6:30pm! Details to come, but please save the date for our kickoff event of the year!

* Secondly, we will hold our Annual Meeting at Six Springs Tavern in Richardson on Saturday, January 27 at NOON! Come catch up and break bread with our awesome BYO Busicians and hear about 2024's exciting new developments and programming!

Thanks to all who participated in our 2023 Jams, and we promise to have lots of opportunities to hone your talents and jam with your friends in 2024, as well as more opportunities to give back through our BYO charities. For the record, nearly 75% of our Members participated in at least one Jam! That, my friends, is awesome!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

10/17/2023

Dear BYO Members and Friends,

We have officially survived a blast furnace summer in North Texas and are enjoying a delightful 70 degree day as I type! I wanted to circle back with you and let you all know about some exciting news for BYO and its Members in the final few months of 2023.

We find ourselves well into our "back to normal" rollout of programming for BYOM, with monthly All Hands Jams back at the newly improved Six Springs Tavern in Richardson since January, as well as the resumed Acoustic Jams starting in March in alternating months at Guitars and Growlers in Richardson. Thanks to all our talented BYO Members who have participated and treated us to some extremely well-performed and clever sets in both formats! Let's keep this going! Currently, IAN DICKSON and his Events Committee are continuing to line up Jams for the remainder of 2023, and there is also consideration to hold a Blues Jam if sufficient demand is present! Feel free to reach out to Ian if you have interest.

First, as the BYO Website will confirm, we have two "official" Jams left in this year, not counting the upcoming home Jams we will talk about shortly. Our last All Hands Jam of 2023 will be held once again at Six Springs Tavern in Richardson on Friday, October 27. You know the drill--please reach out to Ian if you want to reserve a set! Also, on Thursday, November 16 we will have our final Acoustic Jam at Guitar's & Growlers in Richardson. Let's pack the house for both of these great events to send a good BYO Year out on a great note!

But wait, there's more! On Sunday, November 12, Stan Bradshaw will host an Acoustic Home Jam at his home at 12:30, and Pam and I will host an Electric Home Jam at our home at the same time. If you are new to BYO and are looking for the opportunity to get to know our great members better or are just itching to make music, these Home Jams are a terrific way to play music and get to know other members. I know I can speak for Stan when I say that we are really excited about these annual events and the opportunity to get to know our Members better. Each Jam should wrap up around 3pm, just enough time to get home for the Cowboys kickoff if you like that sort of thing!

Finally, many of you have heard but I wanted to confirm that on Thursday, December 7 at the amazing Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff our favorite charity Music Meets Medicine will host another Holiday Rocks event. Sue Schildt, along with her Social and Business Committee members, and Brad Bush and his Charity Committee members are once again helping Dr. J Mack of MMM put sets together made up mostly of BYO Members to provide entertainment for the packed house once again and hopefully raise a LOT of money for MMM! My understanding is that, in order to get a high degree of BYO Members participating, until all members who would like to play are placed with a group, our Members are limited to one set each on this cool stage for the event! Also, if you have any items you'd like to donate to the cause for the silent auction (Mavericks/Stars/Cowboys/Rangers tickets, concert tickets, restaurant or hotel certificates, musical instruments or other gear, for example), please reach out to Jane McGregor, Auction Chair, at jane@janemcgregor.net or 214.543.1718. I have heard of some great items already on the growing list! Regardless, please put this awesome event on your calendar!

The 4th quarter of the year means that we are working to put new Committees together for 2024, If you have interest in our Events/Jams Committee, please let Ian Dickson or me know. Same with Sue's Social and Business Committee--let Sue or me know if your interest. Ditto with the Charity Committee and the Membership Committee! I am happy to be the conduit here, and I love enthusiastic volunteers! If you are fairly new to BYO, the Committees are another great chance to get to know more Members while helping BYO!

Our Event Committee has already been hard at work setting up the Jams for 2024, and we are as a general rule pushing to go back to Thursday for our Jams. The temporary change to Friday for the last few AHJ's was an accommodation to our host, Six Springs Tavern, and we are not inclined to be quite as flexible next year. I believe those days are better for the vast majority of our BYO Members. Plans are also underway for January's annual meeting--details to come soon!

Although there's more fun to be had before Year End, I think it's fair to say that 2023 has been a robust and truly enjoyable year for BYO and our Members. A sincere "Thank You" to each of you for your enthusiasm and talents--there's no BYO without you! As always, I am humbled and grateful to have the opportunity to lead BYO.

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

4/18/2023

Dear BYO Members and Friends,

I guess I'll get this over with first: Happy Tax Day! I will be honest, I can barely type that with a straight face, but once again being a Lawyer/CPA for my day gig, it seems appropriate to remind our bold Busicians that we are privileged to live in this country despite its downsides, and it is also a privilege to pay income taxes, meaning that actual income was generated! To quote the late, great Sir Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried."

We find ourselves well into our "back to normal" rollout of programming for BYOM, with monthly All Hands Jams back at the newly improved Six Springs Tavern in Richardson since January, as well as the resumed Acoustic Jams starting in March in alternating months at Guitars and Growlers in Richardson. Thanks to all our talented BYO Members who have participated and treated us to some extremely well-performed and clever sets in both formats! Let's keep this going! Currently, IAN DICKSON and his Events Committee are continuing to line up Jams for the remainder of 2023, and there is also consideration to hold a Blues Jam if sufficient demand is present! Feel free to reach out to Ian if you have interest.

Last November STAN BRADSHAW and I each held acoustic and electric home jams for new and existing BYO Members, and we plan to repeat those weekend events in the coming months. Stan and I are both willing to host again, but if there are any other BYO Members that are willing to host these home jams, please let me know. I know that Pam and I had a ball meeting some new members and playing some different songs with new friends as a result. I found the whole day refreshing and quite rewarding, and I'll bet that you will too!

I am also very pleased to report that we have several new BYO Members that have joined our ranks since January! To our new Members, a warm welcome and an invitation to come introduce yourselves to me and to the other BYO Members! The BYO Jams are always a great way to get a feel for our Members and what type of music they like that may coincide with your own favorite genres!

As the fundamental purpose of our humble 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is charitable in nature, I will take the opportunity to bring to the attention of our Members several great recent and upcoming examples of the generosity and hard work of some BYO members. In this past week alone, PAMELA MUSGROVE put together a terrific group to entertain at last Friday's AWARE Affair, an annual fundraising benefit event for AWARE, an Alzheimer's research focused organization based in Dallas. The band, made up entirely of BYO Members (STAN WOODWARD, STAN BRADSHAW, STEVE GENDLER, JOHN SUMMERS, Pam and some keyboard guy) closed what was a memorable evening with a spirited set of Rock, Motown, R&B and even Disco for the AWARE benefactors. Thanks to this great group of musicians and even better people!

Not to be outdone, the very next evening SUE SCHILDT put together a strong group of BYO Members to return and once again serve as the House Band for the Dallas Songwriter's Association Hall of Fame event. Sue not only put together a clever set designed to honor the DSA inductees (who included Roger Miller, Selena Gomez, Jimmie Vaughn and his little brother SRV) but also worked closely with the DSA's young "Rising Stars" who in most cases had never sung with a live band. A special thanks to SUE, GREGG BALEW, IAN DICKSON, STAN WOODWARD, JOHN SUMMERS and PAMELA MUSGROVE! I have attached a couple of photos of the DSA HOF event. Also, a shout out to DSA President MICHAEL BRANDENBERGER, also a BYO Member, for his kind invitation to BYO to serve the DSA.

I'd also like to recognize a couple of other BYO Members who embody the BYO charitable spirit. MIKE ERNST is once again in charge of shepherding the musicians every Saturday morning at the St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Farmer's Market. Based upon past experience, there's a better than zero chance that Mike will bend some elbows of our talented BYO Members to entertain the St. Michael's Farmers Market shoppers for the next 5 months of so. Thank you, Mike!

Finally, I'd like to recognize FRED DOYLE and his multi-year efforts to put a BYO Band from D/FW to transport to Fred's hometown of Abilene for the singular Garageband Woodstock event on July 22nd. Fred has assembled a great band which includes KATHI ALLIN, SHARON McGREGOR, IAN DICKSON and WES HOFFMAN, among others, to represent among 6 or 7 quality local bands. I can tell you from past experience that this is a terrific event in a large (2200 seat!) venue, and the folks from Abilene both look forward to the great music and open their pocketbooks for local charity New Horizons. Last year the event raised nearly $40,000. Kudos to Fred and his BYO friends!

If you have or know about a BYO-related charitable event that I failed to mention, PLEASE let me know, and I will make sure you and your BYO buddies get appropriate credit and praise for your generous time commitments to further the BYO charitable purpose! I try to find out about these things, but as the lovely Pam has been known to point out from time to time, I have my limits!

One last other development that I find very exciting is that BYO will soon have its own YouTube channel. We will post videos of members performing, BYO "commercials" such as the great one that was recently professionally made and even features the dulcet tones of our own JOHN SUMMERS from last December's Holiday Rocks. This is in the works, so if you happen to be a crack tech guy or gal and don't mind spending a little time getting BYO up to speed in this regard, please let me know. BYO Needs You!

Keep on rockin', and let's keep 2023's momentum going for our great BYO organization!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

1/1/2023

Hello Fellow Busicians,

As BYO members you all know that BYO suspended dues payments for almost 2 years while we were dealing with Covid-19 and cancelling all of our jam sessions and other live meetings. Well, thankfully that period is behind us, we re-started jam sessions in March 2022 and continued our jams through the December 1 Holidays Rock event at The Kessler. Even better, we are planning a full slate of live Jams for 2023 including some months with two jams, starting with an All Hands Jam on Thursday, January 26!

The Board has decided that we will resume with annual dues in 2023. We are also working on some of our other special events to resume in 2023. With that we had to determine how to re-set the renewal date for each member. After some discussion we decided to look at each individual member to make sure that you are receiving a fair treatment. BYO held jams through March of 2020 and then stopped all live events until resuming in March 2022. For each member we tried to make sure that you have received at least 12 months of available jams for the last full annual dues amount you paid of $200.

The result is that many of you will have a renewal at the beginning of January 2023. A small number of you will have renewal dates later in 2023, but everyone will have a renewal at some point during the year. The stage is always reserved for BYO dues-paying members, and we want all of you to have fun as members, participating in as many BYO activities as you want.

Watch for your renewal email. You can follow online instructions and pay online with a credit card. We STRONGLY PREFER that you pay this way. Emails and phone call about paying your dues can really chew up time for our volunteers, so please do your renewal payment online. Of course if you have a problem that you cannot solve online reach out and we will assist.

Let’s have a great 2023 of jams and I hope to see every one of you at the 2023 annual kickoff meeting on January 18 at Taste of the Caribbean in Plano. Please register online for this event, we need an accurate headcount for dinner: https://byomusicians.com/event-5033247

Let’s rock in ’23,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

12/4/2022

Dear BYO Members and Supporters,

So, how was YOUR Thursday night? I can tell you that I am still on an adrenaline high this morning from last night's absolutely remarkable "Holiday Rocks" event in which BYO partnered with our favorite beneficiary non-profit organization, Music Meets Medicine.

Where to start? First, I want to thank Brad Bush and his Charity Committee and Sue Schildt and her Business and Social Committee for their creative ideas and tireless planning and coordination with Dr. J Mack Slaughter with MMM. I would also like to thank super committee members (the Charity and Business and Social Committee worked so closely together that I am not really sure who was on which committee here!) Gregg Ballew, our direct liaison with The Kessler, and Jane McGregor, who fearlessly coordinated the record-fundraising Silent Auction, Event Committee Chair Ian Dickson for his usual efficient herding of cats at last night's performances, 7 sets in all, and Membership Committee Chair Jim Reed for his willingness to do whatever it took to help the other Chairs and make things happen.

I also want to thank each of the set leaders for their varied and entertaining sets, many of which bordered on perfection! Thank you, Fred Doyle, Terry Schpok, Sue Schildt, Stan Bradshaw, Tim Hazzard, Pam Musgrove and Jane McGregor! You ROCK!!

I want to thank Dr. J Mack Slaughter and his Music Meets Medicine team for presenting the event and allowing BYOM to partner up and provide the entertainment for such a good cause. And I am absolutely thrilled to report that our ambitious $15,000 goal was obliterated by your support! As of right now, we grossed over $23,000 for MMM! Think about that for a minute. No bad for our humble little charitable organization with all volunteers!

Finally, I want to personally thank the BYO record crowd of over 200 strong for attending our performances at the best music listening room in DFW, The Kessler. And even more, thank you all for your generosity in supporting Music Meets Medicine! I think we all witnessed last night exactly what your generous donations can do for brave children and teens to lift their spirits and encourage them to fight their unfortunate diseases with the healing power of music! Thank you to our anonymous underwriters to make the event possible and all the generous silent auction bidders. You also ROCK!!

Wishing each of you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Musgrove family. We have a lot to look forward to in 2023. On behalf of the BYO Board, we are grateful for your continued support through the unprecedented and frustrating Pandemic and for hanging in there with us during all our mountains of challenges. Frankly, BYO is still here and stronger than ever, and last night's fundraising performance at The Kessler is Exhibit A! I could not be prouder of our BYOM members!

All the best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

9/23/2022

Dear BYO Members and Supporters,

I hope all are doing well. BYO is once again encouraging and supporting live music in these post-pandemic times, and I hope each of you has either directly participated in our Jams by performing or attending and supporting those that have performed. Once again, this month we have an All Hands Jam scheduled for Thursday, September 29 at Six Springs Tavern in Richardson. Ian Dickson has once again volunteered to coordinate the Jam and herd cats. I have heard that all of the scheduled slots are spoken for, and please come join the fun! Next month, one of BYO's favorite events, the Acoustic Jam, will return to Guitars and Growlers in Richardson on Thursday, October 27. More to come on that one.

Hopefully by now each of you has heard about the return of our annual principal fundraising event, Holiday Rocks, which will be held at what I believe is the finest listening room in DFW, The Kessler, on Thursday December 1, 2022. Your fellow BYO Busicians will join with Dr. J Mack Slaughter on the awesome Kessler Theater stage to once again raise money for Dr. Slaughter's worthy non-profit, Music Meets Medicine. Our goal is to put BYOM's best foot forward for this event, both musically and financially. There will be no admission charge to this singular event, but the Charity Committee has requested that you and your guests reserve your seats! All net proceeds will go directly to Music Meets Medicine. If you have any desirable items to donate, such as concert or sports tickets, restaurant certificates, hotel certificates, musical instruments, or similar items, please contact Sue Schild or Brad Bush. We have set a lofty goal of raising $15,000 for Music Meets Medicine this year, and with your help and the help of your friends, we will meet and exceed that amount!

We are also rebooting another terrific BYO tradition in November, with the return of BYO Member-only rock and acoustic home jams. Pam and I will host the rock jam at our home on Saturday, November 12 from 1pm to 3:30 pm, and Stan Bradshaw will host the acoustic jam at his home on the next day, Sunday November 13 from 2pm to 5pm. These events will serve, at least in the former situation, to not only alienate my neighbors from the melodic but boisterous music, but also to allow our BYO Busicians to jam with new our members and old members alike without the pressure of playing before an audience. These events have been popular in the past, and the Bradshaws and the Musgroves look forward to hosting the participants, each of whom must be BYO members. More info to come.

Finally, we plan to have a BYO Members' event in January at a venue to be determined, again returning to our traditional opening to our BYO calendar.

In short, we have a great deal to be thankful for and an equal amount to look forward to in the coming months.

I look forward to seeing each of you soon.

All the best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

5/19/2022

Dear BYO Members and Supporters,

I hope this message finds each of you well and playing music regularly! After a fair number of fits and starts, we have been able to resume monthly All Hands Jams during 2022 at Six Springs Tavern, to the delight of all who have attended and participated in sets! Thanks are due to Ian Dickson, the Chair of the Events Committee, and his committee members in their yeoman work in organizing, cat herding and generally getting things rolling again after the painfully lengthy COVID hiatus we were forced to endure as an organization. Ian is working on expanding the Jams over the coming months, but my understanding is that the All Hands Jams are scheduled at Six Springs Tavern until August, including the upcoming Jam scheduled for this evening! Please join our BYO Busicians for a great night of music, whether you are scheduled to play in a set or not! I will be there as a spectator and I look forward to catching up with you!

I would also like to recognize the recent efforts of some of your BYO Members who generously donated their time to support the Dallas Songwriters' Association for the DSA's Hall of Fame Event on April 23rd. BYO Members Sue Schildt, Gregg Ballew, Stan Bradshaw, Eric Spomer and Pamela Musgrove provided a great house band for both the DSA's "Rising Stars" young musicians and for the event generally, while they provided credible versions of the hits of Willie Nelson, Charlie Pride, Kelly Clarkson, Townes Van Zandt and Leann Rimes to entertain the audience. For those who were unable to attend, you can check out the BYO Band's version of the Rimes' hit "Blue", sung by Pam.

https://www.facebook.com/100002870026141/videos/pcb.4649182981853990/507137294460792

We as an organization owe a debt of gratitude to these BYO Busicians, who reinforced the BYO purposes of both charity through our support of the DSA and education through providing an opportunity for aspiring young musicians to perform with a professional-quality band in a public setting. It was a memorable night, all in all. Thank you to the Dallas Songwriters' Association and its president Michael Brandenberger (also a BYO Member) for the opportunity to collaborate in furtherance of our organizational purposes.

As most of you know, a number of our BYO Busicians have formed or are continuing to play in their own projects around the DFW area. Some such members have asked me about publicizing their gigs directly. After speaking about this issue with the other Board members, we have come up with a good solution. All BYO members are welcome and encouraged to post info about their gigs on the BYO Facebook page to help each of you publicize your public gigs! Please do so starting immediately! The BYO Facebook page has a fair number of followers, so you can amplify your own publicity efforts by utilizing this readily available, no-cost tool.

Please look for some future announcements about happy hours and social events from Sue Schildt and her Business and Social Committee. I have tasked her with continuing to expand the BYO program to get back together as a group in events other than just our resumed Jams!

Take care, and keep on jamming!

Len Musgrove
BYO President

1/21/2022

January's All Hands Jam

Dear BYO Members and Fans,

I couldn't let the moment pass without a brief comment about last night's BYO All Hands Jam at Six Springs Tavern in Richardson.

In a word, the AHJ was, well, joyous! It was an event of good friends and music buddies reunited in a great venue after far too much time passing! It was an opportunity for new members to mix with veteran members, it was a night of tight sets from Brazilian Jazz instrumentals to vocal Pop Jazz to a Beatles Set to Country Rock to Modern Rock to a great Cream closer set, and nearly everything in between! Wow, our BYO Members may or may not have rehearsed a bit in the interim! Excellent musicianship, great vocals and really fun song selections met the 70-80 folks that joined the festivities last night.

A special thanks to our Set Leaders from last night, Lisa Bloom, Pam Musgrove, Chris Cree, Mark Jones, James Ashcroft, Fred Doyle, Tim Hazzard and Jim Martin. You folks Rock! Or in Lisa's and Pam's case, Swing! Thanks to BYO Old Faithful Stan Bradshaw for herding cats and actually bringing all 8 sets of excited Busicians in on time as Jam Poobah! Thanks to Six Springs Tavern for hosting our event. And thanks most of all to you BYO Members for hanging in there during this blasted Pandemic and keeping the BYO Faith. You have the undying gratitude of the BYO Board and me personally! Better days are coming for us all!

See you next month on Thursday, February 24 back at Six Springs Tavern.

All My Best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President