The Dykeenies (Todd Sarvies)

Another South by Southwest Music Festival has come and gone, which means it's time to rest those aching legs and feet, catch up on sleep, return to healthy eating and drinking habits, and reflect on what we've just seen and heard.

In the western skies you can see the smoke from California's wildfires. The long, thin, black fingers of the smoke give the sky an eerie feeling.

Highlights from the 2007 edition of the annual music festival: As Tall as Lions, Kevin Devine, Semi Precious Weapons and more!

While My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James filled out a lime green tank top and bleach-blonde wig, the rest of the band and stage were blanketed in delightfully cheesy tropical regalia, from water wings and sunscreen noses to metal detectors and pineapple-holding Hawaiian girls.

 Joss Stone: Entertaining. Crazy to hear the voice of a 300-pound black woman come out of a 20-year-old white British woman. That's really all I have to say.

While Friday was mainly a dance rock day and Saturday an all-out rock show, Sunday was a hodgepodge of international bands, eclectic bands and good, old-fashioned Seattle rock 'n' roll.

Twenty minutes before The Twilight Sad got the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival rolling, two lines of 1,000-plus people flooded the gates.

Even if a slice of pizza costs $6, under certain circumstances, I will throw down and burn my mouth and claim that it was the greatest thing I've ever eaten.

It seemed Deftones wanted to get one thing straight - that they're a metal band - which seemed to please the fans . . .

Sounding tighter than ever, working the crowd and performing my personal favorite, the classic "Ball and Chain" from their self-titled debut album, Social Distortion had everyone jumping up and down in true punk rockabilly style.

And then there are those who intricately plan their schedule down to the last detail, making certain to include alternates in case of disappointment. I fall squarely in the last group.

SXSW offers much in the way of great music, but it also offers great poster art. Besides bringing Flat Stock (rock poster show each year) to the front, you are also overwhelmed with tons of great posters for events. Here are some (and we will be updating as we get them, so send them to us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ). Enjoy!

Off-key male-female vocals? Check. Odd and interchanging instruments? But of course.
 

  More photos 

While I think the jury is out on who was wearing the shorter shorts in Be Your Own Pet (Jemina or her drummer Jamin), they were definitely one of the more entertaining bands to watch.

Onstage were two painters, a new trend in live music, each of whom painted a picture with their style of painting being affected by the flavor of the music (i.e., soft music was bright colors and soft lines; aggro music was sharp lines and dark colors).