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A quick sampling of what's in the news this morning. Election at a glance is in the post above.
♦ Venice High tragedy: Agustin Contreras, the first LAUSD student killed on campus in a decade, died protecting his younger brother from gang members who tried to steal the younger boy's cross necklace. Times
♦ Fifth Beatle: Billy Preston died in Arizona of kidney failure at age 59, never awakening from a coma that began last November. He was originally stricken while in a Malibu drug rehab program. Preston, who grew up in Los Angeles, met the Beatles when they opened for Little Richard in Europe in 1962. He later was the first-ever musical guest on "Saturday Night Live." From Jon Pareles' obituary in the New York Times:
Mr. Preston had an extensive career as a sideman, working with musicians from Little Richard to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His own hits included the Grammy-winning instrumental "Outa-Space" in 1972 and the No. 1 pop singles "Will It Go Round in Circles" (1973) and "Nothing From Nothing" (1974). He also wrote (with Bruce Fisher) the ubiquitous "You Are So Beautiful." But his best-known performance was the afternoon he spent on a London rooftop with the Beatles in what was their last concert, which was filmed for "Let It Be." In a 2001 interview, he recalled, "They made me feel like a member of the band."
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The Beatles' 1969 single of "Get Back" is credited to "The Beatles With Billy Preston," the only shared label credit in the Beatles' own career.
♦ Pellicano I: John Hanusz reports in the Daily Journal that the feds have given up hope of cracking all the codes that Hollywood private detective Anthony Pellicano used on his computers, due to the volume of material. No link cuz it's the DJ.
♦ Pellicano II: In the Los Angeles Times, Andrew Blankstein and Kim Christensen detail the merging of the larger Pellicano story with another Hollywood scandal involving French con man Christopher Rocancourt.
♦ Pellicano III: Ross Johnson looks at some MySpace chatter involving players in the saga.
♦ Toddler killing: The LAPD says that preliminary results of an inquiry into last year's fatal police shooting of Suzie Pena have been turned over to the district attorney and a final report is due next month, the Times reports.
♦ Re-welcoming AIA: Mike Boehm in the Times looks at what has changed in Los Angeles since the American Institute of Architects last convened downtown in 1994. Previous post on AIA.
♦ Marked cars: Cadillac Escalades had the highest rate of insurance theft claims for the fourth straight year, followed by the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab pickup.
♦ Historic Westside land: The City Council voted to oppose efforts to sell off a parcel of Army land adjacent to the veteran's hospital near Brentwood and the plans to build an FBI office tower on the site of the Westwood federal building.