Photo courtesy of Lenny Gotter. Four years ago, our friend Jacque came to visit from Chicago. During her stay, she and Kara started...

Photo courtesy of James Butler Some months ago, my former neighbor came by to do some landlord work on his old house. While we caught up in the driveway, his five-year-old daughter played nearby. Eventually, she came up to me and said: "Are you sad that Kara's dead?" She was smiling. Not just smiling, but almost giggling . I smiled back. In a flash, I saw her father, well over six feet tall, reduced to a heap of ashes in a wooden box. (I have a few such boxes myself.) And I saw her reduced to...

KIDDING! Kara never won the national title. This was taken IN CASE she won the national title. U.S. Air Guitar National Championships,...