This episodes features the short story “Memorial On Woodward” by Sean Williamson and “Roughneck” by Harris Lahti. Music and sound design by Ian Sallman. “Wild” also by Ian Sallmann.

Baby Bumper: In 1993, my great Aunt Peg Ransom was a player in a dramatic scene that was reenacted (months later) on the CBS Television show Rescue 911. I began working on this story in 2019 in my apartment in Ridgewood, Queens, and will be sharing it as part of an experimental non-fiction, memoir series on Blight. Final Questions: Written/performed by Rhea Dhanbhoora from her poetry collection Sandalwood-Scented Skeletons (Finishing Line Press, 2022). Introducing! The Blight Record Project #1 The Blight Record Project produces adaptations of contemporary short stories (and other experimental storytelling ventures) printed to vinyl in limited run. The debut full length split features “Angel of Death” by Brian Evenson and “A Skull Dreams It Is A Horse” by Ashley Mayne. Both stories are scored and composed by Nathaniel Heuer and the band Hello Death. All information, release show tickets and album pre-orders available at www.blightstories.com

This episode features “The Other Dan” by Dan Vierck and the song “Rust” by Ian Sallmann

We’re back! New stories. New format. One episode a month with works by Sean Williamson plus one guest artist.

Hello and welcome to Blight: Stories in the Key of Decay and Repair. Stories this episode by Tom McGowan and Justin Spaller. Music by Lonely Games. Show music by Shawn Stephany. Mixed by Shane Olivo.

Sean Williamson talks about the importance and preciousness of independent venues. Jo Hylton on appreciating one film. Parker Winship on the appreciation of many films, "Shimmer" by Cairns Show music by Shawn Stephany. Show mix by Shane Olivo.

In this episode we talk about Milwaukee's Cactus Club and the importance of punk rock. Jessica Heuer tells a story about being isolated with chemotherapy, observing as the world outside moves on in it's own pain and joy, without her. Robert Trettin tells an adventure about hiking to meet a Buddhist nun, in the mountains of Nepal. Music by X Harlow. Show mix by Shane Olivo. Mix on "Springtime in Quarantine" by Nathaniel Heuer

Blight 8 - The End of the Beginning is the final episode of Season Two. Sean talks about togetherness, Nabila Lovelace and the Black is Beautiful bike ride. Dan Vierck on Inheritance and poetry by Ashley Mayne. Show music by Shawn Stephany Mix by Shane Olivo at Bobby Peru Recording

EPISODE 7 : OUT OF TIME : Sean Williamson talks about having a new baby in an uncertain world and reads his story Christ of the Abyss, published in 2018 at Malasana Arts and Letters. Jim Winship joins the show again with a piece about how time is out of place. "Tin House" by Hello Death Mix by Shane Olivo at Bobby Peru Recording.

Welcome to Season 2 of Blight: Stories in the Key of Decay and Repair. A series confronting this big future through essay, interview, storytelling and song. EPISODE 6 : SPLINTER OF HISTORY is further examination of the shadowy history of police in America and what we can do to change things going forward. Sean Williamson talks about shifting the budget, Adam Krause turns back the clock and Marielle Allschwang leads us through the better future of our minds. "One Love," by Dameion Perkins, Nate Hamilton, Emmanuel Blackmon and Steven Fowlkes. Mix by Shane Olivo at Bobby Peru Recording.

In recollection and memorium of a hideous week in American history, Sean Williamson calls for the unconditional abolition of the police, Adam Krause speaks of social responsibility to each other and Tom McGowan tells a story about gained family and loss. "Before the Bardo (Kolo Dance)" by Lomira

Welcome to Season 2 of Blight: Stories in the Key of Decay and Repair. A series confronting this big future through essay, interview, storytelling and song. Episode 4 : BOOK REPORTS features host Sean Williamson on The Ghost Map, Adam Krause on The Plague, and Erin Wolf on walking, birds, and sea change. “no nome” by Jorge Oliveira. Theme music by Shawn Stephany. Mix by Shane Olivo at Bobby Peru Recording.

This week on Blight! Sean Williamson with worry and runways, Adam Krause on the correlation between human stress on nature and pandemic, Jake Newborn from the Wisconsin Bike Fed, and Rhea Dhanbhoora on the life of sand. "Ease Your Soul, Chapman" by LeAnna Eden

On this episode Sean talks about fear and Freud's the Uncanny. Adam Krause with history lessons in how people act in disaster. Jim Winship has some advice about how to keep it together.

Season 2 of Blight will be a series of episodes about how we confront our uncertain future in the time of the COVID19 Virus, in essay, interview, storytelling and song. Episode 1 features host Sean Williamson on the outlook for the next 18 months, Adam Krause on food-sharing and compost, and Jo Hylton on the catalog of human behaviors that make this world worth rising for.

Vehicles are stopped on the Seward Highway for miles in each direction. A young couple and their newly adopted puppy leave their van and walk through the Chugach forest to investigate. A lighthearted journey turns somber when they encounter a fisherman below a bridge, radio clipped to his jacket and ask him why traffic is stopped. “Dog Dreams” is about the passion, anxiety, and paranoia of young travelers, walking below cloud-haloed mountains asphalt still traffic-hot, like kids walking away from the show after the last firework has fizzled out.

I closed the cabinet and looked into the mirror,” goes the typical passage in the 14-minute piece. “I felt like I was looking at my reflection for the first time and I couldn’t recognize it. But it blinked.” The titular flickering street lights act as a sort of omen, setting Williamson down a dark path littered with old apartments, old girlfriends, Milwaukee neighborhoods, Milwaukee tragedies, and half-forgotten nights. It’s also the story of fatherhood, of being alone, of facing your worst fears and wondering if you’ll fuck it all up. - MATT WILD, MILWAUKEE RECORD

You know when people say, “this band changed my life, man! They changed my life!” I know what they are talking about. Because I directed the "Sing (for trouble)" video for the Group of the Altos at the start of 2012, and then soon started dating Heather, the trumpet player, then we moved in together, then we had a kid, then we moved into another place, and another place, Then I directed "Never Named" and "Coplights," then Altos broke up. Heather and I had another kid and moved to New York. So yeah, this band changed my life. This is the story of Group of the Altos last tour to Middle of the Map fest in Kansas City.

You’re Doing What I Should Have Done is an audio short story collection about growing up in Wisconsin. From first apartments to first tragedies, from drug-outs to blackouts to drag-outs, from drunk driving classes to dreamscapes, to growing up and having kids, to watching the fade-out of a Milwaukee legend, You’re Doing What I Should Have Done opens a window to a life in motion.

This episode is a bonus episode. No, let's not call it bonus, let's call it extra. Because this episode is me playing a handful of songs that Shane allowed me to record in his studio, basically at any time. Really, this whole collection was possible because of the kindness of Shane Olivo. Growing up, Shane recorded all the metal, punk and hardcore bands I would go to see. My band never recorded with him. So all these years later, i felt like I cleared some sort of milestone in my head. The piano on "Be Still" was played by Chris DeMay, who I once watched golf with. It was not as boring as I anticipated.