8/22/2021

COVID-19 Jam Update and Survey

I have been authorized by the BYOM Musicians Network, Inc. Board to update each of you following our numerous Board meetings over the past 2 months of the plan approved by a majority of the Board to present a safe and considered means of returning to the very activity that each BYO Member has been anticipating: Live Jams. I would also like to once again thank both Ian Dickson, the Chair of the Events Committee, and Sue Schildt, the Chair of the Business and Social Committee, and their respective committees for their hard work in making each of you engaged and entertained while the COVID-19 Pandemic prevented us from our beloved Jams!

After what can only be described as a series of extremely lively discussions, a majority of the Board has agreed that, based upon the information available to us at this time, the time has come to plan to resume live Jams in late September beginning at outdoor venues.

As I presume each of you as educated adults and BYO Members is aware, the risk level of COVID-19, and particularly the Delta variant, has been escalating recently with increasing numbers of cases reported and hospitalizations recorded. This increase has been reported to be particularly contagious to those persons who have not been vaccinated and even in some cases to those who have previously been vaccinated, which may lead to the need for boosters of the vaccines. At the same time, the Board recognizes that there are wide differences of opinion about the appropriate response and protocols adopted or recommended by various governmental authorities, including our own state and local authorities in North Texas.

At this time, the Board has formally adopted the following live event policy to be posted on our BYO Musicians website, which policy until further notice will control any live events considered for BYO Musicians:

“In response to the requests of a significant number of BYO members, a majority of the Board of Directors of BYO Musicians Network, Inc. (“BYO Musicians”) has approved a plan to resume live events in accordance with the policy as described below. This notice is to advise BYO members of certain risk factors involved with live events and summarize the BYO Musicians policy regarding live events.

Risk Factors: No one can eliminate the risk that persons who attend a live event could become exposed to, or infected by, COVID-19 or any variant or other highly contagious disease (collectively, “COVID”) as a result of attending the live event. In particular, it should be noted that risk factors include the following: (a) the vaccination status of persons who attend a live event will not be known or required to be documented; (b) exposure risks for unvaccinated persons are documented to be considerably higher than for vaccinated persons; (c) vaccine effectiveness may be limited or unknown against new variants of COVID; (d) persons who attend a live event will be required to ascertain and voluntarily comply with all applicable health and safety guidelines and protocols; and (e) neither BYO Musicians nor any venue will be able to enforce individual compliance with health and safety guidelines or provide any assurances regarding the safety of a location.

Assumption of Risk: BYO Musicians recommends that all persons who attend a live event follow all federal, state and local safety and COVID mitigation guidelines applicable to gatherings of persons with unknown vaccination status, including masking and social distancing where applicable. All persons who attend a live event are expected to comply with this notice and shall be personally responsible for following the applicable COVID mitigation guidelines and restrictions. All persons who attend a live event shall be deemed to have assumed all COVID related risks.

Hold Harmless: Each person who elects to attend a BYO Musicians live event shall be deemed to have acknowledged and agreed that such person holds harmless and releases BYO Musicians and its Board of Directors, officers and members from and against all liability, claims or demands of any kind for any loss, injury, or damages, including illness, disability or death, resulting from or related to any COVID exposure.

Locations and Venues: The Board has determined that live events will be held initially outdoors in order to avoid the higher risk level associated with indoor locations. BYO Musicians Committee recommendations for locations or venues for live events will be subject to Board approval. BYO Musicians will have no control over the number, or COVID related status, of persons who may be present at a live event, or safety precautions implemented at any facility, especially if a live event is held at a commercial or public establishment. The Board will continue to monitor applicable recommended guidelines and may revise the BYO Musicians policies as may be appropriate from time to time, as circumstances may change. Members are encouraged to check the BYO Musicians website () prior to attending a live event for any policy updates.”

Finally, I would like to ask one more important favor of each of you. Before formally scheduling a live event and resuming our BYO Jams, we would like to assess how many BYO members would favor proceeding with live events in the current North Texas environment.

If you are in favor of resuming BYO Members live events beginning after September 1st in the current environment, then please acknowledge your support by responding to this Private Google Survey Link with the answer to my simple question of “Do you support the resuming of BYO Musicians live events in accordance with the live events policy described above, in so doing confirming that you assume all COVID-related risks incident to attending a live event and hold BYO Musicians and its representatives harmless?” By doing so, the Board will be able to get a sense of how many of our BYO members are ready to proceed potentially feel safe returning to live Jam in the current environment in accordance with the policy stated above.  

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

4/20/2021

I would like to follow up on our two recent BYO events of March 31 (the Events Committee’s Zoom Song Swap) and April 8 (the Business and Social Committee’s Zoom Happy Hour and Trivia Contest) and thank the many Members who participated in and enjoyed those events. I would also like to thank both Ian Dickson, the Chair of the Events Committee, and Sue Schildt, the Chair of the Business and Social Committee, and their respective committees for their hard work in making each of you engaged and entertained! As I have mentioned in my previous updates, our two biggest priorities as a Board are and have been (1) keeping our BYO Members safe during the COVID-19 Pandemic and (2) keeping BYO relevant in a challenging time for each of us in which our cherished music jams have not been possible.

I would also like to thank the Members who stayed late on the Zoom call on April 8 and asked a lot of heartfelt but tough questions of me as President of BYO. I thank you because those questions went directly to the heart of what many of our Members have been thinking and feeling, and it was really our first opportunity to have a meaningful dialogue about returning to live BYO Jams as more and more of the herd immunity begins washing across the DFW and North Texas area. Believe me when I tell you that the principal topic of our April Board of Directors meeting last week was squarely upon this topic. WE HEAR YOU, and the Board truly looks forward to safely resuming live Jams as much as each of you do!

To speak directly to that question of when it will be safe to resume our live Jams, the Board has agreed that our goal, based upon the information available to us at this time and under the assumption that live events may be resumed in a manner consistent with healthcare guidelines in effect at that time, is to resume live Jams in the early fall, perhaps in September or even sooner. In order to facilitate the Jams, the Board has tasked the Events Committee with finding suitable venues that have good ventilation and are outdoor venues. We have already identified two possible venues, including a covered outdoor pavilion and the large backyard of one of our Members, as two suitable places to resume the Jams. With a view toward continuing safety for our Members, we have additionally discussed a new requirement for each Jam singer to bring his/her own microphone out of an abundance of caution and the possibility of Jam participants and guests signing a suitable waiver in favor of BYO.

The Board is aware that many of your bands and projects have cautiously resumed live music, and from my own perspective I will tell you that Pam and I have performed live a few times in the last few weeks, including a neighborhood jam with Stan Bradshaw and other BYO members in a non-BYO event.

I would like to ask two important favors of each of you. First, if you have ideas for safe, well-ventilated and hopefully outdoor venues (at least for now) that would be suitable for BYO Jams, please send them both to Ian Dickson and to me as soon as possible.

Second, and equally if not more important, I would like to ask each BYO member to send me a private email (i.e., please DO NOT reply to all) OR respond via this Private Form with the answer to my simple question of “Have you and your spouse or significant other (and any friend likely to attend a future BYO event) been vaccinated against COVID-19, regardless of the actual vaccination variety).” I will hold your personal information as private, but I wish to get a sense of how many of our Members are now vaccinated as a data point and would potentially feel safe returning to live Jams after vaccination. I will then confer with the rest of the Board and the Event Committee with the group information and numbers in making decisions when to safely roll out our return to live Jams.

Thank you in advance for your help on my two requests above. Thanks to each BYO Member for your support of the BYO Board and me in an unprecedented time, as well as your continued faithfulness to BYO. You have our sincere appreciation and gratitude.

All My Best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

10/5/2020

BYO Fund Raiser Video - Update

BYO Musicians,

We have extended the sign up for our Charity Video to support Music Meets Medicine to October 16th. Please visit https://www.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/byovideo-14010 to sign up.

Here are the answers to a few more of your questions:

Q: Can my part be recorded on a computer or only on a phone?
A: You will be able to record on your computer or a phone. You may need two devices (one to play the music and one to record the video) depending on your setup. More information will be available to those who signup.

Q: Do I need to download an app in order to record my part or send my part?
A: No. You can use your standard phone video software.

Q: You said that I'll be listening to the backing track on headphones. What will the headphones be plugged in to?
A: The headphones will be plugged into one device (like a phone or computer) while you video with another device (phone or computer). On a computer it can be the same device.

Q: I have Bluetooth headphones but heard that wireless connections create latency issues when trying to play against a recording. Should only wired headphones be used?
A: Because you are recording a video that is independent of what you are listening to and we can match up later, you can record with either wired or wireless headphones.

Q: You mentioned that audio and video may need to be separately recorded in order for the audio to be picked up from the distance of the video camera. If I use a computer webcam on a cord to the computer, would the mic in the webcam be sufficient?
A: We will work with whatever you are able to record. A separate microphone is just a suggestion for those that are able to do more advanced techniques.

Q: If I play an acoustic instrument, does the instrument need to be played through a P.A. or amp separate from just using the mic in the camera?
A: We can work with it either way. Recording your instrument with a mic up close or through an amp is better, but get us sound and video!

Q: Can I record more than one take and pick the take that I would like to be used?
A: Yes, but just send us one final take of the whole song. We will only be using a part of your recording, so don't stress out if you mess up in one part!

9/19/2020

BYO Fund Raiser Video - Play and Get Involved!

Dear Busicians,

BYO Musicians is proud to announce our 2020 fundraiser which once again will support Music Meets Medicine, a 501c3 non-profit organization that donates instruments and teaching time to teenagers being treated in children’s hospitals. In light of the uncertainty about when we will be able to resume live jam sessions we have created this alternative to the annual Christmas Rocks event. We will be creating a video compilation where we can all “play together”. We will raise money for the charity by allowing our members to donate to the charity to secure spots in the compilation music video. This will be offered through the same web auction site we utilized last year: https://www.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/byovideo-14010

We have decided to combine 3 songs and meld them into a single video: Everyday People, Tulsa Time and Born in the USA. On each song, we have several spots per instrumentalist, vocalist and even dancers. We will give you easy instructions to record your part over a set “backing track” so that we can all stay together (no special equipment needed, but if you have it, we will have instructions for using it). The first step though is to make a donation in the category of the part you choose by clicking on the link above. The selections will close on September 30th, so figure out what part or parts you are going to play and reserve your spot today. Remember you can reserve your spot and still donate more on the front page!

You will have the option of recording your part at your home or any location of your choosing, or for convenience you can make your recording at Stan Bradshaw’s rehearsal studio which will be set up for this purpose. In any case, you will be listening to a backing track through headphones and recording your part (video and audio) along with the backing track. The BYO Board will present both BYO and its Members in the best light possible with this video project, while at the same raising money for a great cause. We ask for your money, your talents, your sense of humor and your understanding that the video can’t feature all of us, but the Board believes that the end product will be representative of BYO and its Membership! Let’s Rock.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What if I want to donate more than my $50 spot?
A: You can use the big blue Donate Now button on the auction site to donate some more. We will be promoting the donations once the video is live.

Q: What if I want to play an instrument that is not listed?
A: Sign up for “Dance or Other” and we will be contacting you.

Q: Where does my money go?
A: All your money except a small administrative fee charged by the auction site goes straight to Music Meets Medicine to help them deliver more music therapy to children.

Q: How will my video be used? Who will decide what part to use? What will the final video look like?
A: The BYO Board is responsible for the final video. We will mix both the music and the videos into a great end to end product that we are all proud of. You will see multiple performers on the screen at once all “playing together”.

Q: Can I just give money and not be in the video?
A: We would rather you dance or play some percussion, but sure you don’t have to be in the video. You can go to the auction link and just click on the big blue “Make a Donation” button in the top right.

Q: Can only BYO Members participate in this project?
A: Right now we are holding to only dues-paying BYO Members for this project.

Q: Can I get together with a group and sing or play together?
A: Not at this time. We are requesting each part to be separate.

Q: If I am doing a guitar part, should I play rhythm or lead?
A: You can play either or both through the whole song.

Q: What if the song lyrics call for harmony vocals. How do I know what line to sing?
A: We will have to work that out after September 30 when all slots are taken. If you want to sing harmony with another specific member then the two of you can work that out and make your recordings accordingly.

Q: Can I withdraw my video from being used if I am not satisfied with it?
A: Yes, by end of October, you can tell us if you do not want your video to be used or not record a video.

Q: I donated for a video, but could not record my part (or withdrew my video). Can I get a refund?
A: No. The purpose of this project is to facilitate donations to Music Meets Medicine. The donations are being made directly to MMM to support their very good cause. Your participation in the video is just BYO's way of thanking you for making a donation to Music Meets Medicine.

Q: Are there any other terms or conditions to participate in the video?
A: Yes. As indicated on the auction site under auction terms, your election to participate includes your agreement to the specified terms, including your acknowledgement that the BYO Musicians Board has discretion on the selection, editing and use of the videos for purposes approved by the BYO Board and your full release to allow your video or any part of your video and your name and likeness to be used as may be approved by the Board.

Q: Is my donation to Music Meets medicine tax deductible?
A: Although you should consult your tax advisor regarding your personal tax situation, it is our understanding that the recently adopted CARES Act allows people who take the standard deduction to also deduct up to $300 to public charities. For questions about the tax exempt status of Music Meets Medicine, please visit http://www.musicmeetsmedicine.org/

Q: Where will the video be posted?
A: We will post the video online on our Facebook page and potentially other public forums. The goal is to get as many people to see, share and like the video as possible.

8/22/2020

Dear BYO Members and Friends,

I trust that you are all staying safe and observing social distancing so that things can soon get back to “normal”. I think I still remember what that was like. I think.

In any event, I am writing to let you know that despite our current socializing restrictions your BYO Board of Directors continues to brainstorm and come up with new ideas to keep each of us connected during these challenging months. Our Charity Committee Chair and fellow Board Member Brad Bush is hard at work on a very clever way for us to raise money for Music Meets Medicine and its founder Dr. J Mack Slaughter. Details will be forthcoming in the next month or so, but I believe each of you will share my excitement with Brad’s idea, even if the current restrictions on gatherings continues into December!

We are also exploring a couple of ways to reinvent our Jams in today’s virtual world. Again, more to come on those ideas in the next months.

Finally, I wanted to give each of you a gentle reminder about the BYO Music Movie Madness programming that your humble BYO Music Movie Committee has organized for your at-home enjoyment. We are now in our third week of presenting great music-oriented films for your own critiques, ratings and, hopefully, comments on our BYO Facebook page. This week’s films are “The Wrecking Crew” and “Purple Rain”, and voting will remain open for these films until Wednesday at 6pm. I encourage each of you to watch these terrific films and then rate them from 1 to 10, with “1” being near torture to watch and “10” being an awesome use of your time!  Music Movie Madness Voting

Your BYO Music Movie Committee will continue to offer 2 or 3 films each week for your viewing and voting, but to hopefully incentivize those BYO Members and Friends who have not yet enjoyed this friendly voting and rating process while catching what are some remarkable films, I am going to pull back the curtain a bit and share the entire list of Rockumentaries, Biopics, Fiction Films and Operatic Works by one band! Please see the attached document to pick out a few of your own favorites to look forward to!

Until we may resume normal BYO events, please take care of you and yours and keep in touch with your BYO friends.

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

7/8/2020

Dear BYO Members:

Happy Hump Day to each of you! I am writing to remind each of you who would like to submit your entries to our upcoming BYO Greatest Music Movie of All Time contest! All entries are due to Stan Bradshaw and me before 5:00 pm on this coming Friday, July 10!

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have taken the liberty of committing the collective genius of our BYO Members to determine once and for all of the Greatest Music Movie of All Time! Once all the nominations are received, then our duly appointed BYO Greatest Music Movie Committee will assist me in the challenging task of seeding a bracket of 32 of your nominations to seed into . Each week, we will pair 2 films to challenge each of you to watch that week and then vote on the winner. In other words, the will of the BYO Members and BYO Friends will determine, once and for all, the Greatest Music Movie of All Time.

The nominated films can be one of four genres: Documentaries (e.g., “The Wrecking Crew” or “20 Feet from Stardom”), Biopics (e.g., “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Amadeus”), Fiction (e.g., “This Is Spinal Tap” or “Yesterday”) or Rock Operas/Album Movies (“Tommy” or “Hard Day’s Night”). Just bring out your best!

Your Nominees may NOT include the following types of films/productions, at least for this competition: Concert Films, Broadway Shows, Televisions Specials, Multi-Episode Series, or Soundtracks. As mentioned last week, the members of the Board and several Members have already contributed several great suggestions, but we want more from you! Remember, only 32 (8 of each of the genres above) will make the first cut to be seeded in our bracket! Everyone loves great movies and certainly everyone in BYO loves great music, so we hope this is a fun friendly competition that we will all enjoy! Think your movie is the best? Feel free to chat about it or talk smack on our BYO Facebook page!

That’s all for now. I can’t wait to see all y’all soon!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

7/5/2020

Dear BYO Members:

Happy Monday to each of you. Our third weekly BYO Update brings to each of you a little challenge while we continue to safely protect ourselves while we ride out the latest COVID-19 news. Still not headed in the happy direction, alas. Maybe in another few weeks the stats will look more encouraging!

First, thanks to several of our BYO Members for their great suggestions for music-oriented films. For example, Max Tucker suggested “Almost Famous,” a terrific film written by Cameron Crowe that was loosely based upon his own experiences. Susan Schildt suggested the classic “The Eagles, Part 1 and 2” as her present to the group. I sincerely appreciate each suggestion from each of you, and I will make it a point to try every one of them with the time that this “new normal” will likely provide.

More about the music films below, but first, here are a few Top BYO Music Tips for this week:

• As an oversight from last week, I neglected to mention that last weekend was the 20th (!) anniversary of the release of the classic blues collaboration of BB King and Eric Clapton, “Riding with the King.” Give this great album a listen and think of the awesome Blues Jams that we have hosted with BYO Musicians thus far, with many more to come. Let’s keep the Blues fires burning, folks!
• Reach out to your fellow BYO friends and host an impromptu jam. There is a certain beauty and symmetry to just plain jamming with you buddies for the sake of grins, as I did over the weekend, especially now when we are limited on getting together in large groups like we all want to do! Hang in there, folks, as this too shall pass.
• Last, but certainly not least, following up on the Board’s idea of sharing our favorite Music-themed films, I have taken the liberty of committing the collective genius of our BYO Members to determine once and for all of the Greatest Music Movie of All Time! That’s right, I need your help to send to me your nomination for the Greatest Music Movies, and then the Board will assist me in the challenging task of seeding a bracket of 32 of your nominations, including Max’s and Sue’s suggestions above. Each week, we will pair 2 films to challenge each of you to watch that week and then vote on the winner of that week. In other words, the will of the BYO Members and BYO Friends will determine, once and for all, the Greatest Music Movie of All Time. The films can be biopics, documentaries, concerts, musicals and the like. Just bring out your best! As mentioned last week, the members of the Board have already contributed several great suggestions, but we want more from our Members! Remember, only 32 make the first cut to be seeded in our bracket! Everyone loves great movies and certainly everyone in BYO loves great music, so we hope this is a fun friendly competition that we will all enjoy! More will come, but please send me your favorites as soon as possible!

That’s all for this week. Have a great week, be well and I can’t wait to see all y’all soon!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

6/27/2020

Dear BYO Members:

Happy Friday to each of you. As promised, this is our second weekly BYO Update while we collectively ride out the latest COVID-19 news, which is bluntly not exactly what we were hoping to hear on this beautiful day. Shoot.

Since we apparently have been directed remain in some form of quarantine or social distancing mode, at least for the time being, here are my Top BYO Music Tips for this week, in no particular order:

• As a reprise, former BYO President Stan Bradshaw’s Charts of the Day have been or soon will be added to the Member’s section of our BYO website. So start rehearing, y’all!
• If you feel up to an hour’s road trip, head north to Lake Texoma tomorrow night to see our own Tom Burns, Jamie Beckerich and Bill Conroy at the Island Bar and Grill (since this is a restaurant, it’s still open for tomorrow’s gig). Downbeat is at 7pm. For more info to TBT’s event click here.  Support our BYO members!
• If you are familiar with the brilliant bass fretwork of Leland Sklar, and even if you are not, do yourself a favor and check out his witty stories and the recreations of some of his sterling moments over his 50 year career with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Carole King, Toto and a multitude of others. This link is his tribute from yesterday to the great but underrated Karla Bonoff, a brilliant singer/songwriter.  Watch the YouTube video.  It makes this keyboard dude want to take up the bass!  It will be the best 9 and a half minutes of your day!
  
• I got a notice this week that JamKazam is working on its latency problems and has an improved product on the way, so possibly there is hope for even your humble president here! If you missed it, check out the fine work of Joel Futterman, who wrote this great article already posted on our upgraded BYO website.
• Last, but certainly not least, your hardworking Board of Directors came up with a great idea this week after digesting the unfortunate but pragmatic news that we are still a couple of months out before Jams are a realistic possibility. I challenged various Board Members to come up with a great film wrapped around equally great music, and here were some of their 5 star suggestions:
• • Terry Schpok: “I Saw the Light”, a biopic about the great Hank Williams, and “Sweet Dreams”, another biopic about the equally brilliant Patsy Cline.
  • Brad Bush: “Muscle Shoals” and “The Wrecking Crew”, two of the finest music documentaries I have personally ever seen and awesome music history from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Both should be required watching!
  • Stan Bradshaw: “Echo in the Canyon”, a documentary about the seminal music that emerged from Laurel Canyon in the 60’s, and “The Commitments”, a terrific film about a mythical Irish group would wanted to be soul singers from the 60’s.
  • My choices: “20 Feet from Stardom”, an Oscar-winning documentary about great backup singers who never quite made it to the front of the stage, and “The Sound of My Voice”, a biography documentary about the singular career of Linda Ronstadt.

The Board challenges each of you to catch one or more of these great music-based films and to let us know your favorites. Even better, come up with a film or two of your own and shoot me your choices to post for next week!

That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend, be well and I can’t wait to jam with all y’all soon!

All my best,

Len Musgrove
BYO President

6/19/2020

Dear BYO Members:

I hope all of you and yours are well and retaining at least a small sense of humor! To state the obvious, I’m really missing the BYO Jams, Breakfasts, Happy Hours and just plain jamming with my music buddies! I have, however, had more time to rehearse lately, so there’s that!

While we remain in some form of quarantine or social distancing mode, there are some creative ways to keep jamming! Some of you have probably come across some new ways to play or keep your creative juices flowing. So for this week, here are my Top BYO Music Tips, in no particular order:

• Build up your song book by checking out former BYO President Stan Bradshaw’s regular Chart of the Day. At last glance Stan’s commitment to send out great music for us all to learn reached 40! That’s commitment! Thank you, Stan!
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• If you have had sufficient sheltering for one week, go see BYO’s own Jim Martin tonight at the Gin in Prosper. Those of you in the northern burbs have only a quick drive to go support our fellow BYO singer/guitarist! Here’s a link to Jim’s event. Several others are starting to Jam as well-keep your eye out and support our BYO members!
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• Check out the ongoing performances of our BYO members. Chris Cree has done some great work on Facebook, and Mike Ernst has done likewise on Instagram. Please support our great BYO Busicians and their commitments to keeping great music going during these strange times! Thanks Chris and Mike!
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• Just because we are not yet ready to reinstitute BYO Jams (the BYO Board is currently working with Ian Dickson and his Events Committee to investigate safely doing so, hopefully in August or September), we can continue to support charitable causes. Pam and I were able to raise nearly $1900 during a live concert on Facebook for Wine to the Rescue, a 501(c)(3) that focuses on last-chance rescues of badly injured and ill animals, thanks to the generosity of lots of Facebook friends, including some generous BYO members! Use your talents for the good, folks!
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• Finally, there are virtual jams, such as JamKazam, available for those who are a bit more tech-savvy than your humble leader. Both Joel Futterman, who wrote a great article already posted on our upgraded BYO website, and Robert Warwas, among other BYO members, have had a fair amount of success in jamming with friends old and new! Thanks Joel and Robert for keeping the musical faith!

Len Musgrove
BYO President