1996

In March a local paper reviewed the band's Friday show on Congress Street. The reviewer counted about forty people. The review reported that the audience knew more about defense acquisition policy than most rock audiences. It reported that the drummer never deviated from tempo. It reported that the vocalist ended the set by saying mission complete, and did not appear to be joking. Marcus clipped the review. He did not dispute any of it.

That spring the band revised the second verse of BRRRRRRT to reflect the most recent action in Congress on the A-10. It was one of at least four documented revisions of the verse.

In September the band drove to Albuquerque. Ninety miles east of Tucson on Interstate 10, the van's alternator failed. Marcus had a contingency plan for vehicle failure. The plan called for a rental truck and trailer. The equipment was transferred on the shoulder. The plan projected two hours. Execution took four.

The band arrived at the venue eleven minutes before the scheduled start. Marcus delivered the briefing in four minutes. It was the only briefing in the log shorter than five. The show started on time.

Marcus wrote a post-incident report. It identified three process failures. Dennis had missed the scheduled quarterly inspection. The shop Dave had used two weeks earlier had missed the failing part. Marcus had not built enough margin into the contingency timeline. The report was distributed to all members. Elaine filed hers.

Dave changed shops. The new shop was the one on South 6th Avenue where Tony was foreman. Tony took over the inspection cycle in full. He said the failure was in the inspection cycle and that the inspection cycle had been revised. Dennis has not missed an inspection since.

In July Marcus left the machine shop for a program scheduler position at a defense contractor in Tucson. It was not the contractor that employed Dennis. Neither of them discussed work at rehearsal. This was policy.

Linda replaced the house PA at The Runway Bar in the fall. She bought to the specification on page eleven of the rider. The first show on the new system was in November. Dennis measured the output from the back wall. Brian Holt was standing next to him. Both said it met the specification.

The band played twenty-nine shows. Elaine's studio reached thirty-six students. Brian was made a flight lead. The alternator is in Tony's shop, on a shelf, with a tag.