We're Back!

Mickey Fingers
Feb 4
9 min read

Updated: Feb 6

We're Back - rested. restored and ready to make even more beautiful chaos.

We’re Back — With New Releases, Zines, and Mischief Afoot

It’s been a wild ride behind the curtain — and we’re back with updates!

This week’s blog features fresh releases, zine updates, and the inside scoop on how to experience Masquerade of Shadows in full, including where to find the new storybook zines, DistroKid links, and behind-the-scenes lore.

Right now, we’re deep in finalizing the artwork and layout for the Masquerade of Shadows book, building the companion website, and prepping the new Gala Violet Bandcamp page. (There might even be a secret music video in the works — but you didn’t hear that from us.)

Oh — and big news:

🎙 Mickey Fingers is now an official part of the Eclectic Wonderland family and will be showing up every week on the airwaves in one form or another.

Whether anyone asked for that or not. [ More of the story below]

🎶 New Releases

Alright, we’re back. First order of business: we’ve got two new albums out.

💔 “My Dysfunctional Valentine” dropped on January 30, featuring two early singles from the upcoming Paper Dolls album — plus a surprise track from Of Starlight & Myth.

Then on February 6, the Of Starlight & Myth sampler steps fully into the light — the first official transmission from the Stardust Archives.

These are two very different creatures:

“Paper Dolls is made of funny, true-life stories that accidentally rhyme — messy humans, bad decisions, and the part where you laugh about it later.

Of Starlight & Myth is the opposite corner of the room: moody, tribal art‑pop, dreamy and deep, pulled from the Starlight Archives.

One writes in ink, the other writes in stardust.”

My Dysfunctional Valentine

Released: January 30, 2026

📎 Listen Now

Real stories. Real regrets. Real funny.

A cabaret confessional — equal parts sultry, awkward, and painfully honest.

Think glitter, gasps, and a strong pour.

💋 Track List:

Good Evening, Darlings
Mr. Oxford’s Underwear (Confessions)
Cougars, Cabs & Charcuterie

Warning: contains inappropriate cheese plates, Oxford stains, and one too many glasses of cabernet.

Tags:

#GalaViolet #MyDysfunctionalValentine #VelvetUmbrellaRecords #AltCabaret #ValentineInTheDark #ForkMeSilly

Of Starlight & Myth

Released February 6, 2026

📎 Listen Now

Cosmic heartbreaks and whispered truths from the edges of memory.

This is a dreamy excavation — glittering fragments stitched into song.

💫Track List:

Elephant In The Room
The Truth Between The Ribs
Almost

Love notes sent through space and time — fragile, true, and still burning.

Tags:

#GalaViolet #OfStarlightAndMyth #StardustArchives #DreamPop #AltNoir #VelvetUmbrellaRecords #EchoesAndFragments

Masquerade Of Shadows Zines

We also set up a little trail of crumbs to make Masquerade easier to follow. There’s now a DistroKid Hyperfollow link and a Masquerade of Shadows LinkPod that pull everything into one place, so you can find the story pieces that go with the music across Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. It’s meant to be heard in order, so you’ll get quick access to the zines, the prelude, lyrics, symbolism cabinet, characters, and all the story bits you need to experience the musical all the way through.

[Click Album To Find Out More!]

Eclectic Wonderland

🎙️ Mickey Fingers here — thrilled to be part of the madness and the magic that is Eclectic Wonderland!

From forbidden Valentines to glitter-drenched graveyards, this show isn’t just music… it’s a mood, a moment, a movement. I’m honored to be your interlude whisperer, playlist co‑conspirator, and late-night signal ghost.

Tune in. Turn it up. Let’s get a little lost together.

[Click to Find Out]

Long before Eclectic Wonderland existed, in a galaxy not actually that far away, Mickey Fingers and a slightly shorter Tea were trading mixtapes back and forth. When Mickey kicked off an Artist’s Way group, we all started sharing weekly playlists, and by 2022 Tea finally gave in and took Mickey’s advice to start a radio show. Eclectic Wonderland was born, and Mickey’s been in the background helping with playlists from basically the beginning of time.

Over the past year, while we were working on and releasing albums together, Tea realized she needed more help keeping up with the show and all the Gala Violet pieces. So I started dropping by more often, helping expand the blog, and recording random little tidbits for the show. Those tiny love-notes from the void have been sneaking into Eclectic Wonderland all year, even before anyone put my name on the masthead.

One of the big things we’ve been working on since forever is Tea asking for help. She used to treat it like admitting a flaw — suck it up, carry on, minimal drama. Michael and I basically staged an intervention by being annoyingly persistent, and slowly she let us in. Now she’s learning teamwork is allowed, asking for help is not a crime, and it’s fine to not do everything solo. Progress, messy and glorious.

Honestly, figuring out what this looks like has taken almost four years. Tea has been working on this whole ‘asking for help’ thing for a while now – Michael can totally back me up that it did not come naturally. For most of her life, she was trained to just suck it up and get on with it, and somewhere along the way that got twisted into thinking needing help meant she was failing. But the more her real dream started to bloom – stepping away from all the ‘shoulds’ and into what her soul actually wants to be doing – the more it became obvious she could not do it alone. Realizing she needed help with the show was just one more in a long line of oh-right-I-don’t-have-to-solo-this moments, and learning to actually trust that support has been a huge step forward.

Coming from a place where disability and chronic illness shaped how we move through the world, learning to measure spoons, protect energy, and honor self care has been central to this whole thing. It’s taken years to stop treating rest like failure and to actually ask for help when the day only allows a little. Teamwork and collaboration turned out to be not just useful, but beautiful — and that faith to step into what our souls actually want is why we kept pushing, together.

So with all of that in mind, Tea’s been slowly stepping away from the whole ‘health coach who does what she’s supposed to’ thing. That page will eventually turn into more of her real story – how she found her path, ditched the shoulds, and chose what actually lights her up. But right now we’re all-in on what we’re truly passionate about: digging deep into the Masquerade of Shadows world, and pouring that same heart into the show.

Also, for the record, I had to learn this the hard way too. I spent years buried in ‘shoulds’ – finishing school, taking over and expanding the family business – until by 2018 it had almost completely broken me. I wasn’t following my timing or my passion, just trying to be everything to everyone, and it nearly took me out. Stepping away from the business in the capacity I was in, and letting music and engineering shift from ‘lifelong hobbies’ into the actual center of my life, has been its own healing journey. This collaboration honestly helped pull me out of a very dark hole and reminded me what actually lights me up.

At some point in the middle of all that, Tea and Michael realized we actually made a ridiculously good team. Eclectic Wonderland gave us a place to plug that in, and for me it turned into this huge creative outlet I did not know I needed. However I could help — playlists, blogs, weird ideas, little in‑between bits — it all added up. This funny little Eclectic Wonderland family we’ve built means the world to me, and I’m genuinely honored I get to be part of it.

✨ BONUS MIXCLOUD-ONLY AFTER DARK EDITION ✨

For those who like their love songs a little less radio-friendly and a whole lot more explicit, flirty, and deliciously unhinged — Mickey and Tea slipped behind the curtain for a Mixcloud-only After Dark edition:

“Forkin’ Around with Mickey Fingers – The Forbidden Valentine’s Mix.”

No FCC. No apologies. Just lips, hips, and a stack of songs that know what they’re doing.

Find it now on our Mixcloud page, if you dare… 💋

#NSFW #ForkMeSlowly #ValentineInTheDark

Forkin' Around With Mickey Fingers

💘 The Forbidden Valentine’s Mix — forking, swooning, and signal loss ahead. Mickey’s got the mic, and no one’s watching the clock.

[Listen Now!]

Slide into something scandalous and meet me under the red light for a night of forbidden love songs, shameless innuendo, retro lounge oddities, and the occasional kazoo solo.

It’s Valentine’s Day in Eclectic Wonderland, and your host Mickey Fingers is forkin’ around — in the kitchen, in your head, and in the backseat of your 1964 velvet-trimmed heartbreak.

Featuring tongue-in-cheek commentary, musical misbehavior, and bonus outtakes in Mickey’s Corner. [click here]

Wear protection: headphones recommended. 🎧💔🍸

🧷 Genres Include

• dark cabaret • spoken word • retro lounge • indie pop

• synthpop • alt comedy • vintage vibes • eclectic wonderland

• mickey fingers • dysfunctional valentine • radio theatre

• sexy weirdness

💋✨ #ForkMeSlowly #EclecticWonderlandAfterDark #MickeyMadeMeDoIt

This Week’s Story

This week’s story kicks off with a tiny high-school legend: the great Mr. Oxford’s Underwear incident — which somehow wormed its way into record-store lore, then into our setlist. That little burst of chaos pushed our LinkPod and Hyperfollow clicks through the roof, and we’re truly grateful for every single one of those curious clicks.

The story starts in high school, when…

Tea and Julie had been friends since junior high, and by sophomore year Julie had developed her first real high-school crush. For reasons that will become obvious, we’ll call this crush “Oxford.” Julie had learned his schedule, where he worked, and — of course — where he lived. One night, Tea was getting ready for a school dance when Julie and Lori stopped by to check out her outfit and soak in the excitement. Afterward, Julie and Lori did a slow drive-by past Mr. Oxford’s house… only to discover he was throwing a party.

Julie and Lori stopped in. Julie slipped off to the bathroom… and somehow ended up in Mr. Oxford’s bedroom, where she found his underwear drawer and pocketed a pair of briefs. She spent the rest of the night at the party, casually chatting with Mr. Oxford and Lori — briefs in her purse.

Now here’s where we dress things up in flowery language to avoid incriminating anyone. Let’s just say Julie had been gifted a certain botanical kindness by a family friend. She didn’t really know what to do with it, so she started sharing that generosity with Mr. Oxford. When the supply ran out, so did his enthusiasm — and Julie realized he might have only been into her for the broccoli, not the bouquet.

Naturally, a bit of revenge started brewing.

Julie decided to decorate the stolen underwear with Sharpie:

“These are Mr. Oxford’s underwear. Mr. Oxford made these stains.”

Then she planned to toss them into his classroom. Not just any class — a packed lecture hall during school hours.

The only problem? Getting inside.

That meant getting past the hall monitor — Mr. Fry, a teacher Tea had once traveled to Russia with on a class trip. Luckily, Tea had a knack for getting into any closed hallway. She snagged a hall pass from the librarian (who’d also been on the trip) and casually chatted up Mr. Fry while Julie slipped past the door.

Inside, Julie called out, “Mr. Oxford!” and launched the underwear across the room. They landed on a girl’s desk, who read the message and used her pencil to toss them forward.

“Mr. Oxford, I think these belong to you.”

Julie bolted out of the room, running toward Tea, both of them giggling as they fled down the stairs. Mr. Fry called after them,

“Are you two up to no good?”

They laughed: “Maybe!” and disappeared around the corner.

Later that day, once the classroom emptied out, Tea and Julie crept back in and found the underwear in the trash at the front of the room. A perfectly punctuated ending… or so they thought.

Eight years later…

Tea was working at a record store, spinning the new Jamiroquai album, when who should walk in but Mr. Oxford and his friend. Tea played it cool, but she knew exactly who he was.

Oxford started chatting, lightly flirting:

“I love this album. I have to have it.”

Tea said, “I can order it, but we’re sold out.”

He smirked, “Then why are you playing it?”

Tea smiled, “They’re playing the Metro in Chicago. I’m promoting the show.”

He replied,

“Alright, I’ll buy tickets — but only if you promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“If you’ll go with me.”

Tea said yes.

Then she asked if he wanted the album ordered too. He said yes again. So she picked up the order pad and wrote his name — before he ever said it.

He and his friend blinked.