Grenada, MS

Grenada is a city in Grenada County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,879 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Grenada County.

Grenada (grĭn ā' dä) is located at 33°46′30″N 89°48′32″W / 33.775, -89.80889 (33.775080, -89.808768). It is situated on the south bank of the Yalobusha River. Grenada Lake is located a short distance from the city. Grenada Lake is a man made lake that falls under the supervision of the Army Corp of Engineers.



According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 30.0 square miles (77.6 km²), of which, 30.0 square miles (77.6 km²) of it is land and 0.03% is water.

Notable residents:



Donna Tartt, author, grew up in Grenada.

Donna Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American writer who received critical acclaim for her two novels, The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002). Tartt was the 2003 winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for The Little Friend.

The daughter of Don and Taylor Tartt, she was born in Greenwood, Mississippi but raised 32 miles away in Grenada, Mississippi. At age five, she wrote her first poem, and she first saw publication in a Mississippi literary review when she was 13 years old.

Enrolling in the University of Mississippi in 1981, she pledged to the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma. Her writing caught the attention of Willie Morris while she was a freshman. Following a recommendation from Morris, Barry Hannah, then an Ole Miss Writer-in-Residence, admitted Tartt into his graduate short story course where, stated Hannah, she ranked higher than the graduate students. Following the suggestion of Morris and others, she transferred to Bennington College in 1982. There she met Bennington students Bret Easton Ellis and Jill Eisenstadt.

The Secret History

Tartt began writing her first novel, The Secret History, during her second year at Bennington. She graduated from Bennington in 1986. After Ellis recommended her work to the literary agent Amanda Urban, The Secret History was published in 1992, overwhelming the 75,000 first printing to become a bestseller, later translated into 24 languages.


Lake Grenada

The Secret History is set at a fictional college that closely resembles Tartt's alma mater. The plot concerns a close-knit group of six students and their professor of classics. The students embark upon a secretive plan to stage a bacchanal. The first-person narrative is flavored heavily by the differences within the group. These include: social class, privilege, intellect and sexual orientation. The narrator reflects on a variety of circumstances that lead ultimately to a murder within the group.



The fact of the murder, the location and the perpetrators are revealed in the opening pages, usurping the familiar framework and accepted conventions of the murder mystery genre. Critic A.O. Scott labeled it "a murder mystery in reverse."

The book was wrapped in a transparent acetate book jacket, an innovative design by Barbara De Wilde and Chip Kidd. According to Kidd, "The following season acetate jackets sprang up in bookstores like mushrooms on a murdered tree."

The Little Friend

The Little Friend, Tartt's second novel, also with a Chip Kidd jacket design, was published in October 2002. It is a mystery centered on a young girl living in the American South in the mid-20th Century. Her implicit anxieties about the long-unexplained death of her brother and the dynamics of her extended family are a strong focus, as are the contrasting lifestyles and customs of small town Southerners.

Donna Tartt

Other writing,

In 2002, it was reported that Tartt was working on a retelling of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus for the Canongate Myth Series, a series of novellas in which ancient myths are reimagined and rewritten by contemporary authors.



Making a stand in Grenada

In January 2008, Tartt revealed that she was halfway through work on her third novel and that it is not a thriller about a group of people trapped in an elevator, as had been reported in The Daily Telegraph.

Trent Lott, U.S. senator, was born in Grenada.

Chester Trent Lott Sr. (born October 9, 1941) is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. He has served in numerous leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including House Minority Whip, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and Senate Minority Whip. Lott is the first person to have served as whip in both houses of Congress.

On December 18, 2007, Lott resigned from the Senate to "spend more time with family" and pursue other job opportunities in the private sector, and ultimately became a Washington-based lobbyist. Lott's resignation from the Senate came just two days before the federal indictment of his brother-in-law trial lawyer Richard Scruggs. Scruggs plead guilty to conspiring to bribe a Mississippi Judge by promising him a federal judgeship appointment using his influence over Lott. Lott ruled out any health concerns affecting his resignation. At a press conference on December 31, 2007, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour appointed Roger Wicker to fill temporarily the Senate seat vacated by Lott. On November 4, 2008, a special election Senate race will be held to elect a senator to fill the remainder of the term.

Early life,

Lott was born in Grenada, Mississippi. His father, Chester Paul Lott, was a shipyard worker; his mother, Iona Watson, was a schoolteacher. He attended college at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in public administration in 1963 and a law degree in 1967. He served as a Field Representative for Ole Miss and was president of his fraternity, Sigma Nu. Lott was also an Ole Miss cheerleader, coincidentally on the same team with U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. He married Patricia Thompson on December 27, 1964. The couple has two children: Chester Trent "Chet" Lott, Jr., and Tyler Lott.

House of Representatives,

Lott was raised as a Democrat. He served as administrative assistant to House Rules Committee chairman William M. Colmer, also of Pascagoula, from 1968 to 1972.

In 1972, Colmer, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, announced his retirement after 40 years in Congress. He endorsed Lott as his successor in Mississippi's 5th District, located in the state's southwestern tip, even though Lott ran as a Republican. Lott won handily.

Lott's party switch was part of a growing trend in the South. During the 1960s, cracks had begun to appear in the Democrats' "Solid South", as many whites, motivated in part by the national Democratic Party's stance on civil rights, began to switch parties. For example, 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater carried Mississippi by winning an unheard-of 87 percent of the popular vote even as he was routed nationally.

It is very likely that Lott would have won even without Colmer's endorsement, as in that year's presidential election, Richard Nixon won reelection in a massive landslide. Nixon won 49 states and 78 percent of Mississippi's popular vote. Lott and his future Senate colleague, Thad Cochran (also elected to Congress that year), were only the second and third Republicans elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Lott's strong showing in the polls landed him on the powerful House Judiciary Committee as a freshman, where he voted against all three articles of impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon during the committee's debate. After Nixon released the infamous "Smoking Gun" transcripts (which proved Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up), however, Lott announced that he would vote to impeach Nixon when the articles came up for debate before the full House (as did the other Republicans who voted against impeachment in committee).

Sen. Trent Lott with Former Speaker of the House Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) at the 2004 Republican National Convention; both Lott and Gingrich provided consistent support to President George W. Bush.

Three months later, in November 1974, Lott and Cochran became the first Republicans re-elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction, in both cases by blowout margins. Lott was re-elected six more times without much difficulty, and even ran unopposed in 1978. He served as House Minority Whip (the second-ranking Republican in the House) from 1981 to 1989; he was the first Southern Republican to hold such a high leadership position.

United States Senate
Lott ran for the Senate in 1988, after 42-year incumbent John Stennis announced he would not run for another term. He defeated Democratic 4th District Congressman Wayne Dowdy by almost eight points. He has never faced another contest nearly that close. He was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006 with no substantive Democratic opposition. He gave some thought to retirement for much of 2005, however, after Hurricane Katrina, he announced on January 17, 2006 that he would run for a fourth term.

He became Senate Majority Whip when the Republicans took control of the Senate in 1995, succeeding as Majority Leader in 1996 when Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to focus on his presidential campaign. As majority leader, Lott had a major role in the Senate trial following the impeachment of Bill Clinton. After the House narrowly voted to impeach Clinton, Lott proceeded with the Senate trial in early 1999, despite criticisms that the Republicans were far short of the two-thirds majority required under the Constitution to convict Clinton and remove him from office. He later agreed to a decision to suspend the proceedings after the Senate voted not to convict Clinton.

After the 2000 elections produced a 50-50 partisan split in the Senate, Vice President Al Gore's tie-breaking vote gave the Democrats the majority from January 3 to January 20, 2001, when the George W. Bush administration took office and Vice President Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the majority once again. Later in 2001, he became Senate Minority Leader again after Vermont senator Jim Jeffords became an independent and caucused with the Democrats, allowing them to regain the majority. He was due to become majority leader again in early 2003 after Republican gains in the November 2002 elections. Shortly after the Strom Thurmond controversy, however (see below), he resigned from his leadership positions.

Since he lost the Majority Leader post, Lott has been less visible on the national scene. He battled with President Bush over military base closures in his home state. He showed support for passenger rail initiatives, notably his 2006 bipartisan introduction, with Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, of legislation to provide 80 percent federal matching grants to intercity rail and guarantee adequate funding for Amtrak. On July 18, 2006, Lott voted with 19 Republican senators for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act to lift restrictions on federal funding for the research. On November 15, 2006 Lott regained a leadership position in the Senate, when he was named Minority Whip after defeating Lamar Alexander of Tennessee 24-23.

Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire said, after Lott's election as Senate Minority Whip, "He understands the rules. He's a strong negotiator." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he's "the smartest legislative politician I've ever met."

2006 re-election campaign,

Main article: United States Senate election in Mississippi, 2006
Lott faced no Republican opposition in the race. State representative Erik Fleming placed first of four candidates in the June Democratic primary, but did not receive the 50 percent of the vote required to earn the party's nomination. He and second-place finisher Bill Bowlin faced off in a runoff on June 27, and Fleming won with 65% of the vote. Fleming, however, was not regarded as a serious opponent, and Lott handily defeated him with 64% of the vote.

Resignation,

On November 26, 2007, Lott announced that he would resign his Senate seat by the end of 2007. According to CNN, his resignation was at least partly due to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which forbids lawmakers from lobbying for two years after leaving office. Those who leave by the end of 2007 are covered by the previous law, which demands a wait of only one year. In his resignation press conference, Lott said that the new law had no influence in his decision to resign.

Lott's resignation became effective at 11:30 p.m. on December 18, 2007.

On January 7, 2008 it was announced that Lott and former Senator John Breaux of Louisiana, a Democrat, opened their lobbying firm about a block from the White House.

Lott wrote a memoir entitled Herding Cats: A Life in Politics. In the book, Lott spoke out on the infamous Strom Thurmond birthday party gaffe, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and about his feelings of betrayal toward the Tennessee senator, claiming "If Frist had not announced exactly when he did, as the fire was about to burn out, I would still be majority leader of the Senate today." He also described former Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as trustworthy. He also reveals that President Bush, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, and other GOP leaders played a major role in ending his career as Senate Republican Leader.

Herding Cats: A Life in Politics is a book written by U.S. Senator Trent Lott, a Republican from Mississippi. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. on August 23, 2005, the book spans 320 pages. The major points of the book are Lott's childhood in Grenada and Pascagoula, Mississippi, including his struggles with his alcoholic father; his election to Congress; his years in the House of Representatives during the Nixon, Carter, and Reagan administrations (including his service as Minority Whip in that body); and his service in the Senate, especially his service as Majority Leader during the Clinton and Bush Administrations. He recounts the formative events of his youth and the stories from his political life. From his decision to support Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan in the 1976 Republican primary to his working partnership with Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle during the Clinton impeachment and September 11, Lott traces the inner workings of congressional life.

One major focus of the book is the comments Lott made at the birthday party of Sen. Strom Thurmond in 2002 and the subsequent intense media coverage, which eventually led to his resignation as the Senate Majority Leader in December 2002. Lott names several figures who he believes orchestrated his downfall, including members of President George W. Bush's administration, such as then-Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and former FEMA head Joe Allbaugh (who Lott claims has admitted that he intended to bring Lott down as Majority Leader); as well as the successor to Lott as Majority Leader, Sen. Bill Frist.

Lott suggests that his forced resignation was a "strategic plan" devised by Bush and others who wanted Frist to take his place, since Frist supported key White House policies like the Medicare expansion, which Lott opposed. Lott notes, however, that his response to the Thurmond controversy played poorly in the media.

Lott wrote in the book that Frist betrayed him by not telling him about Frist's decision to run for majority leader beforehand. Lott says he took Frist as his protege, as Frist had no political/public experience when he was first elected to the Senate.

Some suggested that Lott's book, which portrayed Frist in a negative light, was designed to impede Frist's possible presidential campaign, but Frist did not run. Lott indicated in the book that he had repaired his relationship with Frist to some extent.

Lott also emphasizes his years as Majority Whip in the House and his years as Majority Leader in the Senate, where Lott claims to have built an efficient vote-getting organization and played a key role in several legislative accomplishments, including the Reagan-era budget cuts and tax cuts, and welfare reform and the tobacco settlement during the Clinton years. This emphasis may tie into Lott's ambition to rejoin the Senate Republican Leadership.

Lott's experience in political Washington as an elected official entered year 35 in 2007, and historically he shares a unique distinction of having been in congress during the 1972 Nixon impeachment proceedings and the 1998-99 impeachment proceedings and trial of then-President Bill Clinton.



Magic Sam, Chicago Blues Musician, born in Grenada.

Samuel "Magic Sam" Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969) was born in Grenada and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter. After moving to Chicago at the age of nineteen, he was signed by Cobra Records and became well known as a bluesman after his first record, "All Your Love" in 1957. He had several more hits and became very popular. He was known for his distinctive tremolo guitar playing.

Life and career

Magic Sam was a blues guitarist and singer.

After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1950, his guitar playing earned bookings at blues clubs in Chicago's West Side. He met his old childhood friend Magic Slim there in 1955, and gave him his nickname. Sam recorded for the Cobra label from 1957 to 1959, recording singles, including "All Your Love" and "Easy Baby." They never appeared on the charts yet they had a profoud influence, far beyond Chicago's guitarists and singers. Together with the records of Otis Rush (also a Cobra artist) and Buddy Guy, they made a manifesto for a new kind of blues. Around this time Sam also worked briefly with Homesick James Williamson. Sam gained a following before being drafted into the Army. Not a natural soldier, Sam deserted after a couple of weeks' service and was subsequently caught and sentenced to six months imprisonment. He was given a dishonourable discharge on release, but the experience had undermined his confidence and immediate recordings for Mel London's Chief Records lacked the purpose of their predecessors.

In 1963, he gained national attention for his single "Feelin' Good (We're Gonna Boogie)". After successful touring of the United States, UK and Germany, he was signed to Delmark Records in 1967, where he recorded West Side Soul and Black Magic. He also continued performing live and toured with blues harp player Charlie Musselwhite.

Sam's breakthrough performance was at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, which won him many bookings in the United States and Europe. His life and career was cut short when he suddenly died of a heart attack in December of the same year. He was 32years old. He was buried in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.



Black Magic is a blues album by Magic Sam released in 1968 by Delmark Records.

His guitar style, vocals and songwriting ability have inspired and influenced many blues musicians ever since. In The Blues Brothers, Jake Blues dedicates the band's performance of "Sweet Home Chicago" to the "late, great Magic Sam".

In 1982, Sam was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Citation,

"Magic Sam had a different guitar sound," said his record producer, Willie Dixon. "Most of the guys were playing the straight 12-bar blues thing, but the harmonies that he carried with the chords was a different thing altogether. This tune "All Your Love", he expressed with such an inspirational feeling with his high voice. You could always tell him, even from his introduction to the music."



West Side Soul is a 1967 album by Magic Sam. It is often cited by blues enthusiasts to be one of the greatest electric blues albums of all time.


Eddie Willis, was one of the Funk Brothers that played on the Motown hits in the 1960s

Eddie "Chank" Willis (born 3 June 1936 in Grenada, Mississippi) is an African-American musician. Willis played electric guitar and occasional electric sitar for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s.



Willis is known for his signature style of muted guitar riffs which added a distinctive tone or "color" to the beat, often timed with the snare, of the hundreds of hit songs recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. for Motown artists. Among the many Motown recordings WIllis performed on are "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, "The Way You Do the Things You Do" by The Temptations, "You Keep Me Hanging On" by The Supremes, and "I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder.



Influences for Willis include Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, and Albert King. He played a Gibson Firebird guitar on most his early 1960s work, later moving on to use a Gibson ES 335. On recordings such as The Supremes' "No Matter What Sign You Are", Willis performed on a Coral sitar.

Coral Sitar

An electric sitar is in fact a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional South Asian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar. Most, in fact, resemble the electric guitar in the style of the body and headstock, though some have a body shaped to resemble that of the sitar (such as a model made by Danelectro).

The instrument was developed in the late 1960s, when many western musical groups began to use the sitar. The sitar is generally considered a difficult instrument to learn. By contrast, the electric sitar, with its standard guitar fretboard and tuning, is easy for a guitarist to play.

In addition to the six playing strings, most electric sitars have sympathetic strings, typically located on the left side of the instrument (though some do not have these). These strings have their own pickups (typically lipstick pickups are used for both sets of strings), and are usually tuned with a harp wrench (a difficult process). A unique type of bridge, a "buzz bridge" (developed by session musician Vincent Bell), helps give the instrument its distinctive sound. Some electric sitars have drone strings in lieu of sympathetic strings. A few models, such as the Jerry Jones "Baby" sitar, lack both sympathetic and drone strings, while still retaining the distinctive buzz bridge.

Vinnie Bell used the instrument on several songs, including "Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers, "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne, and "She's A Heartbreaker" by Gene Pitney.

Because the tone quality and playing technique differ significantly from that of the sitar, it is not used by classical musicians, but typically by rock, jazz, fusion, and other pop music groups, notably Eric Burdon and the Animals in the song "Monterey", B.J. Thomas on "Hooked on a Feeling" in 1969, on the riffs to "It's a Shame" by the Spinners in 1970, and The Stylistics' frequent use of it in the 1970s. It has also been used by Genesis, Yes, Todd Rundgren, Guns N' Roses, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers,TexasBob Juarez from Psychedelic Punk Band Television Personalities,R.E.M, Metallica, Steely Dan, Santana, Roy Wood from The Move, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Kaoru of Dir en grey, Pat Metheny,Sigh (band), Rory Gallagher, Mint Royale, Steve Miller, and Chest Rockwell.

Versions of electric sitar were also developed both in India and Pakistan. Theses are smaller sized sitars that look like a sitar. These sitars are tuned the same way as the original classical sitar would be tuned. The difference between these sitars and the electric sitar mentioned above is that theses sitars have the same tone as a sitar.

The 'sympathetic' strings on most electric sitars do not resonant strongly enough to match the effect of an acoustic sitar. There are resonant chambers in the solidbody instruments that have Masonite tops, however it is not enough to excite the 13 strings into true sympathy. The strings are tensioned over two rosewood bridges with fret material as saddles so the sound is more like an Autoharp than a sitar. Engineer/Musician Mark Smart commissioned a buzzing bridge for his electric sitar's sympathetic strings.



"Hitsville U.S.A." was the nickname given to Motown Records' first headquarters. Located at 2648 West Grand Blvd. in Detroit, Michigan, Hitsville U.S.A., formerly a photographers' studio, was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959, and converted into both the record label's administrative building and recording studio, which was open 22 hours a day (closing from 8 to 10 AM for maintenance). Following mainstream success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gordy moved the label to Los Angeles and established the Hitsville West studio in Los Angeles, California, as a part of his main focus on film production.

Beginning in the 1960s, various Western pop artists began experimenting with the using the sitar in their music.


[edit] Early use of the sitar
Its first known use in a western pop song was in 1965, when The Yardbirds hired a sitar player to provide the main riff of their "Heart Full Of Soul" single. That version and the band's original take of "Shapes Of Things" also featuring the sitar, were however not released at the time.

The Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones used the sitar in "Paint It, Black"; he also played the Tambura on "Street Fighting Man". The sitar was used by The Beatles in "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Love You To", "Within You Without You", "The Inner Light", "Tomorrow Never Knows", and "Across the Universe" (with Ravi Shankar). Prior to this however, the sitar did appear on the American release of Help!, on an instrumental track called "Another Hard Day's Night" (a medley of "A Hard Day's Night", "Can't Buy Me Love", and "I Should Have Known Better"). This track has not been included on The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. George Harrison was introduced to the sitar by The Byrds, though this group never featured the instrument on records; guitarist Roger McGuinn used a retuned 12-string guitar to recreate the harmonies of Ravi Shankar (as did Brian Jones on some occasions). A fad for sitars in pop songs soon developed. The late 1960s saw the release of The Monkees' "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day", Rick Nelson's "Marshmallow Skies", Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco", The Cyrkle's "Turn-Down Day", The Cowsills' "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things", John Fred and His Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)", The Turtles "Sound Asleep", The Box Tops' "Cry Like A Baby" (electric sitar), The Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" (electric sitar), Traffic's "Paper Sun" and "Hole In My Shoe" and The Kinks' "Fancy". And even Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 with “Chove Chuva”. Though the craze had died down by 1970, the sound of the sitar had become an indelible part of pop music.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers used the sitar in their single "Don't Come Around Here No More".

John Renbourn used sitars prominently while with folk band Pentangle, on songs such as "House Carpenter", "Cruel Sister", "Rain And Snow" and "The Snows".

The Dutch band Shocking Blue used the sitar in many of their songs, most prominently in "Love Buzz", "Acka Raga", "Water Boy", "Hot Sand", and "I'm A Woman".

Roy Wood from The Move played sitar on "Night of Fear" by using the same riffs as Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and played the electric sitar on "Open up said the world at the door".

Although often overlooked, one of the most extensive users of the sitar in contemporary music were Mike Heron and Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band, combining folk, psychedelia with eastern influences.

Eric Burdon and the Animals had a sitar in the songs "Winds of Change" and "Monterey".

Strawberry Alarm Clock would use a sitar in their songs such as "An Angry Young Man" and "Sit with the Guru".

Art-Rock bands such as The Moody Blues used the sitar on a few albums, particularly on the album In Search of the Lost Chord. The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow also had a sitar on a few tracks on the album, as did Procol Harum's epic song "In Held 'Twas In I" on the segment "Glimpses of Nirvana". Jethro Tull used the sitar on "Fat Man" and "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day". The Strawbs on many recordings used the sitar. And Genesis used the electric sitar on their song "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" on their 5th album Selling England by the Pound. Yes Used the electric sitar on their album Close to the Edge.

Even Donovan's hit song "Hurdy Gurdy Man" used a tamboura as well as other songs by Donovan such as "Sunny South Kensington", "Breezes of Patchouli", "Celeste", "Guinevere", "Three King Fishers", "Ferris Wheel", and "Fat Angel".

Richie Havens made extensive use of the sitar in the title song to his second album, 'Something Else Again'.

Blue Cheer used sitar and tabla in their song, "Babji (Twilght Raga)".

Elton John's song "Holiday Inn (song)" from the Album Madman Across the Water has a sitar solo.

Steely Dan's 1972 hit, "Do It Again" featured an electric sitar solo by original guitarist Denny Dias.

T. Rex (band) used an electric sitar on "Chrome Sitar".

Other hits with prominent sitar parts include B.J. Thomas' "Hooked On a Feeling" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours".

History of Grenada

As the rivalry grew more intense, citizens of both towns decided it would be in their common interest to unite with their neighbors to form one stronger city. A mock wedding ceremony was held July 4, 1836 to symbolize the joining of the two towns into a new town which was called Grenada. Some sources believe that the name Grenada was a misspelling of the Spanish city Granada, while others claimed it came from the Indian word for marriage.

The new town of Grenada prospered as had its predecessors. In 1838, the town boasted both a girls and a boy’s high school, and in 1839, Grenada Male Academy and Grenada Female Academy were formed.

Residents of Grenada, in 1845, petitioned the legislature to create a new county with their town as its seat of government, but their petition was denied. In 1846, a tornado devastated the young town, destroying 112 houses. Then, in 1855, a fire swept through the town, leaving much of it in ruins. However, after each of these disasters, Grenada grew back stronger.

In 1860, the Mississippi Central Railroad line, which ran from Canton to Jackson, TN, was completed to Grenada. In 1870, Grenada County became the 64th Mississippi County organized. The new county encompassed 447 square miles of land, making it 64th in area among the state's 82 counties today. The 1870 census showed the county's population at 10,571 residents, including 1,887 residents of the city of Grenada.

The first Grenada County courthouse was an old storehouse which the county purchased for $3,000 in 1870 and used until 1833. In 1878, Grenada County's assessed valuation was $1,303,643. That same year, the county was struck by a yellow fever epidemic. The second Grenada County courthouse was built in 1883-1884 at a cost of $17,575. It remained in use for almost 80 years until it was torn down so a new courthouse could be built on the same site.

Most of the early industries in Grenada County were small sawmills. In 1883, the Grenada Oil and Compress Company opened. The next year another major fire struck the town, destroying three-quarters of the bustling town's business.

The Grenada Bank was chartered in 1890 and opened its offices in a building constructed in the 1840's in downtown Grenada. The bank moved to new quarters in 1913, but in 1978, the Grenada Bank System, now one of the State's largest banking institutions, repurchased its original home and completely restored the old building, which in 1979 was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Agriculture remained the mainstay of Grenada County's economy throughout most of the first half of this century, but from the 1930's on industry began playing more and more of an important role. Grenada took advantage of the state's fledgling BAWI program in 1937 to attract a new industry, Real Silk Hosiery Mills. This company, now known as Pennaco, Inc., remains one of Grenada County's leading employers today.

Grenada Lake

Description,

From Memphis, TN, 82 miles south on I-55 to Grenada, MS, then 3 miles east on MS 8.

Factoid: Grenada Lake, MS, on the Yalobusha and Skuna Rivers, is home to the "Thunder on Water" festival held annually in June. A visitor center, fitness trail and tennis courts are just some of the recreation opportunities located on the lake in addition to camping, boating and picnicking facilities. Civil War redoubts are located on Grenada Lake project lands and Civil War reenactments take place here.

Social Benefits

Facilities

32 recreation areas
276 picnic sites
350 camping sites
6 playgrounds
6 swimming areas
10 trail miles
0 fishing docks
16 boat ramps
0 marinas
0 marina slips

Visits (person-trips)

2,027,632 in total
144,773 picnickers
17,300 campers
34,875 swimmers
27,779 water skiers
369,435 boaters
1,157,778 sightseers
526,779 fishermen
31,023 hunters
218,579 others

Benefits in Perspective

By providing opportunities for active recreation, Corps lakes help combat one of the most significant of the nation's health problems: lack of physical activity.

Recreational programs and activities at Corps lakes also help strengthen family ties and friendships; provide opportunities for children to develop personal skills, social values, and self-esteem; and increase water safety.

Economic Benefits

2,027,632 visits per year resulted in:

$42.60 million in visitor spending within 30 miles of the Corps lake.
51%of the spending was captured by local economy as direct sales effects.
With multiplier effects, visitor trip spending resulted in:

$28.94million in total sales.
$14.96 million in value added (wages & salaries, payroll benefits, profits and rents and indirect business taxes).
Supported 511 jobs in the local community surrounding the lake.

Benefits in Perspective

The money spent by visitors to Corps lakes on trip expenses adds to the local and national economies by supporting jobs and generating income. Visitor spending represents a sizable component of the economy in many communities around Corps lakes.

Environmental Benefits

86,773 land acres
35,820 water acres
148 shoreline miles
10,574 environmental educational contacts

Benefits in Perspective

Recreation experiences increase motivation to learn more about the environment; understanding and awareness of environmental issues; and sensitivity to the environment.

Thunder On Water Safe Boating Festival

Story: When a city is located in close proximity to a major interstate highway and is also centrally located between two metropolitan cities, it could be the setting for a marketing success. But, add the fact that the city is also located less than five miles from a large body of water owned and operated by the Corps of Engineers and you have a businessman's dream. In theory, the scenario above outlines favorable conditions for growth in citizenry, industry and tourism. The exact conditions have been present for years in Grenada, MS. The city of Grenada is located just off Interstate Highway 55 and is approximately 100 miles between Memphis, TN and Jackson, MS. It is also the Home of Grenada Lake, a haven for sports and recreation enthusiasts of all kinds. Savvy businessmen and civic leaders recognized the potential for the city about 12 years ago when they formed a partnership between the Grenada Chamber of Commerce, Grenada Tourism Committee, civic leaders, and the Corps of Engineers. Of course, the various groups entered into the partnership with their own agendas. The Chamber, Tourism Committee, and civic leaders were most concerned with increasing city revenues and bringing tourists from across the nation to the city of Grenada. The Corps of Engineers wanted to get their water safety messages out to the masses instead of the handfuls that were being reached by their ranger force on weekends and during small events held at the lake by various groups. As a result of the union, a large annual event "Thunder On Water Safe Boating Festival" was begun. "Thunder" is held in conjunction with National Safe Boating Week and has been listed as one of the top ten summer events in the Southeast. There is something for everyone at Thunder. Besides the many vendors who sell every type of food imaginable, there is also an arts and crafts area, a carnival, fishing rodeo, concerts, fireworks and much, much more. You may wonder what the Corps gets out of the union. As host to the festival, Grenada Lake gets plenty of publicity and the opportunity to reach thousands with their summer water safety campaign. In the middle of the weeklong event, you will find water safety signs/banners, television and radio commercials about water safety, a water safety booth and day camp, and rangers galore spreading the water safety message to thousands of visitors who come to participate in the experience known as Thunder. The event brings an estimated $4 million into the local economy.

Lofton Achery Classic - May 6 - 8

The Mississippi Traditional Archery Association is part of the Mississippi Bow Hunters. With over 1300 members involved in the total organization, the Traditional Archery Chapter was founded eight years ago and has over 300 members. Since then, the Lofton Classic has been held at Grenada Lake for the traditional bow hunters.



Last year, 750 people competed in the two day festival from states such as Kansas and Ohio as well as the surrounding states. The Lofton Classic is a family oriented event, so with each entrant, usually comes two family members. Some families even camp out in the areas surrounding the event and view the competition, while most choose to stay in area motels. Entertainment and food is provided on Saturday evening. In addition to participants, around 35 exhibitors participated last year also.

Past participants have enjoyed the competition very much and hope to keep the event in Grenada. Melvin Tingle from Jackson (PBS) and Mid-South Outdoors (PBS) have filmed the event in the past.

Headquarters Building

M-1 Abrams Tanks

Camp McCain is a 13,000 acre National Guard Training Site located in Grenada County. McCain is a training area for Armor, Artillery and other units. Camp McCain has approximately 125 employees and provides an economic impact of some $8 million annually. This site served as an AT training site for an additional 4,500 soldiers during the summer of 2004, due to the federalization of Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg.

2008 Tournament Results
Lake: Grenada, MS
Region: 1
Date: 05/03/08



Crappie USA Tournament Results for the Grenada Lake Regional Event



This past Saturday Crappie USA held one of four regional events on Grenada Lake at Grenada, Mississippi. These anglers from 14 different states were competing for not only cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela's Crappie USA Classic to be held on Patoka Lake in Indiana.

This was one of the most competitive events so for this year with only about one half pound separating first through sixth place in the semi-pro division. As one team stated the bite was 180 degrees off from 3 weeks ago when these fish were in the pre-spawn stage. The next challenge for these anglers will be the Cabela's Crappie USA Classic to be held October 8-11 on Indiana's Patoka Lake where anglers from across the country will be competing to be crowned the Champions of the 2008 Classic.

Semi-Pro Division Results

Taking first place was the team of Mike Walters of Troy, Ohio and Rick Solomon of Piqua, Ohio with a total weight of 10.63 pounds. Mike and Rick were slow trolling in Graysport 8-10 feet deep with most of their fish coming off of grass lines. Mike and Rick were using B'n'M Poles rigged with brown Eagle Claw jigheads. The team as always was powered by a Minn Kota trolling motor using their Tite-Lok system. Mike and Rick received $5,000.00 for first place.

Second place went to John Harrison of Calhoun, MS and Kent Driscoll of Cordova, TN with a weight of 10.42 pounds and taking home $2,000.00. John and Kent started the day vertical jigging several spots around the lake, but by midday moved to Graysport where they found the bulk of their fish.

In third place was John Woods of Newbern, TN and Tracy McIntosh of Dyersburg, TN with a weight of 10.39 pounds. John and Tracy were slow trolling several areas of the lake using live bait and jigs, fishing grass in 2-4 feet of water. The team took home $1,000.00 for third place.

Steve Coleman and Ronnie Capps of Tiptonville, TN took fourth place with a weight of 10.15 pounds and receiving $800.00. Steve and Ronnie were fishing grass above Graysport in 8-10 feet of water using minnow rigs. The team noted that the bite was 180 degrees off from 3 weeks ago when these fish were in the pre-spawn stage.



Fifth place went to James Coleman of Cedar Hill, MO and Ross Whitney of Paragould, AR weighing in 10.08 pounds and taking home $600.00. James and Ross were fishing the Graysport area with their fish suspended 6 feet deep in 12 feet of water using black/chartreuse jigs all day.

Amateur Division Results

Taking first place in the amateur division was the team of Kevin Jones JR of Hillsboro, MO and Kevin Jones SR of Dittmer, MO with a total weight of 10.15 pounds and taking home a check for $3,500.00. The Jones team was fishing in between 30 other boats in the Graysport area using minnows and white/chartreuse Southern Pro jigs over grass in 6 feet of water.

Second place went to the Murray, KY team of Doyle and Sonny Milby with a weight of 9.91 pounds and receiving $1,500.00. The Milby's were using orange/chartreuse Southern Pro umbrella jigs fishing bottom 6 feet deep in the Graysport area.

Taking third place was Randy and Cindy Turner of Belknap, IL weighing in 9.8 pounds and taking home $1,000.00. The Turners were longlining red/white and chartreuse Southern Pro baits on Eagle Claw jig heads battling the wind west of the bridge.

In fourth was the Murray, KY team of Mason Milby and Ashley Adams weighing in 9.19 pounds and taking home $800.00. Mason and Ashley were spider rigging in 6-8 feet of water with their fish suspended 2 ½ feet deep using Eagle Claw jig heads with black/chartreuse and orange/chartreuse Southern Pro baits.

Fifth place went to the Ft. Payne, AL team of Harley Reynolds and Charles Burgess with a weight of 8.71 pounds and taking home $700.00. The team was pushing purple/chartreuse Big Bite jigs in Graysport 6 feet deep.

For a complete list of tournament standings and photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.



Big Fish Award

Taking big fish of the event was the team of Charles Cantrell of Macon, GA and Rick Howard of Warner Robins, GA with a 2.62 pound Grenada Lake crappie. The team received $400.00 along with a new Minn Kota trolling motor for big fish of the event. Second place in the big fish contest was the team of Kenneth Bolton and James Johnson of Hartselle, AL with a 2.26 pound crappie netting them $200.00 along with a Humminbird Matrix 12.

Crappie USA Kids Fishing Rodeo





In conjunction with the tournament Crappie USA held their Kids Rodeo on Saturday morning with 40 local children attending the event catching several large catfish from the Corp of Engineers ponds below the dam. All the participants signed up for a chance to win one of 4-$5,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela's Crappie USA Classic.

Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed over $255,000.00 to the “Crappie Kids” Scholarships since 1997. We are very proud to be a part of the education process for the youngsters who participate in our tournaments as adult/youth teams and those who fish in the Crappie USA “Kids Fishing Rodeos”.

A special thanks goes out to Walter McCool of the Grenada Tourism and Mayor Billy Collins for welcoming the anglers with the family and guests to their great city and for their support of this tremendous event. Also special thanks to Artie Hoff and the US Army Corps of Engineers officers for their support each year to make the Crappie Kids Rodeo such a successful event. Special thanks also to the Mississippi Game and Fish officers for their invaluable help and support before, during and after the tournament.

For more information on this great fishery and beautiful area call: 1-800-373-2571 or visit their website at: www.grenadamississippi.com.

Stats for the Tournament:

Weather-Temperatures in 70's all day with morning wind 5-10 MPH and 10-15 by afternoon.

Water-Water level at normal pool and muddy due to recent heavy rains. Big fish were slow and inactive due to being in post-spawn stage.

National Sponsors of Crappie USA are: Cabela's, Ranger Boats, Suzuki Marine, Tite-Lok Rod Holders and Acc., Cruiser RV, B'n'M Poles, Minn Kota, Humminbird Electronics, Adventure Products EGO Nets, J.R. Mad's, Eagle Claw, Eagle Claw Nitro Baits, Charlie Brewer's Slider Co., Food Source Lures, Big Bite Baits, TTI-Blakemore Road Runner, Vicious Fishing Line, Flip Stick Co., Southern Pro Tackle, Anglers Unlimited, Culprit Crappie Baits, AWD Baits, ANPAC ("American National"), Porcupine Fish Attractors, Cruiser RV and Ron Gooding Insurance.

The following companies furnish product to help make these events possible: Kodiak Fish Attractants, Keep Alive, and Hydro Glow.










Top Employers In Grenada County

Name Type of Business # of Employees
Luvata Heatcraft OEM Copper Tubing – HVAC Coils 1300
Advanced Distributor Products, LLC (ADP) Cooling Coils 752
Grenada School District Education 677
Grenada Lake Medical Center Hospital 625
Wal-Mart Discount Store 323
Luvata Heatcraft CCP Replacement Coils 320
Bowwater-Newsprint Newsprint 215
City of Grenada Government 183
Binswanger Mirror Mirrors 150
Grenada Manufacturing Metal Stamping 150
Hankins Lumber Co. Lumber 150
Georgia Pacific OSB Board 135
Camp McCain Military 125
Lehman-Roberts Asphalt 100
Sealed Air Corporation Meat Absorption Pads 80
Koppers Industries Treated Poles/Crossties 60

The Tourism/Hospitality Industry employs 902 people in Grenada County.

Grenada County was formed by an act of the Legislature on May 9, 1879 from lands taken from Carroll, Choctaw, Tallahatchie, and Yalobusha Counties. The city of Grenada, which was incorporated on February 27, 1836, was the largest town among the four counties which were pared to form Grenada County, and it was the natural choice to serve as the new county's seat of government.

The land from which Grenada County was formed was a part of the Choctaw Indian lands ceded to the United States under the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. The earliest known white settlers there were missionaries who established an Indian mission school in 1815 near what later became the town of Elliot.

The first town organized in the area was Chocchuma, where the land office for the sale of the Choctaw Indian lands was located. Although the public sale of the Choctaw lands did not start until 1833, two politicians and land speculators. Hiram Runnels and Franklin Plummer were able to purchase choice sites along the banks of the Yalobousha River from individuals who received the land directly under the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The two plots of land were later sold to other parties and eventually became the rival towns of Pittsburg and Tullahoma. Town lots went on sale in Pittsburg in October, 1833 and in Tullahoma in February, 1834.

The two towns, which were separated only by a section line (now Line Street in Grenada), both prospered and became sharp rivals. In 1835, Tullahoma attempted to annex Pittsburg, and Pittsburg retaliated with an effort to annex Tullahoma. The governor refused both annexation requests.

History Museum



— Located Downtown Grenada in the original Grenada Bank Building built in 1890.



Grenada High Jazz ensemble trombone player Willie Reese (left) is joined by Matthew Hood on electric guitar, Marissa Hipp on piano, Adrian Forrest on bass guitar and Logan Owensby on drums as they performed during Thursday night’s High Hopes reception. Tyler Finley is the ensemble’s director, which also includes Stephen Mayhan on trumpet and Drew Green on saxophone. Staff Photo / Allen Baswell