VELVET UMBRELLA RADIO

VELVET UMBRELLA RADIO | Celeste Violet | DJ Tea

Curated. Unfiltered. Nocturnal.

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Celeste Violet | DJ Tea

Eclectic Wonderland | After Hours | Petals & Hooks

on WDRT 91.9 FM | Wdrt.org | MixCloud

DJ and producer of Eclectic Wonderland, After Hours, and Petals & Hooks on WDRT 91.9 FM and Mixcloud. She builds the mixes and playlists, runs the board, and creates the web design, blogs, art, videos, and promos that stitch Velvet Umbrella Radio into a little cinematic universe.

Once Upon A Time…

Once upon a time, in the north shore of Chicagoland, a small kid got her own record player, spent all her allowance on vinyl and cassettes, and never really stopped. These days DJ Celeste hosts Eclectic Wonderland and its darker corridors under the Velvet Umbrella, building mixtape-style radio nights, tiny immersive worlds, and late-night company for fellow music-obsessed weirdos.

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Something You Might Not Know About Me…

Something you might not know about me: Mickey Fingers and I write songs together as part of a creative collective called Gala Violet. After six intense years of albums with our spoonie crew, everyone else is on a well‑earned break, but we’re still a little obsessed with creating together. We also co-founded Velvet Umbrella Records, a tiny label for spoonie artists and musicians who’ve run into misogyny or other trauma in the music world - a softer landing spot for people like us.

Something you might not know about me: Mickey Fingers and I actually started writing music together 38 years ago, when he read my journal and asked to turn some of my lyrics into songs. He even recorded one of them on an old tape we’ve probably lost to time, but that was the start of this whole ‘we’re a little obsessed with creating together’ thing.

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A Little Q & A

Got a question for the Velvet Umbrella crew? Send it our way and we’ll answer it in our own weird little fashion, as honestly (or evasively) as the moment requires.

Q: Why did you create Petals & Hooks if Eclectic Wonderland already has some darker corners?

A: When I go dark, I tend to binge. I’ve always loved darkwave, coldwave, post‑punk and all the gothy corridors, but not everyone who wanders into Eclectic Wonderland wants a three‑hour descent into the crypt. Petals & Hooks on Mixcloud is my unfiltered darkwave chapel, so I can fully lean into the moody, late‑night side while keeping Eclectic Wonderland in its quirky‑whimsy front‑room vibe. It also feels like a full‑circle collaboration with Mickey Fingers, who was the one dragging me into the deeper, weirder corners of this music back in the day.

Q: How do your shows actually come together?

A: Each month has a loose backbone – Eclectic Wonderland on Wednesdays with indie nights, oddities, and the occasional ‘extra’ fifth‑Wednesday surprise. Inside that, most shows start because something will not leave my head: a dream, a phrase, a song, or an inside joke that happens live on air. I follow the ridiculous idea, build a theme around it, and then Mickey Fingers and I start riffing: playlists, talk beds, promos, and sometimes a matching After Hours or Petals & Hooks extension. Petals & Hooks and After Hours were born because too many songs and stories wanted to live in the late‑night, uncensored side of the station, so now everything can bloom into exactly the corridor it was meant for.

Q: How did you get into music and DJing in the first place?

A: I was that kid who would not leave the record player alone. My parents finally got me my own little turntable and stack of records around age three, and I’d sit for hours drawing, making art, and wearing the grooves out. As I got older, every spare dollar went to vinyl and cassettes, and I fell in love with making mixtapes, hand‑drawn covers, liner notes, and little zines. I used to mail curated boxes to friends and pen pals with a tape, a tiny noisemaker, and random treasures. Eventually I realized ‘oh… this could actually be a job,’ took broadcasting classes (despite a very cranky sports‑casting teacher), detoured through improv and theatre, and found I was happiest DJing parties and clubs. Years later a few friends — including Mickey Fingers — kept nudging me to try radio again, I finally applied, and that’s how we ended up here under the Velvet Umbrella.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about doing the radio shows?

A: It lets me put all my favorite things in one place with my favorite people. I get to collaborate with Mr Announcer Man and Mickey Fingers. Work on websites, art, playlists, and the little stories that turn each show into its own tiny immersive world. I also have a deep love for WDRT and this community, so getting to use those skills to share the music I love most with others feels like the best possible use of my quirky brain.

Favorite Shows

Right now my favorite shows are the ones from our current Velvet Umbrella era, especially the March runs where Mickey Fingers officially joined the crew and we opened the After Hours and Petals & Hooks corridors. The Eclectic Wonderland front room, the shadow‑door after shows, and the Mixcloud‑only Petals & Hooks mixes all talk to each other, so each night lands like one long story instead of separate playlists. Building the themes, promos, and late‑night continuations together has been the most immersive and ‘this is what the station was meant to be’ version of the show so far.