By Ginia Bellafante

Goal! Let's Start the Presses!

ANDREW SHUE is following the career path of the obsessively nice character he plays on Melrose Place. Like Billy, his Melrose magazine writer, Shue is headed for publishing. Come June, when the World Cup soccer tournament begins in Dallas, Shue will publish a newspaper, the '94 Cup Daily, devoted to all the heady activities. "I wanted to build a soccer legacy here," he says. Shue used to play pro soccer in Zimbabwe.

Happy Birthday, Soul Man

There are certainly less appealing ways to celebrate one's seniorhood than by singing with SHARON STONE. To ensure that soul king JAMES BROWN truly had a lively 61st, Stone wrangled herself away from The Specialist, a film she is shooting in Florida with Sly Stallone, flew to Brown's Georgia bash and joined him in a duet of Happy Birthday. The appreciative Brown joked that his sultry partner must have agreed to play chanteuse because "she just likes good-looking men."

A Small Victory

For COURTNEY LOVE, last week brought a glimmer of good news in the midst of misery. The lead member of Hole was cleared of allegations that she possessed heroin in the days before her husband Kurt Cobain killed himself. Prosecutors said the substances found in Love's Beverly Hills hotel room were not illegal drugs but prescription pain-killers. "I am delighted that this nightmare is over," said the singer. "I can now concentrate on mourning the loss of my husband."

SEEN & HEARD

The battle for svelteness leaves its sorriest casualties in the closet. Is there anyone in the U.S. with more superfluous plus-size clothing than the newly (if tentatively) nimble-bodied Oprah Winfrey? Surely not. So this June, she will bravely auction off her loose fits for charity. Prices will range from $20 to $1,000.

For the past few weeks gossipists have been gumming that the seemingly cheery union between Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford is a sham. Rather than issue a press release attesting to their undying happiness, the couple shelled out $30,000 for a full-page ad in the Times of London to reaffirm their commitment. "We are heterosexual and monogamous," they bugled. "Reports of divorce are totally false."