ROBBED: Nelly (real name: Cornell Haynes), 29, had more than $1 million in jewelry stolen from his Aladdin hotel room on the Las Vegas Strip while he was in town for the 2003 Radio Music Awards, say police. Singer Michelle Branch, another Aladdin guest, reported computer equipment taken from her room. "Right now it's kind of a whodunit," police Sgt. Tim Shalhoob told the Las Vegas Sun. "The stars were very cooperative and very upset. They took the time to go over our painstaking questions." He added: "We believe the rooms were randomly picked,"
QUOTED: "They tend not to give it to the British unless you're Sting. The sun shines out of his arse -- a pure jazz musician, Mr. Serious who helps the Indians." -- Rod Stewart, 58, on why he's never won a Grammy, as quoted in Britain's Radio Times
CAST: Former "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin, 23, has signed a deal with NBC to develop projects including a fall 2004 comedy program, reports Variety. Culkin has already met with "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien about the possibility of working together on a project, and NBC development president Kevin Reilly tells the trade paper: "We're going to use him in an unconventional way. I don't think you'll see Macaulay as a straight-down-the-middle romantic lead. I think you'll see him in something surprising, a little offbeat."
SLUMPED: FOX's "Joe Millionaire" slipped further in the ratings this week, with only 6.1 million viewers for its second episode Monday, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings. Last season's smash hit lost an additional 700,000 viewers since its disappointing second-season premiere last week. In more cheerful TV news, the Bravo network has announced that its hit, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," will return with all-new episodes on Nov. 18 and air every Tuesday.
ASSEMBLED: Beck, Bright Eyes, Beth Orton, Grandaddy, Radar Bros., Rilo Kiley and Future Pigeon are among those who will perform Nov. 3 during a Los Angeles memorial concert for late melancholy singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, to take place at the Henry Fonda Theater, reports Billboard. Smith, 34, died Oct. 21 after apparently stabbing himself in the heart.
UNVEILED: "The Andy Griffith Show" icons, Andy and Opie on a permanent fishing trip, have now been immortalized in an 800-lb. bronze statue unveiled Tuesday by Griffith himself, reports the Associated Press. "That beats anything. I kind of wish I looked like that now," the white-haired star, 77, told hundreds of fans who gathered next to a pond in North Carolina's Raleigh's Pullen Park for the ceremony. TV Land agreed to pay for and support the statue.
