Good news:  our beaches have finally been declared oil-free and safe once again.  Bad news:  Summer's over.  Children are back in school, parents are back at work, and football season has kicked off.  Time to hang up the white shorts and tees, pull on a sweater, pop open a brew, turn on ESPN, and catch up on the latest Panhandle entertainment news while waiting for the big game to start.

First in music news, teen rap artist Blake S. Campbell has become the latest Pensacola face to go viral on YouTube.  Since his first post on the global fan streaming video host site last summer, the 18-year-old West Florida High School grad and East Hill resident has gotten views from more than 407,000 fans worldwide---from Canada, to England, to Australia.  His forte'?  While most rappers bust rhymes about riches, sports, cars, fashions, the opposite sex, war, politics, or street violence, Blake raps about... comedy.  And where does he find the humor?  In the strangest places.  "Anything can be funny if done right," said Blake in a recent News Journal interview.  "but to find success on YouTube, you have to be unique.  Rap about stuff no one else would think of rapping about."  And so with friend Max Castillo on camera, Blake set to work.  His "Midnight Snack Rap" got 112,000 hits since its debut last July 21st.  Other topics include an addiction to Auto Tunes, basketball, naming his favorite Disney Channel shows, and a tribute to Disney teen idol Miley Cyrus.  Among his fans are college hoop star Nolan Smith, and fitness maven John Basedow.  This fall Blake is attending Furman University, not far from his friend Max at Georgia Tech.  Looks like we've got the next Weird Al Yankovic in our midst.  To visit or subscribe to Blake's YouTube channel, see: www.youtube.com/user/blakescampbell.

In other music news, as legend Neil Young gets set to rock the Saenger Theatre stage on Sept. 28th (see: http://www.pensacolasaenger.com/) Pensacola Beach is gearing up for its first annual De Luna Fest, set to rock the Gulfside on October 15th, in the Casino Beach area beneath our famous Beachball Water Tower.  Ads and promos have been circulating since last July, with a lineup of headliner acts including Cowboy Mouth, Stone Temple Pilots, Bush, Daughtry, Dierks Bentley, and Better Than Ezra to name a few.  Promoters are watching their backs, however, as those of the Orange Beach Wharf in Gulf Shores, Alabama, may be lining up October concert events of their own, which might threaten to steal De Luna's thunder.  For full concert details and tickets, visit: http://www.delunafest.com/.

Turning the page to book news, if you happen to visit our uptown location of Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Airport Boulevard, check the mystery/thriller section for the latest release from New York Times' bestselling author Alex Kava.  "Damaged," the 8th in her Maggie O'Dell mystery novel series, tells the fictional tale of FBI Agent O'Dell sent to investigate the sudden appearance of a dismembered corpse, found by the Coast Guard in a plastic cooler, floating in the Gulf near Pensacola Beach.  But time is running out for Maggie, as a Category 5 hurricane is fast approaching!  Kava appeared in person for a booksigning on July 27th, and said the book was inspired by her own harrowing experiences with Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis in 2005.  This is Kava's second book set in Florida.  Her 2007 novel "Whitewash" tells of an environmental scientist who uncovers a toxic chemical spill in the wetlands near Tallahassee, and the corporate conspiracy by her own employers to cover it up.  Although she lives in Omaha, Nebraska, Kava also has a second home outside Pensacola, overlooking the bay.  For further details, call 1-850-989-9554, or visit: http://www.alexkava.com/.

Speaking of hurricanes, another Pensacola connection to film & TV history has recently been uncovered. Hurricane, the first in ABC's Movie-of-the-Week series for Sept. 4th, 1974, features period TV stars Martin Milner (Adam-12) Frank Sutton (Gomer Pyle USMC) Will Geer (The Waltons) Jack Colvin (Incredible Hulk) and Larry Hagman & Patrick Duffy (Dallas).  Inspired by and featuring stock footage of Hurricane Camille as it struck Southern Mississippi in 1969, this classic disaster flick about Air Force hurricane hunters tracking another Category 5 storm theatening the Gulf Coast, is set in Cassler, Mississippi.  Yet the film contains one on-screen mention of Pensacola, when Miami Hurricane Center director Mack McCutcheon (Geer) says: "...let's send out a warning bulletin to cover Pensacola westward to Grand Isle..."  That same year, Milner (best known as Adam-12's police officer Malloy) also reported for duty as guest celebrity in Pensacola's 11th annual St. Anne's Western Round-Up.  Bargain copies of this rare old TV gem may be found in VHS or DVD form on eBay or Amazon, or at your local closeout store.  Just goes to show, you never know what the tide's going to wash up next, at the pique of storm season.

Finally, as long as we're on film news, it seems we've also got the next Golden Girls.  Edith Golden, Ethel Dixon, Nora Cook and Mabel Holland are the humble stars of the new local indy documentary The Life & Times of the Peppers Sisters.  The film, made by 19-year-old FSU film student Wade Hahn (Mabel's great-grandson) spotlights the matronly quartet in a 3-hour feature where they recount their struggles, successes, failures, regrets, marriages, and fondest memories---the stuff movies are made of.  From their early Great Depression farm years in Tennessee, to the World War II years, to their Gulf Coast years as local schoolteachers, the sisters recount it all as Hahn captures the moments on camera for posterity.  The film also features photos and a backstory of the late Gladys Hawthorne, the fifth Peppers sister who died of a brain tumor in 1991.  The final cut was viewed by the sisters on Saturday, Aug. 7th at private screening.  Too soon to tell yet if this "living history book" will or won't be featured in the coming Gulf Breeze Cinema 4 Fall Film Fest series in November, or released on DVD.  Either way, sisters, thank you for being a friend.

That's all for now.  I'm off to look into a rumored film shoot in Fort Walton Beach.  More about that at a later date.  'Til next time, please save me a bleacher seat near the snack bar. 

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Ken Manning can be reached at : Manningmilt1@aol.com