Son asked me to post the following:
97 RS, MT, heard a pop, smelled smoke, instrument lights went out except for high beam indicator. HVAC lights also out along with blower motor. He checked all fuses and replaced one that was blown (I don't know which one). Fuse has not blown again, but the other items are still not working. What could cause this?

After all of that, he tells me that he just put in a new CD/receiver. I'm pretty sure he shorted something in the process. Any ideas where to look first?

remove the new headunit completely and start from there. I bet he hooked up the remote lead into the lighting/dimmer wire.

hopefully it didn't blow out all the bulbs.

Thanks for that. A very good possibility. I'll have him check it out tomorrow.