D Angelo

As homemade gifts go this holiday season, does it get better than this? "I never, never, ever said this in front of my son before," says Vin Del Negro , his boy Vinny sitting beside him. "I'm very proud of my son. " It's a few hours before the Clippers will win a record-setting 12th-straight game on his son's watch, and old school is in session. Vincent Augustine Del Negro names his middle child Vincent Joseph because "there's only one Vincent Augustine," he says.

Anyone who believes that rock and roll is dead would have gotten a defibrillator shock at Gary Clark Jr.'s Troubadour set Tuesday. The two-hour show revalidated the idea that an inspired guitar, bass and drums combo on a small stage can still be more overpowering live than pummeling dance beats and a hundred-foot LED wall. The 28-year-old Austin, Texas, singer-guitarist is perhaps the most exciting blues-based instrumentalist to emerge since Jack White. His sound culls from a century of American guitar music, performed with a panache that's wholly contemporary.

For more than 30 years, the Blood street gang known as East Side Pain has participated in gun and drug sales in an area of Wilmington known as Ghosttown. Nine families in the neighborhood have members in the gang and control drug sales, which bring customers from Long Beach, Harbor Gateway and San Pedro, authorities said.

Although a mistrial has been declared in the Erik Menendez murder case and jury deliberations are continuing in the trial of his brother Lyle, both CBS and Fox are proceeding with projects based on the sensationalized Beverly Hills killings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. "It is incumbent on us to be very circumspect about what we say and where we put the emphasis," said Zev Braun, producer of a four-hour miniseries for CBS, targeted to air during the May ratings sweeps.

An investor in GenesisIntermedia Inc., a former telemarketing company in Van Nuys that was 75% owned by Saudi financier Adnan Khashoggi, agreed to plead guilty to helping manipulate the company's share price in a conspiracy that netted more than $130 million, U.S. prosecutors said Thursday. Kenneth D'Angelo, 60, agreed to plead guilty to charges that he conspired to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, and a count of wire fraud.

During Sunday's live telecast of the 2012 BET Awards, anticipation reigned, with questions filling Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium. What would polarizing singer Chris Brown say? How would soul singer D'Angelo's highly awaited comeback performance fare? And how would BET pay tribute to fallen pop titan Whitney Houston, whose February death cast a shadow over the Grammys? The annual show, which started in 2001, is known for its over-the-top performances and drama onstage and last year pulled in 7.7 million viewers.

One of the rewarding things about pausing to salute some of the most distinguished records from the first half of the year is that it helps us remember that there still are distinguished albums. That's a point that can easily get lost during a time when the national sales charts and radio airwaves are dominated by sludge. In 1999, the year of the Backstreet Boys, there were outstanding albums at the midyear point from Tom Waits, Moby and Randy Newman, among others.

There is much to envy about actress Beverly D'Angelo: ageless beauty, a Hollywood career of lasting duration, the fact that hunky Al Pacino parked his slippers at her front door for years and that she owns a 1920s Spanish-style gem of a house in Beverly Hills that has come on the market at $2,185,000. The five-bedroom, 4 1/2 -bathroom, 4,045-square-foot house has a two-story entryway, arched doorways and hardwood floors.

The time has come to put the Medical Board of California out of its misery. The board oversees the licensing of doctors and their discipline for misdeeds or incompetence. It also has jurisdiction over doctor-owned surgical clinics. Long ago the board acquired the reputation of being one of the least effective regulatory bodies in Sacramento. But evidence has mounted that it's worse: It's a danger to the community. Because of its ineffectiveness in a variety of spheres, patients have died.