Where's Mary Jane
The band name was inspired by a story about a popular foreign exchange student named Mary Jane Petrova, a talented Photographer from Vladivostok that came to the United States to refine her artistic skills back in the early 1970s.
The tale that's been floating around for decades is that one night during a fall thunderstorm, Mary Jane was walking back to her apartment after hanging out with friends at a party when two men approached her and tried to pick her up. Apparently the conversation escalated into an argument as the men began to physically intimidate her. Mary Jane fought back fiercely as the men tried to grab her; a passerby even ran across the street and stepped in to help Mary Jane but was stabbed several times by one of the strangers and left for dead. According to eye witnesses, an unmarked white van pulled up to the scene, and the two men overpowered and pulled her into the vehicle then disappeared into the night.
Friends and classmates reported Mary Jane missing and an extensive manhunt was launched in an effort to find Ms. Petrova. Her family was flown in from the Soviet Union, and with the help of Embassy translators, were briefed of the situation. Her parents were distraught with fear for the safety of their daughter.
As the weeks passed, hope for finding Mary Jane Petrova grew bleak. Her remains were found twelve weeks later on the edge of North River--charred and unrecognizable. Upon further investigation, authorities discovered that Mary Jane had been tortured at the River Rock Hotel (Suite-16) located in a seedy neighborhood a few miles south of the university before she was doused in gasoline, set on fire, and left at the muddy banks of the river to die.
Roughly two months later, a white van was found smoldering in the same location with the remains of four unidentifiable males. They had all burned to death. Oddly, the only evidence found at the scene was a hat that bore the name Mary Jane Petrova on the inside band.
Now according to urban legend, runaways that find themselves on the streets have a guardian angel looking over their shoulders. Strangers that mean to do them harm have unexplainably met unsavory deaths ranging from grisly disembowelments, and multiple stabbings and strangulation, to gruesome freak accidents involving blunt force trauma and spontaneous human combustion. According to each of the potential victims, there was always the presence of a young lady at the scene before each incident that told them to remain calm and they would be safe. Coincidentally, the descriptions given by runaways over the last five decades all match that of Mary Jane Petrova...an attractive young lady with long red hair, striking green eyes, that spoke with a soft accent.
Those that have encountered the female phantom have all claimed that they felt an air of sadness and alienation about her before she vanished into the shadows leaving behind only the faint smell of her perfume.
And as for those that prey on the helpless, Мэри Джейн Петрова owns the night...
Band Biography
A stylistically unique hard rock band from day one, the members of Where's Mary Jane have been performing, and playing in sync as if they’d been together their entire musical careers. Where's Mary Jane began when The Godfather (Guitarist and Vocalist) and Ajax (Bass) teamed up many moons ago and combined their playing styles and material with the humble vision of playing the clubs in Phoenix as Desert Reign.
Eddy Tuesday was the Drummer that would carry the band from the drawing board to headlining clubs, and from the recording studio to airplay on local 98 Rock. Where's Mary Jane took it's members on a journey through Arizona's clubs and nightlife where the power trio performed before a diverse audience before vanishing from the Arizona club scene.
Where's Mary Jane has returned to claim their namesake and revive the thunder and speed that put the band on the razor's edge years ago, and to do a few more studio projects with old and new material before they ghosted permanently into the neon desert for the last time.
