Friday, July 2th, Buffalo, NY: Mohawk Place
Wednesday, July 7th, Buffalo, NY: Nietzsche's
Thursday, July 8th, Toronto, Canada: Boiler House
Great Blue Heron Festival , Sherman, NY July 9th - 11th, 2004. John&Mary will play on Saturday 10th at 5:30 pm.

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004: Buffalo, NY: Mohawk Place - 9pm
Friday, August 27th, 2004: Souix City, IA: Lewis Bowl - 9pm
Saturday, August 28th, 2004: Palatine, IL: Idols - 9pm
Monday, August 30th, 2004: Syracuse, NY: Murphy's - 9pm
Tuesday, August 31th, 2004: Syracuse, NY: Onondaga Community College - 12:30pm

John&Mary and The Valkyries will be performing on :
Saturday, September 25th, 2004: Buffalo, NY: Nietzsche's 9pm
Wednesday, September 29th, 2004: Buffalo, NY: The Delaware Mansion (campaign launch party for Kevin Gaughan)

Ha ! Gotcha ! Who are The Valkyries ?
John Lombardo - guitar, vocals
Mary Ramsey - vocals, viola
Greg Gizzi - drums
Patrick Kane - bass guitar
Gino McManus - lead guitar


Natalie Merchant

July 31th, 2004 Northampton, MA The Calvin Theatre
August 1st,2004 Cambridge, MA Sanders Theater
August 2nd, 2004 Cambridge, MA Sanders Theater
August 3rd, 2004 New York, NY David Letterman
August 4th, 2004 New York, NY Town Hall
August 5th, 2004 New York, NY Town Hall
August 7th, 2004 Edmonton, AB Edmonton Folk Festival
August 9th, 2004 Thousand Oaks, CA Thousand Oaks Civic Arts
August 10th, 2004 San Diego, CA Humphrey's
August 11th, 2004 Hollywood, CA John Anson Ford Theatre
August 12th, 2004 Hollywood, CA John Anson Ford Theatre
August 14th, 2004 Santa Rosa, CA Luther Burbank Center
August 16th, 2004 Saratoga, CA The Garden Theater
August 17th, 2004 Saratoga, CA The Garden Theater
August 18th, 2004 Livermore, CA Wente Vineyards
August 20th, 2004 Portland, OR Schnitzer Concert Hall
August 21th, 2004 Redmond, WA Marymoor Amphitheater
August 22th, 2004 Medford, OR Britt Pavilion


Natalie's Summer Tour is over.Check out for her offical pics at www.nataliemerchant.com

January 2004 Updated - New Album and Gig
Now it's for real , the long awaited (and delayed) 10,000 Maniacs album was finally released on January 27th by Elektra/Asylum/Rhino Records.

You may order the album at CD_NOW/Amazon or CD Universe

Any gig ? Yeah , you bet. 10,000 Maniacs , with Oskar Saville singing greatfully will be in Chicago-Il at the Park West on February 21, 2004.

"Campfire Songs", subtitled "The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings " is a two amazing disc set, with 31 songs, 4 of them demos and 1 previously unreleased , covering the Natalie Merchant years, 1981 to 1993. Disc one has all the hits that reached the Top Ten and made the band sell more than 10.000.000 albums, all great classics now, play it loud and make your own spin dance. Disc two starts with the unreleased one, "Poppy Selling Man", known by the die hard fans in demos as "Poppies".It was one of the first songs Natalie Merchant wrote both music&lyrics and was left out of "Secrets of The I Ching" in 1983.

The unknown songs were all realeased as b-sides in singles of their hits and some will make some fans show their grin since the singles where they belong are hard to find or out of print.All the songs were digitally remastered for this compilation.

The inclusion of Cat Stevens cover "Peace Train" , withdrawed by Elektra from the cd copies manufactered only in the USA , attending to the band's request , stands out , what would have changed ?

The album also has an extensive booklet designed by Natalie Merchant with rare photos and liner notes by former Rolling Stone editor Anthony DeCurtis. Check Rhino's press release about the album.
The track list is :
Disc One 1. Planned Obsolescence 2. My Mother The War 3. Tension 4. Scorpio Rising 5. Like The Weather 6. Don't Talk 7. What's The Matter Here? 8. Hey Jack Kerouac 9. Verdi Cries 10. Trouble Me 11. Poison In The Well 12. You Happy Puppet 13. Eat For Two 14. Stockton Gala Days 15. Candy Everybody Wants 16. These Are Days 17. Because The Night (Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith's cover)

Disc Two 1. Poppy Selling Man - (previously unreleased) 2. Can't Ignore The Train - (demo) 3. Peace Train (Cat Stevens's cover) 4. Wildwood Flower ( Carter Family's cover) 5. Hello In There (John Prine's cover) 6. To Sir, With Love (by Don Black&Mark London, Lulu's cover) 7. Everyday Is Like Sunday ( Morrisey's cover ) 8. These Days ( Jackson Browne's cover ) 9. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You (Tom Waits's cover) 10. Starman (David Bowie's cover) 11. Let The Mystery Be - (Iris DeMent's cover, with David Byrne) 12. Noah's Dove - (previously unreleased, demo) 13. Circle Dream - (previously unreleased, alternate lyrics demo) 14. Eden - (previously unreleased, alternate lyrics demo).

December 2003/January 2004 Updated - Gigs
Oskar Saville made a great 2003, releasing her (great) album, "A Girl Named Oskar", touring with 10,000 Maniacs as lead singer and now, while the band is taking a rest for the next gig in february 2004, she is going also solo , check her in Dublin, Ireland, on New Year's Eve December 31st, 2003 at the Ambassador and in New York City at The Bitter End on January 8th, 2004.
More info at Oskar's website.







John&Mary will be making some gigs this December and in January 2004. Catch them at Jammin Java , Vienna, VA on December 31, 2003 and at Gravity Lounge, Charlottesville, VA, on January 1 and 2, 2004, when Stephen Monroe will be opening.
Their amazing new album The Pinwheel Galaxy can also be found at CdNow/Amazon . You can also check Mary Ramsey's new website at her solo career new recording label Mi5 Recordings UK and drop her a line.





"These Are Days"is probably the most remembered 10,000 Maniacs song by the folks that make the soundtracks. The song was in the teaser adds for "That 70's Show" new season and can be heard in the beginning of Steve Martin's new film "Cheaper By The Dozen".


08/02/03 updated -
OMG , out of the blue, Natalie Merchant mentioned in her website that she gave birth to her first child , a daughter. Wow , that's a private life, nobody knew or were expecting it. Hey ,we're very happy about it , welcome aboard. Here's her 8/1/2003 letter..
And folks ,do you want to listen to a good album , order the The House Carpenter's Daughter.

The new 10,000 Maniacs two cds compilation, Campfire Songs, has the artwork almost completed and a release date, October 28th.The track list is available : Disc One: The Singles ->Planned Obsolescence, My Mother The War, Tension, Scorpio Rising, Like The Weather, Don't Talk, What's The Matter Here?, Hey Jack Kerouac, Verdi Cries, Trouble Me, Poison In The Well, You Happy Puppet, Eat For Two, Stockton Gala Days, Candy Everybody Wants, These Are Days, Because The Night.
Disc Two: Rarities -> Poppy Selling Man, Can't Ignore The Train, Peace Train, Wildwood Flower, Hello In There, To Sir With Love, Everyday Is Like Sunday, These Days, I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You, Starman, Let The Mystery Be, Noah's Dove, Circle Dream, Eden.

August 23th 2002 - Gooood News - John&Mary's new album is almost finished. It is completely recorded and has 12 songs , 10 originals and 02 covers.
John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey are now working on the final mixings.
Armand John Petri , who worked with John&Mary in the mixings of "Victory Gardens" (also percussion in "Un Canadien Errant") and in the production , sound and mixing engineering of "The Weedkiller's Daughter" , and also produced and enginnered 10,000 Maniacs last album "The Earth Pressed Flat" is working with them.
So far , John has done all of the guitar tracks and Mary all of the strings, though her husband Salvador Garza may play on a track. The other musicians are Joe Rozler (accordian, keyboards), Nelson Star (bass), Stan Barton (mandolin) and Jerry Augustyniak (drums).
John Lombardo says that the new album is " a natural compliment to the other two." and Mary Ramsey adds they hope to get the album out for a late October release.

Mary Ramsey and her husband Salvador Garza performed on Jude Johnstone's new album Coming of Age, Mary on viola, and Sal on violin.

Jerry Augustyniak has been playing in the band "Only Humen", which is a cover band "that plays anything from Led Zeppelin to Hotel California." They play mainly around the Chautauqua, NY area.

Steve Gustafson and Dennis Drew and their new band, "Mighty Wallop", are working new songs in the studio.

May 2002 - Meanwhile we all eagerly wait for John&Mary's new cd, 10,000 maniacs official website is been reconstructed and it will have a timeline database that when completed, it should be a very appropriate legacy to our favorite band.
The Green Children mailing list has been moved to Yahoo Groups, here is the new link to subscribe.So here is your chance to share your 10,000 Maniacs pics, files , live songs , memories and opinions with the other listed fans.

Happy New Year folks , that all your wishes may come true. No news or gigs scheduled till now, January 30th/2002, it seems everybody is having a nice winter at home.

July to December, or December to July - 2001, whatever , here is what happened...

- On December 5th-2001 , 10,000 Maniacs got together one more time , woo-hoooo, to play their first gig since November 3th-2000 , when the band (still with Rob Buck on guitar) played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra . The band played in the "Sounds Like Justice" benefit concert at The Capitol Event Theatre in Toronto-Ontario, Canada. The Concert was held to raise money for AIDWYC (Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted). John Lombardo was the Artistic Director, helping to arrange all the music talent that performed. With 2 stages the music never stopped. From Caribbean Folk Performers to Mary Margaret O'Hara to Cristie Hall w/Jeff Healey to rapper Snow and many more.
10,000 Maniacs with Jeff Erickson, Buck's former guitar technician on lead guitar played These Are Days, Stockton Gala Days, Even With My Eyes Closed, More Than This, Because the Night and Rainy Day.
Don Semmens , 10,000 Maniacs number one fan was there and took a lot of pictures , he's sharing some of them them at http://home.attbi.com/~donsem/10km_toront.htm.

- On November 13th/2001 , former 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant released Motherland , her 3rd studio album , the 4th of her solo career.

- On October/2001, two great websites dedicated to 10,000 Maniacs closed down. Wouter Pronk's "10,000 Maniacs Discography" and Terry's "@Natalie's" ( Terry's "The Myron Belowe's Library" is still open) , Terry left a goodbye note , "The Great Ones Always Know When to Leave..."she wrote. Damn , we'll miss you alot. Wherever you are , folks , my glass of trapiste beer will always be raised to your excellent work through all these years.

- On September 7th/2001 , a lot of 10,000 Maniacs fans were probably humming the beginning of the Beatles song Sgt's Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band , "it was twenty years ago today..." , celebrating what is officially the day (September 7th -1981) of the first concert/gig of the band as 10,000 Maniacs.
Bob "O Matic" Wachter was on drums and Natalie Merchant was on vocals.

- Well folks, send your "Marry Me Mary Ramsey" t-shirts to retirement cause she got married to Salvador Garza , Downy Mildew 's string player .On the left , there is the happy couple.

Check the "Old News" back to 1997.