Sometimes a cookbook is just a collection of recipes. When Sonya Coté is at the helm, it can be a lot of other things too – an art project, a history, a community testament, and a love letter to Austin.

10am today marks the official start of Austin’s first queer hip-hop festival. Aiming to be the largest festival of its kind, Pink Elephant will feature more than two dozen artists, DJs, and producers of the LGBTQIA persuasion.

The year is 1975 and Clifton Chenier and His Red Hot Louisiana Band have just taken the stage at the grand opening of Antone's. Over the next 40 years, the blues club would become the stomping grounds of legends like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and cement itself in Austin music history.

Amplify amps up, Stiles Switch gets musical, and other morning bites.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to note a Tuesday, March 8, resolution passed by the Travis County Republican Party Executive Committee.

We winced through the Grammys and slept through the Oscars, but Monday’s second annual Austin Music Industry Awards ran neither self-congratulatory nor constituted self-important ego worship. Popular vote determines winners on the business end of the Austin Music Poll, so the write-in ballot means any trophy reflects true blue community consensus.

First thing you’ll note about Austin troubadour PT Banks is his voice – a piercing arrow of warmth and melancholy. Takes more than pretty pipes to sing a love song, however.

In this week's news roundup: The Police Monitor's office is taking a long time to release its annual report, which many expect to shed light on racial profiling; Council Member Ann Kitchen prevails against dark astroturf forces with the power of clerical oversight; and police and firefighters duke it out in the second annual Battle of the Badges.

Knowledge is power, and the only way to survive the circus of SXSW is with some serious know-how. We’ve got the Austin insider’s guide to film venues, the queue system, and tips to get you from here to there to your best fest ever.