Punk performer Helen Wheels is one of the many fascinating figures lurking about in SVA's history. We have evidence of at least three late 1970s - early 1980s performances by Wheels and her band, commemorated by a some notable posters.
Below, Wheels pays tribute to the Marine Corps War Memorial.
Wheels is not an entirely unknown figure. Born Helen Robbins in 1949, she was a fixture in the 1970s-80s New York punk scene, performing at The Ritz, Zappa's, and CBGBs, where she opened for The Ramones and The Talking Heads.
By all accounts she was a magnetic and kinetic stage performer. Wheels was also a champion body builder, costume designer and artist, snake owner (her pet snake Lillith was, at the time, the largest privately owned reptile in NYC), a poet, and an alien abductee. She created her own wardrobe and promotional graphics.

She found early success as the lyricist of several Blue Oyster Cult tracks and as designer of their leather costumes; the money she made from those songs enabled her to start her own band. BOC’s Albert Bouchard, a longtime friend and creative partner, posted a lovely tribute on YouTube. Even better is this wonderfully evocative episode of Tim Ayre's Boderline Jukebox, which includes interviews with Helen's brother Peter Robbins, Bouchard, and East Village punk boutique Manic Panic founders Tish and Snooky Bellomo. (FUN FACT: Tish and Snooky's mom was Estelle Bellomo, the founding chair of SVA's Art Therapy program!)
In an interview with ROCKRGRL magazine in 1999, Wheels recounted her early days as a performer: "Early on, I was really mad. I used to go out in the crowd, stab knives in the tables, kick over people's drinks. I think I alienated people during that era." In the early 1980s she took up weightlifting as a way to channel her aggression and became a champion bodybuilder. In the 1970s and 1980s she released three EPs, including Post Modern Living, which was produced by then-BOC bassist Joe Bouchard, Albert's brother and Carry My Own Weight. 

Her friend R. Crumb provided the cover art for her compilation album, Archetype, released by Cellsum Records and Ripe & Ready in 1998.
She left New York City for Ithaca in the 1990s, where she established a small-press imprint, worked as a personal trainer, and started performing again as the lead singer of a band called Skeleton Crew. Tragically, she died in 2000 at age 50 after developing an infection following back surgery.

We recently came into possession of a trove of Helen Wheels-related ephemera that documents her career in the late 1970s and early1980s (and her enthusiasm for performing at SVA!). Among the materials is much more evidence of her performances at the College including correspondence with SVA founder Silas’ Rhodes, her DIY promotional flyers and press clippings, Carry My Own Weight on flexi-disk, and a 1980 demo cassette of three recordings. It all comes together to paint a picture of a very talented and charismatic performer trying to take her music to the next level.