Scene and Heard

Why did Gwyneth Paltrow keep popping up in unusual places like the Target in Valley Ranch? Because, this week, she and her kids headquartered themselves at the Four Seasons Resort. Her husband, Chris Martin, and his band, Coldplay, "hubbed" from the Four Seasons for shows in Dallas and Houston.
Gwyneth and family remained in the privacy of their Four Seasons villas, but guests did see her out and about, using the fitness center and spa and taking walks around the expansive property.
One guest observed the family, with nanny in tow, playing on the lawn of their villa on Wednesday and generally enjoying the sunshine.
Most heard comment? "Even prettier in person than on the screen."

This week's local appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow was nothing new. We've been on a steady Gwyneth diet ever since she dated homegrown actor Luke Wilson.
Following the tragedy of 9/11, Gwyneth escaped the chaos near her downtown New York home by spending a lot of time with Luke in Dallas where she popped up regularly doing lots of Dallasy things like shoe shopping at the NorthPark Neiman's.
One of the first clues we had that she was dating Coldplay front man Chris Martin was when she showed up for a Coldplay concert at Nokia Theatre (then called NextStage).
Now married with two kids, Gwyneth and Chris hit Dallas a couple of days early for Coldplay's Wednesday show at American Airlines Center.
Monday night, the couple drove their own rental car over to Al Biernat's steakhouse and grabbed a hideaway booth in the back.

There are certain circumstances under which Bob Sambol will let a patron stay at his Bob's Steak & Chop House after everyone has left, the lights are on and the vacuum cleaners are running.
Those circumstances arose Thursday night when the guest was Archie Manning, the former NFL and Ole Miss quarterback and father of two Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterbacks, Peyton and Eli Manning.
Archie wanted to stay and watch the end of the New York Jets-New England Patriots game. Bob was more than happy to accommodate him.
Archie was in town to speak to the Dallas chapter of the National Football Foundation.

So were Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson really shopping for engagement rings at the downtown Neiman Marcus? On the record, Neiman's officials will not comment on who does or does not shop there. Off the record, they're all simultaneously scratching their heads at the Wednesday report by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker.
He wrote: "One of my best Dallas snoops just happened to be in the original Neiman Marcus in Big D, shortly after Jessica Simpson and main man and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo were in the store checking out big sparklers--the kind women wear on their left-hand ring finger."
"The original Neiman Marcus" is the downtown store and if Tony and Jessica were there, nobody, and I mean nobody, saw them.
It's the same story at the NorthPark Neiman's. No one has seen them.
Staffers at Neiman Marcus Willow Bend are equally unaware of this epic sighting.
In fact, neither the Neiman's top brass nor the sales people working the floor seem to know anythying about it.
Tuesday evening, Jessica was in L.A. for her live performance on Dancing With The Stars. On Monday evening, Tony was solo at a surprise birthday dinner for teammate Marc Colombo.

At Friday night's black-tie grand opening of The Joule, the hotel's billionaire owner Tim Headington welcomed his movie pals Martin Scorsese, Graham King (producer of The Departed) and Sarah, Duchess of York (producer of The Young Victoria) to the pre-gala VIP party in the penthouse. But the presence of a couple of Academy Award-winning legends was meaningless to the 75 or so teen and tween girls who crowded Main Street across from the Joule entrance. All they knew was that the Jonas Brothers were inside. The girls screamed for them to come down. It's doubtful that the brothers heard them as they listened intently when Marty Scorsese made his way over to chat with them. Joe Jonas was the only band member missing. But Nick and Kevin Jonas were in fine form mixing in the crowd with their dad, former pastor Kevin Jonas Sr. Other celebs on hand--Joey Fatone, Stacey Keibler, et al--all angled for face time with the Jonases.

Ah, to be young and in love with a $67.5 million contract and to be the first Cowboys quarterback to beat the Packers at Lambeau Field. Such is the life of Tony Romo. On Tuesday, Tony was spotted lunching not only with his comely blonde girlfriend, Jessica Simpson, but also with her soon-to-deliver sister, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. They were all seen together at the Cafe on the Green at the Four Seasons Hotel & Resort where Tony is a member of the private golf club.

Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons will be in Dallas next week to promote the Diamond Empowerment Fund, a non-profit he created for education initiatives in Africa.
Next Wednesday night at Trece on Travis Street, Mr. Simmons will co-host a party to introduce the fund with beverage distributor Blake Andrews (ViB), sports entrepreneur Kirby Schlegel and former UT backup quarterback Matt Nordgren.

As the old song goes, "The days grow short when you reach September." And the days are growing short for Texas Stadium, the hole-in-the-roof temple which hosted its final Monday Night Football game this week.
As the last games tick away before the Cowboys move to Arlington, team owner Jerry Jones and his wife, Gene, can expect very few declines when they issue invitations to sit in the stadium's 50-yard-line owner's box.
During Monday night's Cowboys-Eagles game, Jamie Foxx and Jessica Simpson were both in the stadium, but the camera kept zooming in to see who was with the Joneses.
Ross Perot and his wife, Margot, were there as was oilman Edwin L. Cox with Kerbey Clark; art collectors Cindy and Howard Rachofsky; oilwoman and Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek founder Caroline Rose Hunt with Fort Worth oilman Charles Simmons; philanthropist Nancy Dedman; social mover Mary Watson; and Texarkana petroleum baron Truman Arnold.

Jessica Simpson says heck yeah, she will be attending Cowboys games this season to watch her man, Tony Romo. You just might not recognize her under the fake nose.
This week, Jessica phoned into the XM Satellite show "Yo on E!" to promote her album Do You Know. She was happy to address the superstition that she is a jinx to America's Team. "That was absolutely ridiculous," she says. "At first I was really upset by it, and you kind of gotta throw it off and ignore it, but when the president starts talking about it... wow, really, um..."
"I don't really feel like I've been a jinx to Tony or the Cowboys at all," she adds.
So she will be at games this year?
"Of course, I will," she says. "I might be wearing prosthetics."

Just who are the many loves of Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine? Refreshingly, he's one rockstar who won't say, but the rumored list includes Tony Romo's own Jessica Simpson as well as Paris Hilton, Kirsten Dunst and the pre-Ronson Lindsay Lohan.
But he was just one of the guys as he hung around Dallas for a couple of days following Maroon 5's Saturday night show at Fair Park with Counting Crows.
Before pulling out of town for Albuquerque, Maroon 5 showed up at N9NE Steakhouse in Victory Park Monday night. It was an all-guy crew except for one very striking brunette.
Rib-eyes, New York strips and Kobe burgers were washed back with an ample supply of Silver Oak cabernet.
The band was amazingly engaging with fans in the restaurant, stopping to chat with admirers. After the meal, Mr. Levine led his bandmates into the kitchen to greet the kitchen staff and sign chef Chris Conlon's office door.

Mogul-in-the-making Kirby Schlegel is launching a new sports magazine with the help of veteran Dallas broadcaster Timm Matthews. Kirby is the son of Pavestone centi-millionaire Bob Schlegel. The father and son own the Dallas Stars minor league affiliate, the Iowa Stars. Kirby and Timm are co-publishers of Replay Sport Monthly, a glossy mag set to debut in November. Last Thursday, the big sports names flocked to Kirby's sleek pad in the W residences for a party for potential advertisers. Timm and Kirby welcomed Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco, team captain Brenden Morrow and Stars head coach Dave Tippett. Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson made the party as did Olympic runner Michael Johnson and Dallas Cowboys receiver Isaiah Stanback.
Expect a blow-out launch party prior to the release of the first issue.

Dallas event planner Steve Kemble weighs in on whether or not Corpus Christi native Eva Longoria Parker is on the nest. He thinks not. The blogosphere--a notorious factually challenged zone--has been buzzing that the Desperate Housewives star is pregnant by her San Antonio Spur husband Tony Parker ever since paparazzi pictures appeared of her in a bikini in Portofino, Italy. The bloggers saw a baby bump. To me, it looks like she had a grilled cheese for lunch instead of celery. Eva is attending Fashion Week at Bryant Park in New York and Sunday, she was at launch party for the new M&M's Premium candy. Steve Kemble was there covering Fashion Week for CBS 11 and KVIL-FM (103.7). "Eva looked fabulous," he enthuses. "She was in a skin-tight, mocha-colored dress and definitely did not look pregnant to me."

Thanks to the Internet where a right to privacy is sooo 2006, we call all get a look inside the home that Tony Romo just purchased in Cottonwood Valley. It is a monochromatically shagadelic pad where one presumes he will entertain Jessica Simpson (or she will entertain him).
Gossip site TMZ.com appears to have the best selection of photos under the heading "Romo to Jess: Don't be a Homewrecker."
The word is that Tony paid less than $700,000 for the 5,500-square-foot stucco house near the Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters.
Don't miss the pics of the master bath with its black-tile floor and sunken black bathtub right in the middle of the room. It looks like something Hef would have used to entertain Barbi Benton circa 1971.
As fun as it might be to poke fun at his bachelor digs, consider the following: He signed a $67.5 million contract and might get tens of millions more in endorsements. He stayed in an apartment with a roommate while the mortage crisis unfolded. When home prices dipped, he went and bought an extremely reasonable house that is close to work and close to the golf course.
Smart.

Apparently ready for their GQ closeup, Stars goalie Marty Turco and his basketball playing pal, Michigan-born European league player Travis Conlan, were both wearing the requisite off-season stubble when they showed up for dinner Friday night at Central 214 in Hotel Palomar. That's Garrett and Sylvia McGrath in the middle of the sports star sandwich.