Gloria brings a message to the Palace

For the record, singer Gloria Estefan still travels from concert to concert by bus. Except when long hauls make it easier to go by air. And she's still using the same driver who was at the wheel of the March 20 collision - a truck ran into the tour bus - that left Estefan with two steel rods attached to her spine.

The accident, however, has had some residual effects. "I can't sleep on the bus the way I used to, and that's carried over to all moving vehicles," says the 33-year-old voice of such hits as "The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" and "Coming Out of the Dark."

Estefan - who performs at 8 tonight at the Palace - is scoring big with her new concert tour, one of the best-selling tours of the summer. Reviews for the tightly choreographed two-hour show have been glowing.

Even the controversy over tour sponsorship by Bacardi - onetime employer of Estefan's husband and musical partner Emilio - has died down now that their anti-drinking and driving TV spots are airing.

"There are always groups that are extremely anti-alcohol, period, and we've been picketed," Estefan says, "The reason I chose that sponsorship was that I thought the irony would bring out the importance of the message. The idea of a liquor company doing that message should drive home to a lot of people just how important that message is."

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