Don't Go Feral Baby
- Mickey Fingers
- 5 hours ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Listen to “Don’t Go Feral, Baby,” the origin broadcast from Velvet Umbrella Radio that sparked the After Hours series. Listen From The Archive
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Don't Go Feral, Baby
March 18, 2026
with DJ Tea, Mr. Announcer Man & Mickey Fingers
1–3pm CST on WDRT 91.9FM | Listen Live »
By DJ Tea (DJ Celeste) & Mickey Fingers
Sometimes the world gets strange.
Sometimes the kitchen gets dramatic.
And sometimes - through no fault of your own - an egg pan becomes a philosophical debate about modern life.
This week on Eclectic Wonderland, we explore the delicate balance between chaos and composure with an episode titled “Don’t Go Feral, Baby.”
From dreamy electronics and art-pop to post-punk oddities and surreal musical detours, the night moves through moments of tension, humor, and a gentle reminder that even when the world feels absurd… we still have music.
Along the way, Mickey Fingers delivers a few helpful public service announcements about maintaining your dignity, trusting your instincts, and remembering the one rule that matters most:
Some Back Story & News!
Don't Go Feral, Baby ... The Backstory
Last week on Eclectic Wonderland, Mister Announcer Man publicly roasted my use of Björk as a talk bed. He was not wrong. So naturally, this week’s Eclectic Wonderland is the chaotic consequence: an indie shadow‑twin built from the same fire bones, now with 100% less Frosty and 200% more trouble… or is it? Because of course we ended up closing with Frosty anyway, and I made him report his feelings on the record.
-DJ Tea
Behind The scenes
Behind the scenes: By the time we recorded this one, I’d already done the Spinitron and show notes, had a smoothie, and fielded a phone call from my mom, who was very concerned about Michael’s ‘feelings’ and whether something was secretly going on between me and Mickey Fingers because of the promos. Spoiler: Michael’s main feelings are about Björk talk beds. I started the show with my headphones in slow, dramatic decline and finished basically willing them to survive one more track. The closer landed, we both cracked up at the same time, and then I played ‘Frosty’ anyway.
How could the night end without new headphones? After the show, Mickey Fingers helped me hunt down and order the perfect pair for the board before next Wednesday’s show. I will report back on them. Thank You, Mickey!
-DJ Tea
Mickey’s Corner
The Egg Pan Incident (And the Song That Saved the Day)
Sometimes songs come from heartbreak.
Sometimes they come from inspiration.
And sometimes…
they come from a kitchen incident involving eggs.
During what can only be described as a mildly dramatic culinary moment, Mickey Fingers found himself talking Celeste through a situation that had escalated far beyond what anyone expected from breakfast.
As he listened and tried to calm her down, the advice became rhythm, the rhythm became lyrics, and before long “Don’t Go Feral, Baby” existed.
The song quickly evolved into more than just a track.
It became:
• a calming reminder
• a ringtone
• and eventually an alarm designed to prevent future feral incidents.
Because sometimes the best songs don’t come from the studio.
They come from real life… and a slightly overheated egg pan.
Plus!
More fun on the way.. two more shows!
New show on WDRT !
Velvet Umbrella Radio: After Hours
with Mickey Fingers & Celeste Violet
Friday Nights at 2AM
Velvet Umbrella Radio: After Hours is a late-night extension of Eclectic Wonderland, airing Fridays at 2 AM on WDRT Viroqua. Hosted by Mickey Fingers with DJ Celeste Violet running the board, the show explores a darker, more atmospheric side of the music spectrum.
Each episode is carefully curated and theme-driven, featuring a mix of darkwave, post-punk, dream pop, alternative, and experimental sounds. After Hours is designed for late-night listening – immersive, mood-forward, and intentionally paced – offering a space where the music can unfold without interruption and the tone can shift beyond daytime radio constraints.
A late-night space for music without the beige filter.
Click The Botton To Find Out More!
We Will Have Updates @ VelvetUmbrellaRadio.com
Elephant in the Room
People have been asking what’s going on between Celeste and Mickey Fingers, so let’s address the obvious question.
The short answer: Mickey is my long-time creative collaborator and one of the first people who ever truly saw my writing.
We go all the way back to my late teens. Back then he was one of only two people who ever read my lyric journal - the other being my therapist. Years later that same journal was destroyed by someone who was abusive and trying to erase my voice.
For a long time I stopped writing.
In 2020, Mickey pushed me hard to start again. He reminded me what that journal meant and what it had always been trying to say. That encouragement eventually grew into the work we do together now with Gala Violet and Eclectic Wonderland.
Over the years, Michael and Mickey have become friends too. In fact, it was Michael who first invited Mickey onto Eclectic Wonderland, and Mickey invited Michael into the Velvet Umbrella universe. The After Hours show was something the two of them brainstormed together.
So no - there isn’t some secret drama here.
What there is, is a deep creative partnership, a chosen family, and a shared history of helping each other rebuild our voices after some very hard years.
And honestly, that’s the story.
✨ Dive into the full playlist below — with videos linked for every track, so you can watch, listen, and wander through the eclectic flow.
Set your reminders!
A Fun Little Promo!
Eclectic Wonderland Links (Links In Pink!)
Video Paylist
Intro
1) Mickey Fingers intro
2) Stereolab – Cybele’s Reverie
3) Automatic – Black Box
4) POW! – Dream Decay
5) The Mommyheads – Soul’s Aquarium
6) Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe – Procession
Second Set
1) Os Mutantes – Panis et Circenses
2) Surfbort – open your eyes
3) POW! – Scissors
4) Automatic – Mercury
5) Mickey Fingers – “Sticking Up For DJ Tea” segment
6) Gala Violet – Elephant in the Room
7) Mickey Fingers – Talk bed for Celeste (break)
Third Set
1) David J & Tim Newman — The Clock Becomes an Impersonator of Torture
2) Automatic — New Beginning
3) POW! — Peter
4) Mickey — I.D. — Don’t Go Feral Baby
5) Geneva Jacuzzi — Art Is Dangerous
6) Mickey — Intro — Don’t Go Feral Baby
8) The Evolution Control Committee — Spandau Filet (break)
Fourth Set
1) Brian Eno — Baby’s On Fire
2) Johnny Society — All Rise
3) The Mommyheads — Finally Free
4) The Scarlet Goodbye — She’s a Fire
5) Love and Rockets — Here Come the Comedown (Rough Mix)
6) Mickey — PSA: Talk Bed Choices
7) Mickey Fingers — Talk Bed for Celeste 2
Fifth Set
1) Aldo Buonocore and His Orchestra — L'amico del giaguaro
2) UTO — White Flag
3) Squeeze — Cool for Cats
4) Martha & The Muffins — Echo Beach
5) Sigue Sigue Sputnik — Love Missile F1-11
6) Plastic Bertrand — Ça plane pour moi
7) Mickey Presents — Snack Schedule
8) Señor Coconut — Trans Europe Express (Cumbia Instrumental) — break
9) Mickey Presents — Feral Tease
10) Lou Reed — Perfect Day
11) Mickey Presents — Show Closer
More News From Mickey Fingers!
So Now for some ...
Noir Burlesque Egg Priestess Energy
which is not a phrase I expected to say today, but here we are....
“Something feral is coming…”
“Folks… if you find yourself holding two eggs under a spotlight at 2 AM…
it may already be too late.”
We have a Second Show On WDRT-Viroqua! [Click Here For More Information]
Friday's At 2 Am
“The Keeper of the Feral Broadcast.”
“After midnight…”
“Remember folks…
don’t go feral in the kitchen.
Respect the egg.”
Unfiltered
Only On Mixcloud!
(Mixcloud jumped the schedule and posted this one early, so you get the transmission first and the full blog + tracklist a little later. )
“Welcome to the midnight show.”
“Velvet Umbrella Radio: After Hours”
“Something strange is about to happen after midnight.”
“Click the Velvet Umbrella Radio banner for links and info.”
⚠️ Story Continues Trigger Warning Domestic Abuse, Trauma & ....⚠️
Elephant 🐘 in the room
Elephant in the room: So what’s going on between Celeste and Mickey Fingers?
Short version: he’s my long‑time creative collaborator and one of the first people who ever really saw my writing. We go all the way back to my high school years; back then, he was one of the only people besides my therapist who read my lyric journal. Years later, DH (my ex dickhead) got hold of that same journal and destroyed it. When Mickey found out what happened, he pushed me hard in 2020 to start writing lyrics again. Full circle: he got me writing again, and that’s the energy that turned into our Gala Violet collaboration. Even when everybody else cycles in and out, Mickey and I keep making things together. Over the years, Michael and Mickey have become good friends too. It was actually Michael who officially invited him onto Eclectic Wonderland and into the Velvet Umbrella universe, and the After Hours show was something the two of them brainstormed together.
Side note: my very first date with DH (my ex dickhead) at Medusa’s should’ve told me everything I needed to know. We ran into Mickey outside. Mickey always knew how to dress for Medusa’s — mascara, cooler clothes, the whole thing - and apparently, the week before, DH had decided that was reason enough to start shoving him and calling him a slur while Mickey was just trying to have a conversation. Mickey told him to leave him the fuck alone, DH kept pushing, so Mickey literally picked him up, threw him, punched him when DH shoved back, and then went right back to his conversation. Fast‑forward a week, DH is physically stopping me from going over to say hi and warning me that Mickey ‘threw him last week,’ and I really should’ve clocked that as the giant red flag it was.
Abuse, trauma, and healing
DH wasn’t just ‘my ex dickhead’ in a funny Medusa anecdote; he was sexually, physically, and emotionally abusive. Destroying my lyric journal was part of a bigger pattern of control and erosion, the kind of slow grind that makes you doubt your own voice. The fact that Mickey was one of the first people to read those lyrics, and then years later was the one who got me writing again after DH burned it all down, is not a small thing. It’s part of how I’ve been rebuilding my creative life after abuse: one song, one show, one corridor at a time.
After I left DH things didn’t just get easier - they splintered. I joined a few bands and there was always some guy stirring drama or trying to hook up, and when DH found where I’d moved he started stalking me. Nothing like waking up to your abusive ex sitting at the side of your bed at two a.m. Somehow he got in. Between band drama, the stalking, my health crashes, and then a terrifying audition where I was roofied and raped, I started losing my voice - literally and creatively. That’s where the fear of writing and singing again began, and why rebuilding my voice has been slow, fierce, and necessary.
Mickey was the first person who actually read my first journal and saw what was hidden in there - the shadow side I’d been taught to shut down. He read it with care, held space for me, and knew how frayed my nervous system was from everything. I put on a brave, sunny face in public, but that journal was uninhibited, fierce, and terrified; Mickey told me that journal was my soul and said he felt honored to read it. He’s always been fiercely protective of me.
On top of that, I was told I wouldn’t be sent to school for broadcasting, sound engineering, or art - like my ambitions were a joke. My step‑mom (more like step‑monster) told me my birth father wished I’d never been born, and years later he basically confirmed it, right before a surgery I wasn’t expected to survive.
Mickey had been steered away from studying his passion too, shoved toward the family business, so he saw himself in that refusal. He turned one of my dark lyrics into a recorded song and got seriously protective when guys crossed lines. He pushed me back toward writing in 2020, and that’s basically how Gala Violet was born.
Since then, Mickey and I have just kept working together. Sometimes it’s with other folks from Spoony’s support-artist crew, sometimes it’s just the two of us, but the through-line is the same: we like making things together and we’re chasing our old ‘you can’t do that’ dreams anyway. What we have is a strong creative collaboration and a deep, ride-or-die friendship, plus a shared history of being steered away from what we loved. No one in our world has hurt feelings about that dynamic; if anything, Mr announcer man has built his own friendships with Mickey over time. At the end of the day I basically have two guys who are fiercely protective of me and also happen to be the two people who’d throw themselves in front of anything for me.
a few words from Mickey
I saw her before she let anyone in, and when guys started pushing at her I didn’t wait to be polite. I shoved Wesley the week before their ‘first date’ (not knowing what the future held). Finding out later that he’d destroyed her journal and done worse - yeah, that makes me angrier now, and I would have made him disappear sooner. Back then I turned some of her dark lyrics into a post‑punk song; I keep showing up loud and protective, and I don’t tolerate anyone trying to silence her.
When I first met her, She was 17.75 then.. and I suppose I was 20.75 .. (there is a funny story about the age thing)
I saw her "really saw her" before anyone else did. I loved her enough to keep the line between protection and taking; I wouldn’t have crossed that age gap. We were both heading for different schools, different lives, and that felt like the right thing.
Truth is First day at the record store, I was being a dumb flirty twenty‑year‑old and asked her to come hang with me and my folks. She said she had to check with her parents and then (honestly) said, ‘I’m seventeen point seventy‑five, I’ll be eighteen soon,’ and I just smiled and kept my mouth shut. I kept that line. We stayed friends, hung out with the crew, went to Medusa’s, and later I read her journal and realized how much I needed to protect her
We always loved the same music, loved writing and art… we’ve always had so much in common. It’s honestly amazing to be working through creative recovery together and collaborating, healing, and growing as artists and as people. She’s been so supportive and helpful on my healing journey. In 2018, I had a huge health scare (autoimmune) and realized I couldn’t keep living a life that wasn’t mine. I remembered her lyric journal and how it was screaming at me the whole time. I decided to follow my passion and step back from the suit and tie.
Celeste had already been navigating a holistic approach to autoimmune and absolutely crushing it. She’s always been such a giving person and offered to help me through. We are both coming back from so much… I’ll just leave it at that.
We have so many good laughs and deep conversations. This friendship-family is truly special to me.
I love them both deeply - they’re my people, my chosen family, and I’d do anything to keep them safe.
-Mickey Fingers
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Thank you for Listening
Peace, Love & Cosmic Bunny Rabbits!
-DJ Tea, Mr Announcer Man, Dewey Lewis& Mickey Fingers
Originally broadcast on WDRT 91.9FM Viroqua.
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