Entertainment

Douglas B. Green still remembers the first western song he ever heard on the radio: “Cool Water.”

Poet Paul Zarzyski can trace his love of America’s wide open spaces to childhood. He and his father would go on fishing trips in the hardwood forests of northern Wisconsin.

When Paul McCartney asked Laurence Juber to join his band Wings in the late 1970s, there was one thing Juber didn’t mention: When he was a teenager, the walls of his bedroom were covered with Rolling Stones posters.

When the musical version of “Young Frankenstein” comes to the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center, audiences will see the show that Broadway audiences saw in 2007 when Mel Brooks translated his hit 1974 film to the stage, adding song and dance.

Last October, Peter Yarrow dropped by New York City’s Zuccotti Park to play one of his favorite tunes: “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

Open the packaging for Jody Mulgrew’s new CD, “Rocket Ship,” and you’ll find an interesting old photo on the inside.

‘Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure” is a solid little action game with a big money-grabbing hook: Each of the game’s characters is represented by a plastic figurine, and you can only control the characters whose figures you have access to.

The imaginary town of “Almost, Maine” comes to life in a series of nine quirky short plays about the residents of the small, cold community on a winter Friday night as they deal with love and all its surprises. They find love, lose it, mourn it and celebrate it.

When Cal Poly student Misty Moyle joined Orchesis Dance Company last year, she initially worried that her studies might suffer.

In Cambodia, a wave of musical history was wiped out during a period of political turmoil. But an American band with a Cambodian singer has helped bring attention back to that forgotten era — a time when Cambodians played psychedelic surf rock.

‘Avenue Q” is much more fun than it’s going to sound on paper. The offbeat musical by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty won three Tony awards, including Best Musical, somewhat surprising because the main characters are puppets.

Just like Roseanne Barr, San Diego comedian Vicki Barbolak believes in being herself.

Talking to groundbreaking comedian Joan Rivers, you learn to avoid words like “icon,” “legend” and “legacy.”

When the dancers at Santa Barbara’s State Street Ballet learned they were going to perform “The Jungle Book,” they visited a wild group of mentors — the animals at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

'Forbidden Broadway' has been spoofing musical theater greats — shows, songs and stars — for three decades, changing with the times and the shows on Broadway stages.

If there’s an online role-playing game that can challenge “World of Warcraft” at this point, it’s probably “Star Wars: The Old Republic.”

Put simply, “Avenue Q” is “ ‘Sesame Street’ for adults.”

A year after its first successful Bach in the Mission concert, the Cal Poly Early Music Ensemble is back for more Bach.

The “Need for Speed” games are all about flashy cars, police pursuit and, of course, driving as fast as possible.

‘Mamma Mia,” the musical written around the music of ABBA, was a huge hit with critics and fans when it opened to sold-out crowds in London and Broadway.