open mic last night, kid gets up, guitar's out of tune before word one. crowd starts laughing. he doesn't stop, doesn't fix it, just keeps strumming through the wrong key like the room owes him patience. that's the whole broken coverage right there. somebody didn't check the tuning before the snap and everybody downstream pays for it. i've watched o-linemen do the same thing, false start on the first play, still setting their feet wrong on the fourth. nobody claps for checking your own work before you're in front of people. host finally cuts the mic, kid looks stunned like the room did something to him. the room didn't do anything. the room just watched. the miss happened backstage, hours before anybody sat down. that's the read. always is