Alan Peppard

Bassist Roger Waters, the mastermind behind Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album, was taken aback by the crush of people at the bar when he entered Al Biernat's steakhouse Thursday night.

The musician asked to be seated at a quiet table away from the crowd.

"We'll put you on the Dark Side of the Room," cracked Biernat's manager Brad Fuller.

At 64 years old, the former Pink Floyd star still lives like a rock star. In town for a concert at Fair Park, Mr. Waters stayed at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

When he sat down at Biernat's, he explained that his standard dinner beverage was 1982 Mouton Rothschild.

"Do you have it?" he asked.

"Sure we have it," he was told.

And the famous claret was promptly uncorked. Price? $1,400 a bottle.

Who was that young woman walking up and down Maple Avenue who looked exactly like Carrie Underwood?

That was Carrie Underwood.

Yes, Jessica Simpson, beware. Your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend was back in town to film a commercial.

She stayed at the Stoneleigh and took regular walks with her dog, Ace, so he could ... you know.

The comely Chelsea Handler, author, comedian and host of the E! show Chelsea Lately, was riding high on the best-seller list when she hit Dallas last week for a show at the Lakewood Theater.

She appears to have discovered the recipe for success: Be deadly funny, deadly attractive and title your first book My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands. As she told David Letterman about the book, "I did a lot of research, so I'm pretty tapped out."

Her follow-up, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, is now an official smash.

"Her book just hit No. 1," says Michael Broussard, the former Dallas literary agent who acquired the book for Simon & Schuster. "Her father cried when he heard."

From her life of comedy and book tours, Chelsea has tired of hotels. While in Dallas, she stayed with her longtime friend, filmmaker Kelli Herd, at her Park Cities home.

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