Drummer for the stars shares his path to success at the Cal Poly Leadership Summit

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  Times Past: Teen got early visit to Castle

  ‘Would you like to accompany me and a load of horse carcasses up to Mr. Hearst’s ranch to feed the lions?”

  Jane Horton Bailey, who in 1934 became Cal Poly’s first Poly Royal Queen, knew that she was off to a land of adventure. After the Wall Street crash of 1929, her family moved from New York to her mother’s parents’ home at 1023 Mill St. in San Luis Obispo.

  Her grandfather had been a purchaser for the Santa Fe since 1910 and retired here.

• Doobie Brothers are still smokin' after all these years

  Doobie Brothers are still smokin' after all these years

  In the liner notes for his new song “Chateau,” Patrick Simmons writes that the Chateau Liberte — the old saloon where the Doobie Brothers got their start — was a “really neat bar” that featured “no trouble” and “no fights.”

  Yet, in a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Simmons said the Chateau was a raucous place, where “it was a general rule that a fight would break out.”

  So was the Santa Cruz bar the happy, mellow hangout Simmons described, or the rowdy former bordello known for public sex and fisticuffs — which Simmons also described?

• Cal Poly forum shows how to pitch a business idea in just a few seconds

  Cal Poly forum shows how to pitch a business idea in just a few seconds

  Imagine sharing an elevator ride with the CEO of a company you’d like to do business with and getting 60 to 90 seconds to pitch your idea.

  That concept was behind a recent event at Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship called the “Ray Scherr Elevator Pitch” competition.

  Students took center stage at a Nov. 16 forum in front of an audience of faculty, fellow students and potential investors to present their business concepts in less than two minutes.

• The hits just keep on coming for Arroyo Grande music producer

  The hits just keep on coming for Arroyo Grande music producer

  Producer Keith Olsen was working on a new Pat Benatar record in the early 1980s when a music manager offered him a deal.

  “He said, ‘If you do two songs with my artist, I’ll build you a room,’ ” Olsen said. “ ‘You’ll have your own studio.’ ”

  It seemed like a big gamble for the manager, Joe Gottfried, because he actually owned a music studio — and relied on Olsen to provide much of his business.

• Learn by inventing: Innovation on display at Cal Poly

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  What do new smart phone applications, strawberry jam and a magnetic cello have in common?

  Each was a product created and designed by Cal Poly students.

  Twenty-four innovations went on display Monday as part of a first-ever, student-run showcase held on campus called “SPECTACLE.”