The tradition that began at Coachella '06 returned for a seventh time at New York City's CMJ Music Marathon this past week. Stationed at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, our photobooth captured everyone from college kids, industry types, and musicians as they visited CMJ's festival headquarters. Meet them and get their take on the massive music and arts extravaganza.

In the middle of Ra Ra Riot's set last night at Club Midway, lead singer Wesley Miles started to look tired. The rock band from Syracuse, NY, which includes electric versions of the cello and violin, had already played five shows at CMJ, including one earlier in the day at Sin-e, and this one, its sixth and final at the festival, could have been the breaking point.

Telepathe took the stage at Tonic last night costumed in puffy jackets straight out of Missy Elliott's video for "The Rain." As the four female vocalists incessantly shouted "Turn it up!" while the guitarist blasted distorted, bass-heavy beats from a laptop, the likeness to the famous MC rang truer.

"Lyric driven hip-hop is back," Pusha-T declared from the Knitting Factory stage as hands and hollers went up into the air. The fervent anticipation surrounding the return of Clipse tops nearly everything else in hip hop's recent years, and this was on display at the duo's wall-to-wall packed show.

On the last night of CMJ, a ragtag team of musicians sang about the beauty of flat-chested girls, bionic hearts, and monks at the disco. Good-natured Bobby Bare Jr. and his band, the Young Criminals Starvation League, exploded on the Mercury Lounge stage with an irreverent set combining country, folk, and rock.

The Decemberists are not designed to play the Hammerstein Ballroom. The Portland-based literary folk rockers play songs that sound like short stories, intimate in detail and grand in metaphor. Frontman Colin Meloy is a storyteller above all else, and the group's narrative-driven lyrics engage with listeners on a personal level that few other songwriters approach.

At the Delancey Friday night, O'Death did the seemingly impossible: They brought a hoedown to the Lower East Side.

If the light show that accompanied Architecture in Helsinki's opening song at the all-ages Irving Plaza was any indication, it was going to be a wildly colorful performance. Using instruments as varied as a steel drum and trombone, to congas and a sampler, the Melbourne, Australia-bred group happily jangled their way through frenzied, danceable numbers.

Fittingly for the CMJ Music Marathon, Portastatic (featuring ex-Superchunk lead singer Mac McCaughan) opened their Knitting Factory set last night with a cover of classic college rock band the Go-Betweens. McCaughan and violinist Margaret White then played an acoustic set of infectious indie pop songs from Portastatic's last two albums.

In white lace gloves, knee-length vintage dresses and matching silver heels, three girls belted out the woes of a failed relationship while waving their glittering pom-poms. This wasn't Grease or Bye Bye Birdie; no, it was a rock opera by Bling Kong, an innovative New York-based collective of cheerleaders, kitschy choreography, and classic videos in every live performance.