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A Musician’s Long Way Back to His Voice—And the Rest of This Week’s Inweekly

A singer who nearly lost the ability to sing, license plate cameras going dark across the county, a Commerce Secretary in line to run Pensacola State, and the festivals that kick off fall—all in the Sept. 10 issue.

For more than a decade, Greg Bond has been one of the steadier voices on Pensacola’s music scene—a classically trained singer turned solo-acoustic songwriter who blends alt-country, folk-rock and soul into songs that live somewhere between heartbreak and hope. This week, writer Dakota Parks catches up with Bond as he finishes “Bold,” an album nine tracks and two years in the making.

But the story behind the record is bigger than the music. In June 2025, Bond suffered an epidural abscess on his spinal cord that ate away at a vertebra, landing him in emergency surgery and weeks in the hospital relearning how to walk. For a while, he didn’t know if he’d sing again.

“There was a while there that I didn’t think I could sing again,” Bond says. “It took a long time to process what happened, but that delusional optimism kept me going.”

He rebuilt his lung capacity through breathing exercises, worked his way back to vocal training, and kept writing. The result is a record he calls autobiographical to its core—including “Desert Rose,” a song that took on new meaning after the injury: a flower that blooms where it shouldn’t, because it has to. Read the full profile in this week’s issue.

What Else Is Inside

• Fall Guide Part 2: Festivals. Jennifer Leigh previews the season ahead, from the 49th Annual Pensacola Seafood Festival to the 42nd Annual Frank Brown Songwriters Festival and the 18th Annual Taste of the Beach—plus why locals say fall is the real best time to hit Pensacola Beach.
• To Flock or Not To Flock: License plate cameras go dark. After an Aug. 31 FDOT memo ordered law enforcement off state highway rights-of-way, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons and Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom suspended their ALPR camera networks entirely rather than run a gutted version while they wait on statewide rules. Gov. DeSantis backed the move, warning of a “surveillance state.” We trace the nearly year-long fight over Flock Safety’s cameras from a quiet 2025 town hall announcement to last week’s shutdown.
• Outtakes: Waiting for 9/11 Justice. As the country marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks, I revisit a 2021 interview with ABC News’ Aaron Katersky about the endless Guantanamo tribunal—now pushed to June 2028 after a judge tossed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s FBI confession as tainted by torture. The families are the ones still paying for the delay.
• The Buzz. The city launches Civic Dialogues, a new change.org partnership letting residents rank the ideas they most want City Hall to act on. Pensacola International Airport’s $165 million terminal overhaul hits 100% design completion, with a guaranteed maximum price due around Sept. 11. And Commissioner Mike Kohler previews the county’s budget hearing, including what’s at stake for the millage rate if November’s Amendment 3 passes.
• Winners & Losers. Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Whitney Lucas makes a national Top Women Chiefs of Staff list, UWF’s Trista Bennett lands a Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship, and Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly emerges as the sole finalist to lead Pensacola State College. On the other side: Attorney General James Uthmeier faces impeachment calls over a diverted Medicaid settlement, former contractor Jesse LaCoste is sentenced to 30 years for fraud, and a viral “Cat in the Hat” AI trend triggers school security scares across the region.
• A&E Happenings. Your full week of nonprofit fundraisers, arts events and things to do around town.

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