Night After The Storm | After Hours | 2 of 3
- Mickey Fingers
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
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Night After The Storm | After Hours | 2 of 3
July 18, 2026 | 1:00 am | Central |
WDRT Velvet Umbrella Records | After Hours
With Mickey Fingers & Celeste Violet
Blog: Mickey Fingers & Celeste Violet
Night After The Storm
Night After The Storm | After Hours | 2 of 3
Velvet Umbrella Radio After Hours
There is a strange quiet that arrives after everything has passed.
Not silence exactly.
The walls still remember the thunder. The air still carries that electric feeling. Somewhere in the distance, water is still slipping from the rooftops and gathering along the edges of the road.
But the worst of it is over.
For the first time in a while, you can hear yourself breathe.
The past few weeks had been heavy in ways we were still trying to understand. Health concerns. Hard news. Plans changing mid-step. Work disappearing just as we thought it was finished. Rebuilding one thing, only to discover something else needed rebuilding too.
There comes a point when you stop waiting for life to become perfectly calm before allowing yourself to rest.
You make tea.
You lower the lights.
You put on a record.
You notice that the storm has moved farther away.
And you let that be enough.
This week, Velvet Umbrella Radio | After Hours moved into its new home, beginning an hour earlier and expanding into two full hours. Somehow, that extra space changed everything. The show no longer felt like it was arriving late to the night. It felt as though the night had finally made room for it.
The music begins with a pulse still moving through the walls. Cocteau Twins, Love and Rockets, Bat for Lashes, Ladytron, Kate Bush, Björk, Broadcast, Lush, Bauhaus, and Massive Attack carry the first hour through shadow, memory, movement, and electricity.
Then the room slowly opens.
Slowdive. Beach House. Mazzy Star. AIR. Boards of Canada. Goldfrapp. Sigur Rós. Julee Cruise. David J and Tim Newman.
Until, finally, Brian Eno appears like the first pale light reaching the window.
This is not a show about forgetting the storm.
It is about discovering what remains when it has passed.
The music.
The room.
The people who stayed.
The part of you that is still awake beneath a different sky.
Welcome to Night After the Storm.
Come inside.
The rain has stopped.
We left the light on. 🌙💜
Night After the Storm is the middle room in this week’s three-part journey.
Eclectic Wonderland | Open Every Window begins in the afternoon, with fresh air, movement, curiosity, and the first deep breath after a heavy stretch.
After Hours carries that feeling into the night, when the lights grow lower, the music deepens, and the exhale becomes something quieter and more intimate.
Then Petals & Hooks | When the Tide Finally Turned takes the final step beyond the familiar, drifting into the moonlit garden, the shoreline, and all the strange beautiful places that seem to appear after the rest of the world has gone to sleep.
Three shows.
Three different doors.
One shared journey from release, to reflection, to transformation.
🌿 Part One
Eclectic Wonderland | Open Every Window
🌙 Part Two
Velvet Umbrella Radio | After HoursNight | After the Storm
Now airing Fridays from 1–3 AM,
with two full hours of dreamlike music, late-night conversations, and stories that only seem to arrive after midnight.
🌹 Part Three
Velvet Umbrella Radio | Petals & Hooks | When the Tide Finally Turned
A special Mixcloud-only transmission where the music drifts a little farther, the gardens bloom beneath the moon, and every strange little door leads somewhere worth exploring.
Together, these three shows became one story.
One long breath.
One shared journey.
So wherever you’re listening…
Whether you’re driving beneath streetlights…
working the night shift…
watching rain gather on the glass…
lying awake with the room gone quiet…
or simply trying to find your footing after a difficult week…
we’re grateful you chose to spend part of the night with us.
Thank you for staying awhile.
For listening.
For letting the music hold the things that didn’t need words.
The storm has moved on.
The room is still warm.
And the night still has something to say.
💕 Peace, Love & Cosmic Bunny Rabbits.
Video Playlist Click Here for Video Playlist for Keep Scrolling
Mickey's Corner
Mickey’s Corner 🎙️✨
There’s a moment after a storm when the whole world seems to be listening.
The rain has stopped.
The pipes settle.
A car moves somewhere in the distance.
And for a little while, nobody asks anything of you.
I think we forget how necessary that moment is.
We spend so much time responding.
Repairing.
Explaining.
Trying to keep every fragile thing from falling at once.
Then the noise finally softens, and we realize we’re still here.
Maybe a little tired.
Maybe changed.
But here.
This week, After Hours moved earlier and became two full hours long.
On paper, that sounds like a scheduling change.
In the room, it felt like something much bigger.
The show finally had enough darkness around it.
Enough space between the songs.
Enough time to wander without watching the clock.
It stopped feeling like something squeezed into the edge of the night.
It began to feel like it belonged there.
Maybe that’s true of people, too.
Sometimes we don’t need to become someone new.
We just need enough room to become more fully ourselves.
So tonight, we’re not asking the storm to explain itself.
We’re not pretending it never happened.
We’re simply putting another record on…
leaving the lamp low…
and listening to the air change.
The kettle’s still warm.
There’s room on the sofa.
Stay as long as you need.
— Mickey
📻 Signal Incoming From The Cosmic Lounge
🚪 Corridor Construction Report
The corridors have been unusually busy this week.
What began as a simple plan to remaster a few early Gala Violet recordings somehow turned into one of the biggest rebuilds we’ve tackled in quite a while.
Along the way…
our entire recipe archive quietly wandered off into another dimension.
The corridors insist this was “temporary.”
We remain skeptical.
Fortunately…
what could have been a setback became an opportunity to build something better.
✨ Dimension 5 Snacks is now open, giving our recipes, stories, comfort food, smoothies, midnight snacks, and wonderfully strange kitchen adventures a brand-new home.
We’re still unpacking boxes, restoring lost recipes, and settling into the new space ... so look forward to weekly updates as everything finds its place again.
Meanwhile…
the Tiki Lounge has received a rather enthusiastic renovation.
A few new corners appeared.
Several portals were relocated.
The jukebox seems happier.
No one is entirely sure how that happened.
Corridor Status
☂️ Welcome Transmission: Online
🍄 Tiki Lounge: Recently renovated
📻 Studio: Stable
🌙 After Hours: Now broadcasting from 1–3 AM
🌹 Petals & Hooks: Tide successfully turned (show saved!)
🥣 Dimension 5 Snacks: Kitchen reopened (recipes & posts pending)
🎵 Gala Violet: Remastering preparations continue
🚪 Strange Doors: Continuing to multiply
Click the art below to venture over to Dimension 5 Snacks.
🍄 Recent Renovations
✨ The archives have been reorganized into their own neighborhoods.
📻 Eclectic Wonderland now keeps all of its adventures together.
🌙 After Hours finally has a hallway of its own.
🧜 Petals & Hooks has settled into a cozy underwater wing where every chapter can drift together.
☂️ Everything still lives beneath the Velvet Umbrella…
but it’s a lot easier to find your favorite room.
🥣 About the New Kitchen
As we rebuilt Dimension 5 Snacks, something else became clear too.
This space is growing into something more personal… more lived-in… and more truly ours.
We are still spoonies.
We still carry the things we’ve learned through chronic illness, connective tissue nonsense, body wisdom, survival, adaptation, comfort, and care.
But now, instead of trying to fit that into a version of things that no longer feels quite right, we’re following what this space actually wants to become.
Less “what was.”
More “what is growing now.”
We’re restoring lost recipes, reshaping old categories, and creating room for stories, nourishment, humor, practical magic, and all the things we’ve learned along the way that might help someone else feel a little more at home in their own life.
In other words…
we’re still bringing what matters with us.
We’re just building the kitchen differently this time.
🎬 Programming Department
On the broadcasting side…
our brand-new Welcome transmission has officially arrived, introducing each show and helping visitors discover which strange little door leads where.
And almost immediately afterward…
After Hours found its new home.
Now airing Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00 AM Central, the expanded schedule finally gives the night enough room to become exactly what it always wanted to be.
There is also updated art now guiding the way through the corridors — with fresh pathways leading toward the three-show journey, the new schedule, and the updated video that ties it all together.
As for Gala Violet…
those remastered recordings are still very much on the horizon.
Sometimes creative projects ask us to pause…
not because they’re forgotten…
but because something even larger quietly asks to be built first.
The corridors understand.
Most of the time.
The corridors remain active.
The kettle is warm.
The lights are on.
💕 Peace, Love & Cosmic Bunny Rabbits.
🌙 Overnight Expansion Notice
Beginning this week…
After Hours expands into a two-hour overnight journey.
Fridays 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM Central WDRT 91.9 FM
Velvet Umbrella Radio Page....
One of the things I’ve learned over the past few weeks…
is that building something beautiful rarely happens in a straight line.
Sometimes you sit down intending to finish one project…
and somehow end up rebuilding an entire little corner of the universe instead.
That’s more or less what happened around here.
The radio grew.
The stories found new rooms.
The artwork began talking to the music.
The corridors stretched a little farther than they used to.
Somewhere along the way…
this stopped feeling like a collection of shows.
It started feeling like a place.
A place where curiosity is always welcome.
Where kindness still matters.
Where music gets to be more than background noise.
Where strange little doors are simply part of the architecture.
Life still happens.
Bodies still have opinions.
Technology occasionally wanders off with an entire playlist just to keep us humble.
Some days are heavier than others.
But we’ve discovered something important.
The weight doesn’t always disappear.
Sometimes…
we simply remember how to fly.
So thank you.
For wandering these hallways with us.
For laughing at our wonderfully ridiculous traditions.
For noticing the tiny details.
For listening.
And for helping this little universe become something larger than any one of us could have built alone.
The kettle’s on.
The lights are warm.
The next record is already waiting.
We’ll see you somewhere in the corridors.
💜
— Mickey Fingers
🎬 This Week’s Promo Video
Video Playlist
Night After The Storm | After Hours | 2 of 3
Velvet Umbrella Radio After Hours
Intro
Cocteau Twins – Pitch the Baby
Love and Rockets – The Light
Bat for Lashes – Pearl’s Dream
Ladytron – International Dateline
Róisín Murphy – If We’re in Love
Kate Bush – Suspended in Gaffa (2018 Remaster)
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry (Single Version)
Björk – Hidden Place
Broadcast – Goodbye Girls
Lush – Light from a Dead Star (2023 Remaster)
Bauhaus – She’s in Parties
Massive Attack – Dissolved Girl (Remastered 2018)
Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
Slowdive – Sugar for the Pill
Station Break
Beach House – Space Song
Mazzy Star – Fade Into You
Cigarettes After Sex – Apocalypse
AIR – Alone in Kyoto
Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go
Boards of Canada – Olson
Goldfrapp – Utopia
múm – We Have a Map of the Piano
Sigur Rós – Starálfur
Julee Cruise – Falling
David J & Tim Newman – Raintown
Brian Eno – An Ending (Ascent)
Who Keeps Doing This?
Welcome To The Wacky World Of Velvet Umbrella Radio
Yes.
We’re all real.
We’re just real weird.
Left to Right:
✨ DJ Tea (Celeste Violet)
✨ Mr Announcer Man
✨ Mickey Fingers
Together we create radio shows, playlists, videos, stories, artwork, strange investigations, accidental mythology, and the occasional kitchen experiment.
[Click The Art Above To Visit Our Home Page] The Door That’s Open Right Now.....
📻 Eclectic Wonderland
Wednesdays
1 PM - 3 PM Central
Live on WDRT 91.9 FM Viroqua
Eclectic Wonderland is our flagship show and home base for musical adventures, unexpected discoveries, and strange transmissions.
🎭 First Week: Alternate Wednesday
(Covers, remixes, reinterpretations, and musical curveballs)
🎵 Third Week: Independent Artist Showcase
(Please send us your music)
🛸 Fourth Week: Audities
(Our weirdest shows, experimental broadcasts, novelty records, and unexplained events)
🌙 After Hours
Fridays (Overnight)
1 AM - 3 AM Central
WDRT 91.9 FM Viroqua
With Celeste Violet & Mickey Fingers
After Hours explores the darker corners of the record collection.
Dream Pop.
Darkwave.
Trip-Hop.
Late-night discoveries.
Moonlit roads.
Signals from beneath.
and now, twice as long.
After Hours with Celeste Violet and Mickey Fingers
After Hours is more of an Evening Vibe:
And then .....
🧜♀️ Petals & Hooks
Mixcloud Exclusive
Premieres Fridays at Midnight
With Celeste Violet & Mickey Fingers
Petals & Hooks is where the filters come off. Long-form themed journeys.
Dream narratives. Storytelling. Unexpected connections.
Beautiful mistakes. The things that don’t fit neatly inside traditional radio.
Most episodes run between three and four hours.
Some are explicit.
All are deeply strange.
Thanks, Goth Daddy, for everything you do...
and for assisting me in saving Petals & Hooks this week when all 3 hours vanished at the last moment.
You Rock. I do not know how you always keep your calm.
-Princess Danish Buns
Thank You For Visiting
If You Missed This Transmission…
(last month’s featured story)Click any show artwork below to listen, explore the story, browse the artwork, or wander a little deeper down the rabbit hole.
Keep Exploring…
If you’re not quite ready to head home, there are still plenty of strange little corners waiting to be discovered.
🚪 Explore Our Sister Stations
Three different doors. Three different adventures.
• After Hours• Velvet Umbrella Radio• Petals & Hooks
🌂 Visit VelvetUmbrella.com
Music, stories, artwork, projects, archives, and all the wonderfully weird things we’re building.
📼 From the Vault
Archived transmissions, favorite episodes, and forgotten adventures from years past.
🌊 Continue the Story…
If you didn’t mean to leave just yet, Petals & Hooks is waiting just beyond the next door.
No rush.
Stay as long as you need.
Thank you for listening 💋
Stay Connected
Follow along, say hello, and join us as we continue building strange little worlds together.
Mickey Fingers
Celeste Violet
🦇 Stay with us… or come back when the lights go out.
Part of the Velvet Umbrella Radio: After Hours series. Originally developed alongside Eclectic Wonderland on WDRT 91.9FM Viroqua
Produced by DJ Celeste and Mickey Fingers for the Eclectic Wonderland universe.
The Folks We Blame For This…
Creative Direction & Visual Worldbuilding
Celeste Violet | DJ Tea
Mickey Fingers
Music Curation & Programming
Celeste Violet | DJ Tea | Mickey Fingers
Original Voice Overs & Incidental Music
Mickey Fingers
Writing, Storyworld & Show Notes
Celeste Violet | DJ Tea
Mickey Fingers
Video Production & Editing
Celeste Violet
Audio Production & Sound Engineering
Mickey Fingers
Celeste Violet
Featuring
Eclectic Wonderland
DJ Tea | Celeste Violet
Mr. Announcer Man
Mickey Fingers
Velvet Umbrella Radio
After Hours
Celeste Violet
Mickey Fingers
Petals & Hooks
Celeste Violet
Mickey Fingers
About Velvet Umbrella Radio | After Hours
Velvet Umbrella Radio | After Hours is a late-night radio show hosted by Mickey Fingers and Celeste Violet on WDRT 91.9 FM in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Each episode blends dream pop, shoegaze, ethereal wave, post-punk, ambient music, gothic textures, original narration, artwork, and stories created for listeners who remain curious after midnight. The journey continues through Petals & Hooks and the wider Velvet Umbrella universe.
Explore the complete Night After the Storm playlist, original Mickey Fingers voice-overs, show artwork, Mixcloud archive, and the stories behind this expanded two-hour edition of Velvet Umbrella Radio | After Hours.
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