Coachella, Franz Ferdinand, Scottsdale Culinary Festival, Phoenix Improv and More Over the Weekend

By Jonathan McNamara Mon., Apr. 20 2009 at 9:34 AM

Categories: Over the Weekend

Best of Coachella 2009 The festival's tenth anniversary took place again this past weekend in the Indio desert with Paul McCartney, M.I.A., Leonard Cohen, My Bloody Valentine.

Food and Fights: Highlights of the 2009 Scottsdale Culinary Festival Everyone who's anyone in the Phoenix metro culinary scene, from local foodies to the stars of Hell's Kitchen and Bravo's Top Chef, turned out for this weekend's Scottsdale Culinary Festival. Libations flowed at the Southwest Festival of Beers and inside the Robert Mondavi wine garden. Restaurant chefs whipped up crowd-pleasing appetizers and small samples, while food vendors offered larger portions of barbecue ribs and enchiladas for those whose palates weren't satiated by dozens of tiny noshes... full story

Franz Ferdinand (Eventually) Resurrects The Dead at Marquee I know it's probably unfair to compare a crowd at the Marquee to a crowd at Coachella -- where the music-obsessed kids even greeted the white reggae band who came on after local boys Dear and the Headlights like The Beatles at Shea Stadium -- but since Franz Ferdinand and I were both in Indio Friday night, and at the Marquee Saturday, I'm gonna do it...full story

Swimsuits, Ice Sculptures and Primping at the W for Steve Levine Entertainment's 2nd Anniversary Models wearing chic swim suits, took to the cat walk as dance band Static cranked out tunes and party-goers got hand and arm massages at the W for Steve Levine Entertainment's 2nd Anniversary...see photos

Little Room for Improv-ment at the Phoenix Improv Festival
It sounds like the premise of an especially horrific nightmare: You're on stage in front of at least 100 strangers. One of them yells out the phrase "Silly String in the Desert." And then the crowd, who all paid $15 to be entertained for the evening, expects you to use that phrase as the title of the completely improvised 30 minute musical you're about to perform for them...full story