newsmakers

newsmakers

Letterman marks 30 years as host

NEW YORK

David Letterman has marked 30 years as a late-night comedian and television-show host.

The comedian has hosted 5,443 shows since he started his career with “Late Night with David Letterman,” which premiered Feb. 1, 1982, and ran for 111/2 years.

Comedian Bill Murray was the first guest on that inaugural show. Murray returned to Letterman’s show Tuesday night and presented the host with a 30th-anniversary cupcake.

Letterman, who has been credited with redefining the talk-show genre, has earned five Emmy Awards and 35 Emmy nominations for “Late Night.”

His current show, “Late Show with David Letterman,” debuted Aug. 30, 1993, and has been honored with nine Emmy Awards and 70 Emmy nominations.

Letterman’s guest on Wednesday night’s show was Howard Stern, who will be a new judge on “America’s Got Talent.”

Journey drummer arrested in Oregon

SALEM, Ore.

Deen Castronovo, drummer in the rock group Journey, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Oregon to four misdemeanor charges related to a reported domestic- violence incident in West Salem.

The 47-year-old was arrested Jan. 20 after a dispute with a woman and charged with recklessly endangering another person, interfering with making a police report, criminal mischief and harassment.

The Statesman Journal reports the woman told police he had accused her of cheating, and they had broken up.

Springsteen to play at Harlem theater

NEW YORK

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater next month.

The March 9 show is three days after the release of Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” album.

It will air live on E Street Radio. Subscribers can win tickets to the event, which is part of SiriusXM’s 10th- anniversary celebration.

The announcement was made Wednesday by SiriusXM Radio.

The Apollo propelled the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson. It had memorial services for Michael Jackson and James Brown and a 2007 campaign rally for Barack Obama.

During a January fundraiser there, President Obama crooned a bar from an Al Green classic.

The world tour starts March 18 in Atlanta.

Mona Lisa copy was painted with original

MADRID

Spain’s Prado Museum says it has a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” that was painted at the same time as the original in the same studio, perhaps making it the earliest replica of the masterpiece.

A museum spokeswoman said the work was painted alongside the 16th-century original that now hangs in the Louvre in Paris. It was done by one of da Vinci’s key students.

The Prado said it had no idea of the significance of its copy of the “Mona Lisa” until a recent restoration revealed hidden layers.

There are dozens of surviving “Mona Lisa” replicas from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Madrid version has the same female figure but before the restoration lacked the landscape background and was covered over with paint and varnish.

Vindicator wire services