Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
The Pensacola Connection: October 2026
This month: an update on PensaCon 2027, a Sunshine State comic gets laughs in the Lone Star State, a local musician dies, and some ‘lost media’ ghosts find a new haunt up north…
FIRST: The lineup for PensaCon 2027 now includes Jaime Pressly (My Name is Earl, Finders Keepers) Doug Jones (Star Trek: Discovery) Anson Mount (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) Paul McGann (Doctor Who) Michael Horse (Legend of the Lone Ranger) John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Toy Story films) Edward James Almos (Miami Vice, New Battlestar Galactica) returning star Lou Ferrigno (Incredible Hulk) Joey Lawrence (Blossom) Sam Vincent & Tony Sampson (Ed, Edd & Eddy) Adrian Paul (Highlander: the Series) and several more. The 14th annual 3-day pop culture & cosplay convention is set for February 19th, 20th & 21st at the Bay Civic Center Arena on South Alcaniz & East Gregory Streets, in downtown Pensacola. For more information updated daily, visit: www.pensacon.com.
NEXT: Get your Jack O’Lanterns laughing all in a row, over in Austin, Texas, for Pensacola comedian Shane Camp. As recently as late last summer, Shane won a Golden Ticket (no, NOT the Wonka candy bar kind, I think) to perform on the podcast “Kill Tony,” a popular comedy show which showcases upcoming standup comedians, for future gig bookings. Shane first did comedy for Pine Meadow Elementary School, plus various other small Pensacola venues, including the Odd Colony Brewing beer house. Shane spent his last $100 to get on the “Kill Tony” show, a kingmaker in the standup comic ‘biz. Shane said: “I started in Pensacola at age 18, for the last 4 years, then moved to New York City to be in TV and movies. I’m not in a single one. But every time I go broke, I go home. I’m trying to quit smoking, so I took up a new hobby as a searcher for missing persons. Is there a Glenn here? 5 foot 8 inches, brown hair, 180 pounds? No? Here’s his picture on my T-shirt. Last seen in 2009. If I’m not out there looking for him, who is? I’ll be selling Glenn T-shirts after the show…” You get the idea. He’s got come crazy New York yellow cab stories to tell, too. Watch for Shane Camp, from Austin, Texas to Pensacola, Florida and beyond. (YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pfMc9OvKZI )
UP NEXT: Time to hang another wreath on a palm tree, folks. Not for Christmas, but to mark the passing of another local music legend. Sadly, beach bar musician Bill Dossey died just last month, seemingly of natural causes at approximately age 86, surrounded by friends & family at his home on Pensacola Beach. Best known for recording “Hard to Get Home” and “Pensacola Bay” on his CD album ‘Sunset Island,’ plus the follow-up 2006 album ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’ Dossey was a regular on the bar scene with his band Lektric Mullet, from O’Leary’s Irish Pub to the Sandshaker Lounge and beyond. A life celebration ceremony in his honor will be held at O’Leary’s, on Sunday, October 11th at 11am Central. Bushwackers raised in a toast. RIP, Bill. (Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/963302609405847/)
AND FINALLY: Just in time for the Halloween season, it seems, an old ‘ghost story’ Pensacola-made horror film is ‘materializing’ up north. On Thursday evening, October 1st, 2026, the Block Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois will be screening “Cold Hands” and “The Dust,” 2 long lost Florida Gulf Coast area horror romance story by the late Pensacola filmmaker Kevin “Kip” Hanks. With “The Dust” shot in 1986 in Pensacola, Florida on a grant for $11,000, and “Cold Hands” shot in both Pensacola and Milton, on a home DIY budget of $4,000, both starred local cast & crew who were members of the once active Florida Motion Picture & Television Association (FMPTA) Northwest Chapter. Since Kip’s death in 2008 in Smyrna, Georgia, both films had disappeared and been deemed ‘lost media’ for over 3 ½ decades. “The Dust” first screened at St. Anne Catholic Church’s Wild West Round-Up in Pensacola, around October 5th, 1986, while “Cold Hands” aired only once on November 7th, 1991 on Pensacola’s BLAB-TV public access network. This new screening will be introduced by Block Cinema curator Michael Metzger, with a post-film Q&A panel discussion with Northwestern University & indy filmmaker Spencer Parsons. Meanwhile, samples of both films have been posted online and can be found on YouTube. So… Here’s to you, Kip. Happy Haunting again, this Halloween!
(BMA Newslink: https://planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/646252)
( “The Dust” YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmpWcNZn--w)
(“Cold Hands” YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTmp2LxanbA)
Okay, that’s all the tricks & treats for October.
Until turkey time in November… Later, Gators!
Sincerely yours, KENNETH L. MANNING
Your Pensacola Connection
49 Murphy Lane, Pensacola, FL 32505
Phone: 1-850-287-2581
Email: [email protected]
