Migas: it is the default Austin, Texas breakfast, and a glorious one. Cheese, tortillas, scrambled eggs, salsa, tortillas – it is glorious, and many a South By Southwest (SXSW) attendee looks forward to it. Migas soaks up the hangover spurred by too many beers drank in too many clubs seeing too many bands. Nearly every restaurant open in the morning in Austin serves migas: we tried the version at a restaurant called Taco Shack, and it was epic. Who knew one could get pleasure from such a humble aspect of the SXSW experience?

Another humble, somewhat unknown facet of SXSW is Flatstock – an exhibition organized by the American Poster Institute where designers of concert posters display and sell their work. Flatstock proves dizzying: the sheer talent involved rivals that of the bands on the posters themselves. The likes of Methane Studios from Atlanta and La-La Land from Los Angeles, among many others, use color, composition, wit and pop-culture to communicate visually what a band is about: La-La Land’s transformation of a packet of bacon into an American flag is a classic pop-art image, regardless of the fact that it’s a gig poster for Willie Nelson. More indoor fun was to be had indoors at the SPIN loft, where fish tacos and swag galore was dispensed, and musicians ranging from V.V. Brown to Suckers and comedians Kevin Avery and Margaret Cho played ping pong for charity on a table provided by KSpace’s sponsor, K-Swiss (the tournament’s winner was a member of the road crew from the XX).

Staying in on the last day of SXSW 2010 made sense, as it was the coldest, rainiest day of the conference, but this didn’t stop all revelers. An outdoor tent devoted to bands from The Hague was rocking despite the weather (but then again, the Dutch are used to this kind of environment). As well, at the Fader Fort, despite freezing temperatures, lines were long and many attendees didn’t get in, regardless of whether they had the proper badge, RSVP, or whatever. Those that did caught an underwhelming set from heavily hyped Sleigh Bells: tatted-up frontwoman Alexis Krauss indeed exuded intensity and sex appeal – imagine Betty Page hotwired with PJ Harvey and Karen O – but in this setting the almost brutal volume of the band’s recorded output was lost, and the musical formula numbed instead of provoked. Maybe next time? Alas, everything seemed off – even the BBQ from Salt Lick was uncharacteristically sub par. The Fader Fort generally proved one of the best, most democratic things about SXSW 2010, but hey, everyone has an off day.

The amazing thing about SXSW is how it brings the world of new music together. A lineup of current avant-garde electronic artists at the club Barcelona, highlighted by a speaker-rattling performance from San Francisco’s sub-tweaking maverick Eskmo and topped by dubstep star Plastician, showed that bass is a universal language: the  grimy, dark club space was literally and figuratively underground, as were the sounds booming across the dancefloor – a scene that could’ve come from Low End Theory in Los Angeles, or somewhere in Bristol, or Berlin.

The frost increased as the night wound down, and the musical options began to correspondingly dwindle. We stopped in at the Billboard party to see a couple songs from U.K. soulster Estelle, but the outdoor venue proved too brutal in the wind. Popping over to Mohawk to hopefully catch sets from Surfer Blood and Dam-Funk, we were confronted with a huge line and a club filled to capacity. There were what seemed like hundreds waiting in line patiently, however, despite the fact that the street had become a frigid wind tunnel. If anything, the image of so many shivering music fans battling the odds and the elements to see their favorite band demonstrated why the SXSW spirit remains vital: as was made clear throughout the conference, the people here care passionately about their music, and will do almost anything to experience it.