We’re Not Finished!

An unidentified 21-year-old man died Thursday night after police said he jumped from the top of the 90.5-foot Key West Lighthouse. Key West police would only say it’s a death investigation and that “initial indications” show it’s likely a suicide. The death was a shocker in small-town Key West, which even in 2026 maintains a these-things-doesn’t-happen feel. My Substack is reader supported. To rec...

Apple TV's 'Bad Monkey' Wraps in Key West. I spoke with Chad Newman, the Florida Keys Film Commissioner about Hollywood, and an indie horror movie crew, visiting Key West this year. Get full access to Key West Newswire by Gwen Filosa at gwenfilosa.substack.com/subscribe

A Key West man riding his bike to work was stopped by a federal agent who held him on the ground and threatened to break out his stun gun. “Stop, you’re going to get tased,” the unidentified agent repeatedly says. “I go to work,” the man responds to the agent. “I need to work.” Key West Newswire by Gwen Filosa is a reader-supported publication. Become a free or paid subscriber to receive news upda...

Singer-songwriter Rachael Sage ’s music is heartfelt, whimsical and always colorful — just like the artist herself. A folk-rock sensation, Sage built her career DIY-style. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the label she founded, MPress Records. Her latest album is Canopy . “I’ve always been kind of a DIY-er,” Sage told me on the podcast. “My first business that I ever ran was the barrette bu...

Macy Gray will play the Key West Theater on Friday, Oct. 24. The Key West show is part of her 25th anniversary tour celebrating the release of her debut album, On How Life Is which went triple-platinum after its 1999 release. Gray gave the world "I Try," an unlikely perfect love anthem. Like her voice, the song remains an ethereal gift like none other we could have imagined. From Pitchfork's revie...

A federal agent arrested a Key West man who was filming him. Here's the full video Listen now | A Key West resident was held by federal agents for 9 hours on July 21, 2025 after filming a US Customs and Border Protection agent. Get full access to Key West Newswire by Gwen Filosa at gwenfilosa.substack.com/subscribe

Mini KISS , a famous KISS tribute band, have been all over TV, movies and tours as the "hottest littlest band in the world." In full makeup and arena rock glamour, the group of little people is known for unleashing electrifying KISS-inspired shows and appearances. Mini KISS has played and appeared with the legendary KISS band members - including a spot in the 2010 Super Bowl commercial for Dr. Pep...

I chat with singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston, a master storyteller and celebrated artist, about my favorite songs of his - "Bad Reputation" and "The Mortician's Daughter," finding much more happiness as we grow older, and his plans to make his first ever trip to Key West, Florida for a special concert at the Tropic Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.    Get full access to Key West Newswire by Gwen...

Gwen chats with singer-songwriter Debbie Gibson, who made music history in the 1980s as a 16-year-old pop superstar and went on to keep making music, star on Broadway and now produces films. For more than 35 years, Debbie Gibson has been a force: a singer, songwriter, producer, musician, actor, and entrepreneur. She's been famous since she was a kid. Gibson took the music business by storm when sh...

We close out this season with Sarah Koenig , the host and co-creator of the heaviest hitter of podcasts, Serial. Sure, her reporting helped overturn a murder conviction by revealing how it was based on questionable evidence, she won a Peabody and reinvented the podcast with Serial.   But did you know we also palled around while working as rookie reporters in snowy New Hampshire back in the late 19...

Artist, muralist and educator Ernest Shaw Jr. talks about being inspired by his hometown of Baltimore, documenting the Black/Africanist experience, spending time in Key West as an artist in residence at The Studios of Key West , and works that left me speechless, like Crossing Gods .    Comedian Charly Esturilho and I talk shop, South Florida life and why his gigs include going into drug rehabs to...

This episode features two Key West artists who recently made big art news and who know the daily grind needed to succeed on this expensive island.  Tory Mata recently won a prestigious 2022 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists grant that includes $15,000 and an exhibition at a Miami museum. We talk about how she finds inspiration on the roadside - there was a rusted fender in...

Christa Hunt created Key West Burlesque 17 years ago. She shares about the new season, how to burlesque the Harry Potter franchise and the Gurly Burly Burlesque Show on Sept. 8, which I'm co-hosting btw. Key West is a really small town. Cori Convertito is the curator and historian for the Key West Art and Historical Society. We talk about the Writers in Paradise lecture coming up at Comedy Key Wes...

This episode is all about Jordan Peele's latest film Nope . I was knocked out by this spectacle and pronounced it Peele's best work yet. But I have lots of questions about what exactly is going on in Nope.  So I invited two guests.  Rene Rodriguez, an award-winning writer  teaches at the University of Miami and runs the Bill Cosford Cinema for the UM School of Communication. We chatted about the s...

Steve Turtell , a poet in New York whose work includes the collection Heroes and Householders, shares about having more than 50 jobs in 50 years, his career as a baker, LGBTQ+ rights and the time he spent in Key West.  Susannah Wells talks about theater work in Key West, the virtues of the board game Clue and we bond about making crafts when we were vacation Bible school kids. This podcast is pres...

Emma Berquist, author of Devils Unto Dust and Missing, Presumed Dead, shares about why people like true crime, writing dark novels and dealing with Twitter.   Erin McKenna, an actor, dancer and founder of Love Cheeky apothecary , talks about her success on Key West theater stages, how she got her start performing and parking legally at the jumping bridge on Sugarloaf Key.     This podcast is prese...

Katherine Blanford and I talk about her debut comedy album, "Salt Daddy," the perils of bachelorette trips and why Fort Lauderdale is "Miami with love handles." David Sieminski shares about leather, sex stuff, running Leather Master Key West, and why some Key West leaders can calm down about Fantasy Fest nudity.  This podcast is presented in partnership by The Studios of Key West and produced by K...

Key West-based musician Jerome Miller shares about his duo, Dogwater, his Billy the Squid days, working as a stuntman and the difference between South and North Dakota. He also agrees to let me shove him off something someday.   Sam Jindra is an actor, photographer, promoter, model and musician living in Key West. We talk about Vince Vaughn filming Bad Monkey in Key West, working behind the camera...

Writer Grady Hendirx, a horror and slasher film scholar, joined me to talk about the "final girl" trope, my allegiance to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the relevance of vampires. His latest novel is Final Girl Support Group, and others include Horrorstör , which is about a haunted furniture store, We Sold Our Souls, and Satan Loves You.   Key West actor Su Nubia shared about working wi...

R. Eric Thomas, an award-winning author, journalist and playwright, shared about growing up in Baltimore, writing for young adults and his latest book, "The Kings of B'More."   Margaret Killjoy and I talked anarchy, dealing with haters, great titles - A Country of Ghosts and The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion -  and she endures my inability to pronounce Appalachia, which she calls home.    This podc...

New York City-based comedian Kristina Kelley and I talked standup shop, her days as a public school teacher in the South Bronx and her recent visit to Key West. Key West-based artist Kristyn LaMoia shared about how the island inspires her work and the challenges of preparing costumes for Fantasy Fest.    This podcast is presented by The Studios of Key West.   Get full access to Key West Newswire b...

Mark Kurlansky shared about this latest book, The Importance of Not Being Ernest: My Life With the Uninvited Hemingway. He also talked about being told he resembles the celebrated author, who left his mark on Key West, where he lived in the 1930s. Hemingway's former mansion is one of the island's most popular tourist attraction. Los Angeles-based comedian Jackie Monahan joined me to talk shop abou...

Theresa Chiechi , an illustrator and cartoonist whose "Drawn to Key West" book documents the lives of the street performers at Key West's famous Mallory Square, joined me. We talked about making art while paying the bills, why sticker art is awesome, the courage to ask strangers for interviews and a dog named Cooper.   Belle Jampol , is a singer born and raised in Key West. We talked about why the...

Chloe Gray, a therapist turned dating consultant who created  Advice By Chloe , shared an inspiring story about getting her start polishing up dating profiles. She gently suggested I not post gym photos on a profile. People might think I want to talk about arm day for an hour. "I probably would," I said. (Taking the advice.)   Mant Bares, a poet and writer of fiction and non-fiction, talked about...

Author and screenwriter Hillary Jordan and I talked about her two novels, When She Woke and Mudbound, and Anonymous Sex, the new anthology of erotica stories she co-edited with Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan. Playwright Catherine Weingarten and I talked about her residency at The Studios of Key West and using humor to comment "upon societal pressures young women face to be impossibly good-looking as well as r...