Memphis Grizzlies

IIt’s one of the defining songs of the Blues, written by one of its formative figures, Son House. The opening lyric “Woke up this morning…” would be considered trite today, but its 1930 recording date makes it more iconic than anything. With its simple but insistent guitar rhythm and mournful lyrics, “Walkin’ Blues” is a virtual blueprint for Delta Blues, and a powerful influence on the development of modern blues. Son House’s influence was felt profoundly by Robert Johnson, whose handful of…

The Success of Justin Timberlake Born on January 31, 1981 in Memphis, Tennessee, Justin Timberlake is a natural born entertainer. He has two half-brothers named Jonathan and Steven. He grew up singing and acting. His whole family knew, he was a very talented child. He mentioned that he was inspired by Janet Jackson because she “didn’t just stand there and sing her song.” Jackson would always be dancing and singing her heart out when performing. When he was only 11 years old, Timberlake went on…

Albert Greene, most commonly known as Al Green, is one of the most legendary soul singers of the 1970’s. It was his thrilling cries and moans, along with his Memphis soul sound, that made his singing famous. He began singing gospel at the age of nine with the Greene Brothers, a family quartet (Roling…). After being dismissed from the group by his father, at age 16 he formed a pop group with his high school friends. Though their first single did well, the follow-ups were unsuccessful, and the…

When five children die in a fire without any clue as to where they went, it is suspicious. This is exactly what happened to five children in the Sodder family. The official statement is that they died in the fire, but there are many clues to say otherwise. A psychopath could have murdered them, or someone could have kidnapped them. What happened that fateful night still remains a mystery. Crimes do not occur out of nowhere. Many things lead up to crimes committed. Similarly, there is background…

Most of the clothes were found in the water next to the bodies, but instead of being torn all of the clothes were turned inside out. Two of the three pairs of underwear were never found, nor were Christopher Byers missing parts. It’s said that serial killers usually take something of the victims, but I’m not convinced Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley would do anything like that. Also at the scene, no blood or weapons were found anywhere around the area. The day after the bodies were discovered,…

reasonable doubt, they all have a bias against the defendant to begin with, and the judicial system doesn’t want to look bad. The witch trials are a great example and one of the oldest to happen in the colonial era, but it was still in America. The West Memphis three is another great example of the judicial system being corrupt. Even though these trials were hundreds of years apart, they are very similar. The Witch trials were hundreds of years ago, but they still have relevance today. The…

Mara Leveritt writes a fascinating tale of the American justice system gone terribly wrong in her book Devil’s Knot. On May 5, 1993, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Steven Branch went missing from their homes in West Memphis, Arkansas. Subsequently, their bodies were recovered in a body of water by their homes with signs that they had been ferociously beaten and murdered. The evidence showed that Christopher Byers had been castrated before he was killed. Quickly, the town found out about…

In Missouri the year of 1993, 17 year old Christopher Simmons and two friends Charles benjamin and John Tessmer planned to murder Shirley Crook. The friends planned to commit a burglary and murder by breaking and entering, they were going to tie up the victim. The boys met up during the night but Tessmer dropped out of the plan, Simmons and Benjamin proceeded with the plan and broke into Mrs.Crooks home and bounded her hands and covered her eyes, they then drove her to the state park and threw…

again.” This quote came from none other than Damien Echols, the so called “ringleader” of the Worldwide group of teens known as The West Memphis Three. The West Memphis Three were three teenages: Jason Baldwin, Damian Echols, and Jessie Misskelley. These three teens were accused of murdering three little boys along the bank of a creek. The West Memphis Three and Sacco and Vanzetti are two different crimes of murder. Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of robbery and murder of two police…

documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) takes an insider look surrounding the trials of three teens who were accused of brutally murdering and sexually assaulting three eight year old boys in the Bible Belt town of West Memphis, Arkansas. The accused, Jessie Misskelley Jr., Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin would…