NEWS LITE : BONO STUFF FLYING OFF THE SHELVES.

Mourners and tourists are snapping up Sonny Bono memorabilia and copies of his 1991 autobiography in Palm Springs, where he started his political career.

Despite the increased demand following Bono's death last week in a skiing accident, shopkeepers who remember his days as Palm Springs' mayor refused to take advantage by jacking up prices.

``It wouldn't be in keeping with Sonny's legacy,'' said Arlyn Warner, an employee at the Celebrity Book Store.

Displayed prominently in the front window of the small shop is the autobiography, ``And the Beat Goes On,'' one of only a dozen remaining copies in the store.

``That's what some people want when they come in,'' Warner said. ``Most of them are tourists. A lot of people from the funeral stopped by.''

Other Bono memorabilia are hot, too. A late-'60s photo of Sonny and Cher wearing gaudy cowboy costumes has been popular.

``Everybody loves those horrible clothes,'' Warner said.

A $1 postcard that reads ``I Want You Babe'' also has sold briskly. On the card, a smiling Bono is bouncing a tennis ball from a racket while pointing a finger, like an Uncle Sam recruitment poster. The postcard was part of a campaign to attract more tourists when the desert resort's economy was struggling in the late 1980s.

Bono is credited with helping revive Palm Springs, in part by starting an international film festival and cleaning up the town's image as a party spot for college students during spring break.

At Super Crown Books, calls have been pouring in for Bono's autobiography, which is out of print.

``We've been getting people asking for it like crazy,'' said store manager Kitty Northrup. ``Unfortunately, we don't have any in stock.''

Washington Monument ready to close for repairs, cleaning

People queued up around the Washington Monument, the capital's centerpiece, for a last chance to go up the tallest structure in the city before its marble blocks are wrapped in scaffolding and its doors closed for repair.

The make-over of the 110-year-old landmark begins Monday and will last until Independence Day 2000. But it will be closed to visitors only until late spring this year while a new elevator and heating, cooling and ventilation systems are installed. Visitors will not hamper other interior work or exterior repairs.

Cracks in the 555-foot obelisk also will be patched and sealed, damaged stones repaired and the interior thoroughly cleaned in the $8 million project.

``I feel very lucky I'll be able to see it,'' said Cindy Engel, on her first visit to the monument, as she waited in line Saturday for a ticket to the top.

Like Engel, a medical technologist from Cape Canaveral, Fla., some visitors happened to be in Washington on business on the obelisk's last open weekend.

Erin Broadbent, site manager of the National Mall, said there has been no last-minute stampede of sightseers even though this will be the longest closure ever of the landmark. About 2,500 people have visited daily in the past few days, the monument's normal capacity.

Broadbent said the new repairs will make the monument more enjoyable for visitors because technicians will be able to regulate temperatures at the observation level, and the elevator - installed in 1959 - won't go ``through its fits'' so often as it does now.

The repair work, the monument's most extensive overhaul since it opened in 1888, will be done in three phases. Minneapolis-based Target discount stores has raised $5 million in a private corporate effort for the exterior work.

Fiona Apple adheres to her core beliefs

Fiona Apple has no apologies.

The brash, 20-year-old singer's impromptu slam of the recording industry's image-making machinery during her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards raised more than a few eyebrows, but she couldn't care less.

``I just had something on my mind and I just said it,'' Apple says in the Jan. 22 Rolling Stone magazine. ``And that's really the foreshadowing of my entire career and my entire life. When I have something to say, I'll say it.''

At the September awards ceremony, Apple was named best new artist, an honor she thought would go to Hanson. Surprised when she was named, the edgy singer-songwriter has said the award made her feel like ``a sellout.''

Completely unprepared at the podium, she said to her fans, in part: ``You shouldn't model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we're wearing and what we're saying, and everything. Go with yourself.''

Critics have called Apple ungrateful, but she says absolute honesty is essential for her emotional survival. A preteen rape victim who takes medication for depression, Apple says the sexual assault remains the defining event of her life.

``It's funny, because I don't think I maybe would be here,'' she says when asked where she'd be if the rape hadn't happened. ``But then again, I don't think I would need to be here.''

Estefan battling to keep bistro's name

Gloria Estefan took the witness stand to testify in the battle of the Bongos.

The California manufacturer of Bongo Jeans is suing Estefan and her husband, Emilio, for alleged trademark infringement over their Disney World restaurant - Bongos Cuban Cafe.

The clothing maker wants them to change the name. The Estefans are just as determined to keep the name after investing $5 million in the restaurant.

Cosby puts jazz into a `whereas'

Political proclamations aren't funny - unless Bill Cosby reads one.

``It's jazz, I'll just riff it,'' said Cosby, starting an ``official proclamation'' honoring jazz saxophonist and teacher Jimmy Heath by saying: ``What's happening, Jimmy?''

Cosby, a devoted fan of jazz music, told Heath, who has taught at Queens College for 11 years: ``You taught at the Jazzmobile, the New School, the Old School and with the Three Little Pigs. Eleven years you've been out of work, but you continue to teach.

Heath, retiring from teaching at 71, conducted a performance of ``Without You, No Me,'' which he composed for legendary jazz great Dizzy Gillespie.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Fiona Apple accepts an award from Elton John on Sept. 4, 1997, at the MTV Music Video Awards show in New York City.

Associated Press

(2) The moon appears oddly soft next to the Washington Monument's hard stone planes thrusting skyward over the District of Columbia.

Associated Press