People

LETTERMAN GETS HIS OWN 'HIGHWAY'

For a long time funnyman David Letterman has been mentioning on his late-night show that it would be a keen idea if the city of Indianapolis renamed a major highway as the David Letterman Expressway. Letterman, an Indiana native, worked in Indianapolis TV as a weatherman for many years before going to Hollywood ... and the rest is history. What Letterman has been suggesting is that Interstate 465, the busiest Interstate highway in the Indiana capital, be renamed in his honor. In some ways, I-465 is a funny choice. Since it's the city's beltway and has no ending or starting point, it technically goes nowhere. Well, amid all of this, the northeast Indianapolis suburb of Lawrence has decided that it would name a roadway for the comedian. Part of 59th Street is now David Drive. What makes this interesting is that David Drive intersects Letterman Road. (That street was named not for the comedian but in honor of a World War II medical center in California). City officials say they will make sure that the signs at the intersection of Letterman Road and David Drive are placed on the poles with David Drive on top and the words "Road" and "Drive" in much smaller type. So, if the signs are viewed from the proper angle you'll see "David Letterman." By the way, the intersection is on the grounds of sprawling Fort Benjamin Harrison. And, if you head east from the intersection you'll run into a fence.

SPRINGSTEEN STILL COMMANDING FIGURE

You would think with a room full of Hollywood stars and other notables that Bruce Springsteen would be just part of the crowd. Not so, says the New York Post. According to the publication, at a recent party following "Saturday Night Live" at a Manhattan nightspot, Springsteen held court. He dominated the conversation and was the center of attention most of the evening. Sitting with his wife Patti, Springsteen joked with others at the party, held at Man Ray in the restaurant's basement banquet area. All this happened while in the crowd sat Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tom Petty, Richard Belzer, Steven Van Sant and the cast of "SNL." Matt Damon -- according to reports -- was very ego-free during the evening, enjoying NOT being the center of attention for once.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO RICHARD BACH?

He's the author who, thirty years ago, brought us the fabulous story of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." Richard Bach's writings became synonymous with the '70s. Now People magazine has done another of its patented "Where Are They Now?" segments, featuring the author and bringing us up to date. It seems that Bach has always been a fan of flying. He's owned nearly 40 different airplanes over the years. His latest writings, though, are very earth-bound. His new heroes are not seagulls but ferrets. His "Ferret Chronicles" have been released in a five-volume set. Bach is now in his mid 60s and says he loves ferrets so much he might write a 50-book series on the lowly animals.

DOCUMENTARIANS CHAMPIONED BY SUNDANCE

The folks at the Sundance Channel say they are moving forward with their commitment to help the makers of documentaries by setting up a weekly on-air programming block to be called "DOCday." According to the indieWIRE news service, the cable channel will begin the project in early March of next year. The Monday feature will consist of 12 hours of programming, all in the documentary vein. Additionally, Sundance has long-range plans to set up yet another cable channel that will be "all documentaries, all the time." That channel could be up and running by the end of next year.

GRACE SLICK STILL GOING STRONG

It's hard to fathom the fact that Grace Slick is now 63. Once a proponent of the "love child generation" and drug use, now the grandmotherly Slick, decades away from her Jefferson Airplane days, tells Rolling Stone magazine about the fast times of her youth. "I didn't like orgies," she noted, "but I am good at multi-tasking." It was Slick who once noted that she wanted to put LSD into Richard Nixon's drinking water. Slick has outlived Nixon and now resides in the Malibu section of Los Angeles on the Pacific coast and has some really swanky neighbors.

ANTHONY TO PLAY VIC DAMONE?

It might not be the oddest casting of all time -- after all Tyrone Power played Ferdinand de Lesseps in "Suez" and very Irish Steve Allen starred as Benny Goodman in "The Benny Goodman Story" -- but there are reports that a movie producer is trying to convince Latin heartthrob Marc Anthony to play singer Vic Damone in an upcoming project. Columnist Liz Smith says that moviemaker Gene Corman wants Anthony to appear as Damone in what would be a cameo part in a movie biopic about actress Pier Angeli. She was married to the singer for four stormy years. The film will be called "No Tomorrow." By the way, Angeli was said to have been madly in love with another heartthrob, James Dean. But her family would not permit her to marry a non-Catholic. Additionally, Dean was reportedly trying to figure out just what he wanted sexually at the time.

UPI DAILY SURVEY QUESTION NO. 433

Here is today's survey question: "With election day less than a month away, do you plan on voting?" Put VOTE in the subject line and send to [email protected] via the Internet.

RESULTS OF QUESTION NO. 428 (HOME)

Last week we asked about the longest time you were ever away from home. Here, drawn at random from the inbox, is a sampling of replies: We got several responses from people who said that you "really can't go home again." For a variety of reasons -- some personal, some just circumstances -- several noted that they left home after high school and never went back ... except for funerals. On the other side of the coin there are those, including BobW, who still live in the house in which they were born ... some going on 70 years. And don't mention being away from home to PO in Ontario. While on a multi-week vacation, someone stole everything not nailed down from the apartment, scratched the length of the car and stole the wiper blades. Wow! Finally, Kenneth W points out something that was not asked in the original question, just where is "home" anyway. He reminds us that "home is where the heart is." So, according to Kenneth, he's never been away from home. TOMORROW: Some thoughts on magazines. GBA