NEWS LITE : DICAPRIO IN TIFF WITH THAIS AGAIN.

Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in a new ruckus in Thailand - customs officials want a piece of his gift to a school.

Last year, activists began hounding DiCaprio because they claimed his movie ``The Beach'' caused environmental damage to an island.

Now customs officers have seized a parcel containing 120 videotapes DiCaprio sent to students at a private school on the outskirts of Bangkok. The officials said $324 in duty is owed, but the school doesn't have the money, the Thai Rath newspaper reported Thursday. The videos are mostly a profile of the star and copies of ``Titanic.'' A spokesman for DiCaprio was unavailable for comment.

Friendship 1st gets credit for marriage

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. say they're still going strong after 30 years of marriage.

The couple, who met as members of The Fifth Dimension in 1967 and later won a Grammy as a duo for ``You Don't Have To Be A Star,'' will celebrate their anniversary July 26. ``I credit our friendship. We went into this marriage like everyone else - we loved each other, we were friends, we fought and we had emotional problems,'' Davis said Wednesday.

``But our commitment to each other was so strong that we just didn't want to do it without each other. Plus, we have the Lord in our lives, and that's an important part of our relationship.''

McCoo said starting off as friends was a big part of their success. ``You can't spend this many years with another person if you don't like them,'' she said.

Footwear festivity to honor film dudes

Getting the boot in Hollywood isn't always a bad thing.

Kirk Douglas, James Garner and the late DeForest Kelley are among this year's recipients of Golden Boot Awards honoring the best in westerns, organizers said Thursday.

The 17th annual awards presentation is scheduled for Aug. 7, at a gala dedicated to the late Gene Autry and benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

Presenters will be James Coburn, Henry Darrow, Dennis Weaver, Fess Parker and Janet Leigh.

Gingrich set to take topical speaker job

Out but not down, Newt Gingrich will launch a five-days-a-week, 90-second taped radio message July 26 on a variety of topics including politics. ``Newt's Age of Possibilities'' is being sold by Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell and Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The ex-House speaker says he's modeling his show on Paul Harvey's, noting: ``I'll try to take on things in a kind of fearless way.''

Bradley drawing celebrity cachet 

Celebrities who have lined up behind the presidential candidacy of Bill Bradley, as listed in the New York Daily News: Harrison Ford, Quincy Jones, Sting, Olympia Dukakis, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Spike Lee, Michael Jordan, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Sydney Pollack and Bruce Hornsby.

Celebrities who have lined up behind Al Gore: Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, David Geffen, Sheryl Crow and James Taylor.

The Boss at 49 still commands fans' adoration

The legend of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band came back to life in New Jersey on Thursday night, with its power and promise undiminished by time.

Native son Springsteen and the band, which backed him on some of the biggest-selling and most-loved albums of the 1970s and '80s, began their first American tour in 11 years.

The 49-year-old singer-guitarist went on at 8:10 p.m. to the deafening sound of 19,000 aging but excitable fans bellowing his name in the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.

``Good evening, New Jersey,'' the fit-and-trim, dressed-in-black Springsteen said, following his erstwhile foils, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and guitarist Steve Van Zandt, onto the stage. ``We're going to bring it to you.''

With that, Springsteen launched the most in-demand tour of this summer of teen-age bubble-gum acts such as 'N Sync and Britney Spears. Springsteen and band have instantly sold out 34 shows in six cities on the 15-night tour.

Springsteen led off with ``My Love Will Not Let You Down,'' the steadily building rocker from last year's four-CD box set of unreleased tracks and rarities.

Van Zandt, guitarist Nils Lofgren and the rock star's guitarist wife Patti Scialfa joined in, repeating the title over and over, while Springsteen sang of a ``search for connection'' - like an oath of renewed allegiance to his faithful audience.

The next song, which also was carried live on cable TV's VH1, underscored that commitment.

On ``Promised Land,'' Springsteen put his guitar on his hip, blew a fierce harmonica solo and watched as the audience pumped fists through the hymnlike chorus. For ``Two Hearts,'' he shared the spotlight with Van Zandt, who left the band in 1984 and returned this year.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Acting globally

Actors Goldie Hawn, left, and Kurt Russell hold an unidentified Peruvian child who received surgery for a cleft lip in a hospital in an impoverished area of Lima, Peru. Hawn and Russell were in Peru as part of an international campaign to help poor children worldwide.

(2) DiCAPRIO

(3) KELLEY