Cowboy culture is back in the saddle again. Line dancing is back in vogue, the famed Saddle Rack appears to be on the verge of a comeback, and everybody’s watching “Yellowstone.” The trend hit home for us this summer when our teenage daughter came home from a trip to New Mexico with a prized cowboy hat.
So it makes a lot of sense that the Stanford Theatre would get in on the trend. Starting Oct. 3, the Palo Alto movie palace will showcase nearly four dozen classic Westerns — including six silent films accompanied by the incomparable Dennis James at the Mighty Wurlitzer — over the last 12 weeks of the year.
For several decades — peaking in the mid-1940s to early-’60s — Westerns were the superhero movies of their day. Everybody went to see them, so studios churned more and more out every year until the market was saturated. As with any high-volume enterprise, there was lots of forgettable dreck, but the Stanford’s series is the cream of the crop — curated by British film critic and writer David Thomson, who now lives in the Bay Area. Thomson has written a companion booklet to go with the series that will be available at the Stanford.
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The series includes must-see classics like “Stagecoach,” “The Searchers,” “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “Johnny Guitar,” “Shane” and “High Noon,” movies that influenced American and international filmmakers for decades afterward, but nothing on the list should be dismissed as filler. And it’s a great chance to see some silent masterpieces, including “The Wind,” “Greed,” and “The Winning of Barbara Worth,” which was Gary Cooper’s big breakout role.
If I had a quibble, it’s that the series sticks to its guns in celebrating the genre and doesn’t really stray into the post-peak era represented by “The Magnificent Seven,” “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Maybe we’ll get those another time. Until then, check out the full schedule at www.stanfordtheatre.org, and remember to leave your cowboy hat at home.
POETIC PLEASURES: The 11th annual San Jose Poetry Festival should have an electrifying opening night on Thursday at the SJZ Break Room in downtown San Jose, with a program featuring Cupertino Poet Laureate Keiko O’Leary, spoken word artist José Jiménez and Jan McEwan, a Los Gatos poet who published the feminist magazine “Writing for Our Lives” in the 1990s.
The festival continues through Sunday, with online and in-person events and writing workshops, including a performance by Kim Addonizio on Friday night and the Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate commencement ceremony Saturday night, hosted by Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Yosimar Reyes.
Festival passes, which do not include workshops, are $60 ($50 for members of Poetry Center San Jose), and all performances are free for anyone 19 and under. A ticket is still required, though, to ensure available seating. More details are available at www.pcsj.org/festival-2025.
STILL PLAYING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: The RPM Band is on the verge of celebrating its 45th anniversary next year, and it doesn’t seem like they’re slowing down a bit as the band will have its 10th annual “End of Summer” dance party at Santana Row on Friday night starting at 5:30 p.m. Band member Steve Block tells me that in celebration of the show, the band plans to play some of its deep cuts and expects the night to be an unofficial 45th reunion for the Willow Glen High class of 1980 (where the band got its start).
Artist Shane Tarkington wears a hat he designed for the RPM Band’s 10th annual “End of Summer” party at Santana Row on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (Courtesy RPM Band)
They’ve also commissioned artist Shane Tarkington to design a commemorative hat that will be sold at the show. Tarkington is an autistic artist who overcame significant challenges to graduate from Leigh High School in 2019. Proceeds from the hat sales will support both him and the College of Adaptive Arts.
PAYING RESPECTS: If you care about parks in San Jose, you should take a moment to thank Marshal Rosenthal, a lifelong San Josean who died Sept. 1 at age 99. Rosenthal worked for the city taking care of its parks for 40 years, mostly at St. James Park where he became well known among the judges, attorneys and politicians who frequented the courthouses — and probably the people who just frequented the park day in and day out.
Gary Shara, a longtime friend of Rosenthal’s, told me he was on the original groundskeeping crew at Municipal Stadium in 1947 and had been the last surviving member. Rosenthal will have visitation at 1 p.m. Thursday, followed by a funeral Mass at 2 p.m. at Oak Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park.