Our friend Klaus Ruppenstein passed away on August 12, 2011. Klaus was a remarkable young man who embraced life and made everyone he met feel like family. As a teenager, we'd see him whirl his mother -- our dear friend Alice -- around the dance floor and for a while, he became a "roadie" for us. As with everything he did, he and his friend Jim dove into unloading the van. For the record, Klaus could carry what usually took two StingRays. He worked seriously and then played seriously. When the work was done, we caught him and Jim playing ring-toss with hula-hoops -- using each other as the poles! During a rain-out, we played with 'invisible' instruments. Without a second's hesitation, Klaus joined the jam as a horn section. Klaus embraced everything he did and we were very happy that we knew him.