The Saturday evening Gala has always been a great opportunity to create new friendships, renew old friendships, and let your hair down with like minded people. In addition to the merriment, there is also a silent auction and a mercifully brief live auction to raise funds for the New Alexandrian Library.
The Gala ticket, the Gala includes snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, a performance, and dancing. There is also a cash bar at the Gala.
The Auction:
There is a silent auction and a mercifully brief live auction to raise funds for the New Alexandrian Library near the end of the night.
Auction Donations:
If you have something that you’d like to donate to the auction please contact us at: sacredwheel@sacredwheel.org. We will have previews of some of the items for the auction closer to the event.
What To Wear?
We encourage you to dress up from any time period or place, real... or imagined. Victorian, steampunk, goth, cirque noir, renfaire, and Fae are among the many options for the night. If that doesn’t work then go elegant, formal wear, or leather and lace, or ?. You are a one of the stars of the event and what you wear contributes to the mood for all. Even if you don’t have the time or interest to create or buy fanciful garb, we bet that you have something to wear that makes you look amazing.
The Band & Entertainers
Frenchy And The Punk
Frenchy and the Punk is French-born singer and percussionist Samantha Stephenson and American Hardcore Punk veteran guitarist, bassist and drummer Scott Helland. Their music is flavored with an alternative post-punk vibe and intertwined with dark pop and modern cabaret elements.
They are well known to the Pagan community having performed, since 2000, at events such as Sirius Rising, Rites of Spring, St Louis Pagan Picnic, Heartland, Hexenfest and Pagan Pride Festivals across the country as well as special concerts at metaphysical community event spaces.
Reminding one generation of Grace Slick and another of Siouxsie Sioux, Stephenson sings in both English and French with a powerful yet graceful Gothy heft. Helland, a former bass player from the legendary Massachusetts hardcore bands Deep Wound (with J Mascis and Lou Barlow of Dinosaur jr) and Outpatients, propels this dynamic duo’s sound with looped rhythms and melodic Rock, Surf and Spanish style electro-acoustic guitar licks.
The Hudson Valley, NY, based duo has become an in-demand performer on the post-cabaret, mythic and steampunk scenes. Their engaging, unjaded live shows and unbounding onstage chemistry converts strangers to fans regardless of the setting. Listed as one of the top duos in the US by Yahoo Music Blog, this prolific and fiercely independent duo has written and released records on their own label since 2005, directed and edited their own music videos and Stephenson and Helland also release music under their side-project Drawing Hands and Scott’s spy noir solo guitar act Guitarmy of One. They regularly design and release art work and merch adorned with their symbol the Batfrog, a mystical creature inspired by the natural world. They have toured across the U.S. and Europe as well as Canada and had the distinct pleasure of playing in West Africa. Their latest album, Zen Ghost, was released in Oct 2022.
Visit https://frenchyandthepunk.com
Guitarmy of One:
Scott Helland’s Guitarmy of One creates an amalgamation of cinematic music, punk, surf, spy noir and Spanish guitar styles all played on an acoustic electric hybrid Godin guitar. This veteran of the Massachusetts punk scene layers and live-loops rhythms and melodies with driving beats to create a refreshing take on instrumental guitar music.
Helland got his start playing bass guitar in the hardcore punk scene in the 80s with the band Deep Wound that he formed with J Mascis and Lou Barlow (Dinosaur jr). He also performed and released several albums with East Coast hardcore and crossover thrash stalwarts Outpatients as well as School of Violence and Darkside NYC. He went solo in the mid nineties releasing numerous eclectic instrumental albums that touched on Ambient, Celtic and New Age music. In 2005 he formed the post punk dark pop cabaret duo Frenchy and the Punk with French born singer Samantha Stephenson. The duo continues to release records and tour the US, Canada, Europe and have even played in West Africa.
Helland began releasing instrumental guitar music again in 2017 with the driving, melodic all acoustic ‘Never End the Rocket Century’ album. In 2021 Helland's Guitarmy of One released ‘The Spy Detective Collective’ album, inspired by his childhood immersion of TV detective and spy shows ala The Man from Uncle, The Prisoner, I Spy, Rockford Files and the like. The 10 song album got rave reviews citing the album’s plethora of Spanish and Surf guitar riffs and melodies mixed with its driving cinematic overtones. Visit http://www.guitarmyofone.com