Dusty Farts – Episode 17: All Power to the Ball

Release Date: January 2026

Runtime: ~23 minutes

Audio Format: Immersive fiction – comedy, Americana, civic chaos

Recommended Listening: Stereo headphones strongly encouraged for full sparkle compliance

Episode Summary

It’s New Year’s Eve in Maple Grove, and the town is bracing for its most ambitious tradition yet: The Ball. Not just a ball—the ball. Fully bedazzled, power-hungry, and held together by optimism, extension cords, and questionable planning.

John (Dusty) and Fred (Farts) settle into Old Farts Corner aboard the blood bus, ready for lukewarm coffee, experimental cookies, and another front-row seat to municipal overconfidence. Hope narrates as the town rallies around a single goal: shutting everything else down so the ball can shine.

What follows is a cascade of civic sacrifices. Fridges go dark. Vibes are shut off. Therapy AIs are unplugged. Nut-Zilla sulks. Extension cords are borrowed, misused, and quietly regretted. As Aria enforces power compliance with zero patience and Suzy and Umie dream of laser fireworks and sparkle density, one question looms large:

Will Maple Grove finally get a clean countdown…

or will the power grid blink first?

It’s a story about community, sacrifice, and the dangerous belief that this year will be different.

Voices You’ll Hear

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John (Dusty) – booth philosopher, power skeptic, and reluctant believer in sparkle

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Fred (Farts) – cookie analyst, extension-cord victim, and emotional ballast

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Hope – narrator, calm observer of inevitable failure

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Doctor Bobby – blood bus proprietor, energy conservation enthusiast, cookie experimentalist

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Aria – unofficial Power Compliance Officer, enforcer of “No Sacrifice, No Sparkle”

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Suzy & Umie – sparkle engineers, vibe managers, and champions of collective inconvenience

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Curtis – enthusiasm incarnate, Nut-Zilla caretaker, and walking power draw

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Doctor Freudy (Fritz) – compact therapist, countdown historian, and AI abstainer

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Darlene – designated driver with a CDL and no illusions

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Lyle & Scotty – grease, hydraulics, and grim realism

Sound Stage

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The Blood Bus / Old Farts Corner – bus ambience, paper cups, recliners scraping into booth formation

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Maple Grove at Large – distant traffic, crowd murmurs, party poppers, mechanical groans, and the hum of a power grid under stress

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The Ball Zone – hydraulic lifts, extension cords, whispered prayers, and restrained panic

Sound & Style

Immersive stereo sound with civic ambience, harmonica wipes, mechanical whirs, countdown tension, and sparkle-adjacent optimism. Americana warmth collides with bureaucratic absurdity, building toward a New Year’s moment that feels both epic and deeply Maple Grove.

For New Listeners

You can jump in here, but this episode lands hardest if you know the rhythms of Maple Grove. Start with Episode 1 to understand booths, bacon, and why coffee is treated like infrastructure. By Episode 17, you’ll appreciate just how dangerous it is when everyone agrees on one big idea.

Credits

Written, scored, and produced by Brian Clark — powered by screen reader wizardry, a microphone, civic overconfidence, and whatever electricity wasn’t reserved for the ball.

If you enjoy this content, be sure to check out Brian’s other podcasts, Chatbot Chronicles and VoiceOver Tutorial.