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Remember the brouhaha that erupted when James Franco engaged in online flirting with a 17-year-old girl?

Franco blamed his own carelessness, saying he didn’t know she was underage, and I’d like to believe him. I certainly don’t want to believe, as has been suggested, that he cooked up the whole incident as a way to publicize his turn as a student-chasing high school teacher in Palo Alto.

If he did, he would be exhibiting the kind of faulty decision-making that marks just about everyone in the flick, which is based on Franco’s 2010 collection of stories about his California hometown.

Co-written and directed by Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford and niece of Sofia), Palo Alto shows teens smoking, drinking, taking drugs and engaging in meaningless sex. And that’s on their good days. On their bad days, they destroy property, drive recklessly and generally endanger themselves and those around them.

Get Right is celebrating it’s 7th Year Anniversary Saturday with another Gallery Hop party at Skully’s. Initially, Get Right was a dance party that took great shape on First Fridays with the combined forces of promoter/social engineer/entrepreneur on the rise Kareem Jackson and two of Columbus’ best deejay’s Detox and Johnny Cashola.

Get Right built a nomadic synergy of the burgeoning fashion, BMX, Hip Hop and skate cultures mixed with the existing Hip Hop cultures: Trap or Die club community, and the Campus/Short North Daymon Dodson/DJ Przm bred Hip Hop kids.

The progressive return was that it had a large cross-section of people frequenting the usually black clubs like Icon, the Red Zone and what was Club Ice.

Eventually Get Right took an on and off home at Skully’s where it will be this Saturday.

Amazing. Seven hundred thousand dollars raised from corporate supporters. Heartfelt appeals by famous people and politicians. Adorable animals. Arguably the best zoo in America. All the necessary elements for a solid campaign. Supremely confidence of a win…

But the vast majority of voters just said no, a loser by 70 percent.

Mayor Michael Coleman and Columbus’ power brokers suffered their second major defeat at the polls May 6 when central Ohio voters rejected the zoo levy – echoing the 69 percent drubbing delivered last November by the voters on the Columbus City Schools levy.

What’s wrong with this picture?

The zoo levy’s PR folks trotted out legendary Director Emeritus Jack Hanna and held charming family-friendly events with cuddly zoo animals. Commercials beseeched voters with the needs of the zoo animals – a new hospital and improved habitat. Not to mention another zoo conveniently located downtown.

On May 17, with the intention of producing a live album, Tim Easton recorded his concert at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza

JP: How'd you come to pick Natalie's to record a live album?

TE: I am recording most of my shows these days but I figured I would lean into that venue a little more and put up a few extra mics. Basically, I've published 100 songs out there in the world and I think it's time for me to make a double-live, solo acoustic album. Inspired by the Townes Van Zandt one and Doc Watson, who has a live double LP from Cornell University that really taught me a lot. I know it's ridiculous to think anybody would want that much Tim Easton solo acoustic on vinyl but I'm not really concerned about that.

JP: Are you happy with the results?

TE: I haven't heard a note yet, but I had a good time playing the shows so hopefully that translates.

JP: Still plan on releasing it?

TE: I'm going to release a double- live LP somehow someway. Whether it's all Natalie's recordings or not. I'm also recording a lot at a venue called Satori in Mobile, Alabama.

JP: Do you have a title yet?

Los Potosinos is a food truck located on Long Street just East of the Lincoln Theater that I was lured to by a colleague with the guarantee of being “the real authentic Mexican food deal”- the street cred being the owner is from Texas near the Mexican border. Since I’m a California stray who landed in the Midwest (as if being vegan wasn’t enough) I’m pretty discerning on what really qualifies as authentic Mexican food and one of the ways I rate this particular genre of cuisine is on their beans and rice.

Those two ingredients are staples of the health conscious vegan demographic, and quite interestingly, are also largely staples for the rest of the “poorest” peoples of the world (smashing the myth that vegan food is expensive- organic non-GMO beans and rice are still considerably cheaper than comparable animal products, pound for pound). The good news is; they passed on my opinion of authentic flavor.

Jahman Brahman is one of those musical groups that is difficult to categorize.

While they do fall within the realm of Jam Band, their lyrics and arrangements set them apart. Their shows are high energy and they attract a loyal following everywhere they play. After graduating from Ohio State they moved to Asheville, North Carolina to set up their home base and have been touring the country continuously ever since. I recently had the opportunity to ask Rowdy Keelor, drummer and vocalist, a few questions.

PP: You all went to Ohio State and got your start in Columbus. How does it feel when you come back to play?

RK: It's always mixed emotions coming back to CBUS...on one hand it's a glorious homecoming filled with family and friends. On the other, we self impose a little more pressure on ourselves to put on a unique, fresh show.

PP: How many ComFests have you played?

RK: This will be our third ComFest performance. Each one has been amazing and holds a special place in our memory.

PP: Tell us about your Live CD scheduled to be released on this year’s first day of ComFest, Friday, July 27, 2014.

Let me share something that ought to be obvious after 30 years of inflicting my musical opinions on the local long-suffering populace: music gives me a boner. Still. After all these years.

And I mean a big boner. A huge boner. A boner bigger than Boehner. A death-defying, trapeze swinging, no-safety-net-allowed, take-no-prisoners, gotta-have-my-musical-fix of a boner bigger than the Empire State Building with King Kong dancing the watusi on top!

It's really the only thing that soothes the beast inside. However, much as I try Buddhism and/or booze, it's music that...changes me.

OK, so what I'm saying, crudely, is that music supplies the transcendence I need in life.

And when the music is bad or just mediocre? No matter--boner! Sorta. Let's say a disinterested boner. But a boner nevertheless. Maybe bad music is its own special reward in my case because I get to write about how bad it was. And that's always fun because people love blood in their ink. I mean, I am karmic revenge. And I am a passionate bitcher. Thus, I often sport a transcendent, vengeful musical boner.