Mammoth Blog

Free agent Edgerrin James, the NFL's leading active rusher, has signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said last night.

Earlier last night, veteran running back T.J. Duckett told the Associated Press he had been waived by Seattle to clear roster space.

James was released by the Arizona Cardinals in April. source>>>

American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams have bought an ownership stake in the National Football League's Miami Dolphins.

"We are thrilled to have Venus and Serena join the Dolphins as limited partners," owner and managing general partner Stephen M. Ross said Tuesday.

"They are among the most admired athletes in the world and have become global ambassadors for the game of tennis.

"Their addition to our ownership group further reflects our commitment to connect with aggressively and embrace the great diversity that makes South Florida a multicultural gem."

Details of the minority purchase were not released.

In addition to the 18 Grand Slam titles, the Williams sisters have combined for nine Grand Slam doubles titles, 62 WTA Tour titles and three Olympic gold medals. source>>>

It will be the ultimate showcase for golf.

With exclusive Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City as its stage, this week's Barclays will feature breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty and Verrazano Bridge.

With Tiger Woods playing Broadway in a regular PGA Tour event for the first time since '03, 25,000 people will be crammed onto what has to be one of the most ambitious land reclamation projects ever. They couldn't have asked for a better start to the FedEx Cup playoffs.

But what of the golf course itself? Is the picture frame more impressive than the actual painting? Liberty, built at a cost of $129 million, has received mixed reviews since its 2006 opening.

"It's a golf course that looks like it came from Florida," says Bradley Klein, GolfWeek's architecture critic. "Essentially, it's a kind of TPC-style tournament course in a very dramatic setting. But it's not local, it's not native. You don't feel like you're a part of the immediate environment. It will play better on TV than it does on the green."

One prominent Tour player was saying earlier this year it would be the worst course his fellow golfers would play in 2009. Another quipped it will be the best course he'll play this week.

Vijay Singh thinks the course has "its own character" and "will grow on people."

But his answer to what style of player the course favors was telling.

"One who doesn't worry about what the golf course is and just plays one shot at a time," he said. "You go out there and start criticizing the golf course, then you might as well not show up."

Course architects Bob Cupp and Tom Kite know their handiwork will be under the microscope. They are aware the course is yet to land on anyone's list of top-rated golf sites, which, says Kite, is fine with him.

"If you want to play that political game, and buy your way into a list, you can probably do that ... so the ratings I think are very misleading," he said. "We certainly feel like Liberty National is qualified to be on any of those lists. Everybody that follows golf is going to know more about Liberty National than they did a week ago.

"I would be very surprised if it doesn't move up any of those lists. But that's not our goal. Our goal is to stay out of the political game, build the best golf course we could to challenge the best players, put it in the best agronomic conditions that we could and let the players come up here and tell us how good it is or how bad it is."

"Ultimately, it's a little bit like raising children," Cupp said. "You try really hard as parents to make sure your kids grow up good, but some of them do and some of them don't. And at some point you put them out in the world and they have to fend for themselves." source>>>

It will be the ultimate showcase for golf.

With exclusive Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City as its stage, this week's Barclays will feature breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty and Verrazano Bridge.

With Tiger Woods playing Broadway in a regular PGA Tour event for the first time since '03, 25,000 people will be crammed onto what has to be one of the most ambitious land reclamation projects ever. They couldn't have asked for a better start to the FedEx Cup playoffs.

But what of the golf course itself? Is the picture frame more impressive than the actual painting? Liberty, built at a cost of $129 million, has received mixed reviews since its 2006 opening.

"It's a golf course that looks like it came from Florida," says Bradley Klein, GolfWeek's architecture critic. "Essentially, it's a kind of TPC-style tournament course in a very dramatic setting. But it's not local, it's not native. You don't feel like you're a part of the immediate environment. It will play better on TV than it does on the green."

One prominent Tour player was saying earlier this year it would be the worst course his fellow golfers would play in 2009. Another quipped it will be the best course he'll play this week.

Vijay Singh thinks the course has "its own character" and "will grow on people."

But his answer to what style of player the course favors was telling.

"One who doesn't worry about what the golf course is and just plays one shot at a time," he said. "You go out there and start criticizing the golf course, then you might as well not show up."

Course architects Bob Cupp and Tom Kite know their handiwork will be under the microscope. They are aware the course is yet to land on anyone's list of top-rated golf sites, which, says Kite, is fine with him.

"If you want to play that political game, and buy your way into a list, you can probably do that ... so the ratings I think are very misleading," he said. "We certainly feel like Liberty National is qualified to be on any of those lists. Everybody that follows golf is going to know more about Liberty National than they did a week ago.

"I would be very surprised if it doesn't move up any of those lists. But that's not our goal. Our goal is to stay out of the political game, build the best golf course we could to challenge the best players, put it in the best agronomic conditions that we could and let the players come up here and tell us how good it is or how bad it is."

"Ultimately, it's a little bit like raising children," Cupp said. "You try really hard as parents to make sure your kids grow up good, but some of them do and some of them don't. And at some point you put them out in the world and they have to fend for themselves." source>>>

OLF CHANNEL concluded its exclusive coverage of The Solheim Cup on Sunday by garnering its highest rating ever (.93) for the final day of the LPGA's biennial team event, tripling the Sunday rating from 2007 (.27) and far outpacing the Sunday rating in 2005 (.62), the last time the event was played on U.S. soil.

The rating for the six hours of coverage on the third and final day of the international event - which pitted the U.S.A. versus Europe - represented more than 956,000 total viewers, which was the highest for an LPGA telecast on GOLF CHANNEL this year and second only to the U.S. Women's Open as the highest rating for women's golf on television so far in 2009 - cable or broadcast.

Friday's rating (.32) was the second-highest Friday rating on television for a LPGA Tour event this year, and coverage of Saturday's matches - at 12 hours representing the longest continuous GOLF CHANNEL tournament telecast ever - achieved a rating of .60, topping same-day ratings from both 2005 and 2007.

The coverage marked both the first time GOLF CHANNEL aired the Solheim Cup in HD and the first time the network's Live From news franchise covered a women's event.

Web traffic on GolfChannel.com also posted unprecedented gains with page views totaling 3.3 million and nearly 468,000 visits to the site.

The success of The Solheim Cup ratings continues positive viewership trends on the network across all the major golf tours in 2009, as well as for non-tournament programming. GOLF CHANNEL set new marks for round one coverage (World Golf Championship - Accenture Match Play Championship), weekend lead-in coverage (Quail Hollow Championship) and Nationwide Tour coverage (BMW Charity Pro-Am). In addition, 20% more viewers tuned into Live From the Masters and Live from the U.S. Open, ratings highs were also set at Live From THE PLAYERS, Live From the PGA Championship and Golf Central, and The Haney Project was the network's highest-rated original series premiere. source>>>

Tim Donaghy apparently took a gamble and lost - again.

The ex-NBA ref, who was just released in June from a federal prison camp for betting on basketball games, was re-arrested Monday morning.

Donaghy, 42, a Delaware County native who has been living in a Tampa, Fla., halfway house, was sent to the county jail Monday for a federal rule violation, according to prison records.

"He was supposed to be at work but wasn't there, he was somewhere else," said Ron Lindbak, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. He could not provide additional information.

Donaghy is being held at the Orient Road Jail, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

"They don't mess around. The halfway houses have pretty strict rules," Lindbak said. "Pretty much any violation is going to get you sent back to jail."

But Donaghy's attorney, John Lauro, called the incident a "misunderstanding." He said Donaghy went to an area health club Friday to work on his knee, which was injured when he was attacked inside a minimum-security prison camp in Pensacola. Donaghy said he was assaulted in November by an inmate claiming to have New York mob ties.

Lauro said Donaghy thought he had permission to leave, but federal authorities believed otherwise.

"They felt that he hadn't gone through the proper channels" before leaving for the health club, Lauro said.

Donaghy was sentenced last summer to 15 months in prison on wire fraud and interstate gambling charges. He dished inside NBA information to two old classmates from Cardinal O'Hara High, setting off a scandal that roiled the league for more than a year.

The disgraced ref, who says he was assaulted in November by an inmate claiming to have New York mob ties, is also working on a tell-all memoir about his 13 years in the league. It will examine what Donaghy calls the "culture of manipulation and fraud" in the NBA and offer advice to gambling addicts. source>>>

Elected leaders, community activists and the Chicago Crime Commission -- joining forces as the Coalition Against Neighborhood Gambling -- cautioned members of the Illinois Gaming Board that the long-term cost to society would far outweigh any short-term revenue gains if video gambling machines were installed in Illinois. At Tuesday's meeting of the Illinois Gaming Board, they also warned that plans to place 45 thousand video gambling machines throughout the state would create a virtually uncontrollable situation and asked that Springfield reverse the state's video gambling law.

"Today we are coming to the Illinois Gaming Board for the public hearing on video gambling that never happened in Springfield," said Cook County Board Commissioner Bridget Gainer from Chicago. "It is imperative that those charged with regulating video gambling in Illinois thoroughly understand that video poker has left a wake of crime and bankruptcy in every state that has legalized it," she added.

"While there is great need for a capital bill in Illinois to rebuild our roads, bridges, schools and transit system, I assure you that video gambling is not a part of the solution," Gainer said. Gainer, who plans on introducing an ordinance to ban video gambling in Cook County on September 1, 2009, said any short-term revenue gains would be far exceeded by the long-term costs to society.

In fact, Gainer questions the revenue projections of video gambling in Illinois. "I believe the projected revenue increase of $300 million is an exaggeration bordering on fantasy. There is a finite amount of money that people are willing to spend on gambling, and while video gambling may attract many of those dollars, it will be at the expense of the tax revenue collected from the lottery, casinos or racetracks, and the cost of taxpayer dollars for the increased law enforcement costs communities will experience," she said. "Essentially, we will be robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Earlier this month, in response to the passage of the video gambling law, the DuPage County Board voted unanimously to ban video poker in unincorporated areas of DuPage County after County Board Member Brien Sheahan introduced the prohibition with the backing of Chairman Bob Schillerstrom.

"This legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly represents an unprecedented expansion of gambling, and we wanted to send a clear message that it is not right for DuPage County. I also believe video gambling is wrong for every other community in Illinois," commented Sheahan.

Sheahan said he hopes the opposition catches on and pushes legislators to find other revenue options. "I am hopeful the Illinois legislature and the Governor will see their error and move quickly to introduce legislation to reverse the video gambling law. This is an extremely bad revenue source, at a cost that is unacceptably high," he said. "I guarantee it will be a lot more trouble than it's worth." Sheahan concluded.

"The decentralized nature of video gambling may soon turn Illinois into the 'Wild West' of gambling," said John Pastuovic, Director of Public Affairs for the Chicago Crime Commission. "I would encourage elected officials and regulators throughout the state to seriously consider the ramifications of their actions and move quickly to ban video gambling machines before they are ever installed," he stated.

While a law enforcement needs analysis is currently non-existent, the Chicago Crime Commission estimates that Illinois will soon have to hire hundreds of new police and regulatory personnel to begin addressing the law enforcement requirement of this gambling expansion.

Pastuovic also expressed concern that it would be difficult if not impossible to curb the influence of organized crime in this new, tough to regulate enterprise. "It is a fact that organized crime is known to gravitate towards gambling and other ancillary businesses," he continued.

"Video gambling has been called the crack cocaine of gaming for good reason. With the proliferation of video gambling, communities can expect to experience an increase in crime and a rise in other social ills connected with this type of gambling expansion," he added.

"I have significant concern that entire families will be left penniless because Mom or Dad will be feeding their entire paycheck into the video poker machines," Pastuovic concluded.

Others coming out to show their support at the Illinois Gaming Board meeting included Anita Bedell, Executive Director, Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems; Andy Shaw, Executive Director, Better Government Association; Aaron Lawlor, Dupage County Commissioner; Mayor Dwight Welch, Country Club Hills; Diane Gutenkauf, Elmhurst City Council; and Diane Pezza, Elmhurst City Council. source>>>

With an Aug. 31 deadline looming, time is running short for state leaders and the Seminole Tribe to agree on a new gaming compact.

Both the tribe and Galvano, the House's lead representative on gaming, have met this week with staff for Gov. Charlie Crist, who is responsible for negotiating the final agreement. And while both sides sound upbeat, neither seems to be drastically changing its tune.

Galvano, R-Bradenton, said in Tallahassee today that he's "optimistic" a deal can be reached in time. "I think everybody's working hard at it."

But he continued to stress that lawmakers worked hard on the compact parameters they approved last spring. They are disappointed, he said, that the tribe is treating that agreement as a "green light" to drive a harder bargain now. "If it's something the Legislature's never going to support, and it was a difficult vote to begin with, they're spinning their wheels."

A key issue, he said, remains the Seminoles' push for more exclusive rights to offer blackjack and slots.

The terms approved by lawmakers gives the tribe a degree of exclusivity but leaves open the possibility that non-tribal competitors could also get the games.

If that were to happen, the tribe would still have to pay the state for the right to offer its games unless the new competition substantially hurt the tribe's bottom line. The tribe also wants to be able to operate blackjack at all of its facilities, he said. The compact terms restrict the games to certain facilities and require the tribe to take down some card tables already in operation.

"We're paying for the right to have slots and blackjack; that's what the money is for," said Seminole councilman Max Osceola, who was in Tallahassee Monday night.

Osceola said that all of the parties are "closer to agreement than further apart." But if no agreement is reached by Aug. 31, he said, it won't be for lack of effort by the tribe.

He compared the compact terms to the sticker on a new car in a dealer's lot. "I don't know anyone who pays sticker price." source>>>

I tried to think about all the possibilities of what would the gaming world be like without a ps3 or even an xbox 360. In simple boring, But technology has advanced so much. about 10 years ago, we saw the evolution of gaming, from 8 bit gaming to the ps1. It was the item you had to have, Then after the launch of the ps2, there was still no other match for it. Two years ago, Microsoft brought in The xbox 360 which made the aging ps2 look like a machine with no va va voom. The ps3 set the benchmark with hi-def gaming & has set the level, the new xbox is coming but will it surpass the japanese. I doubt it, There are new toys coming out for the xbox 360 but will it last? The xbox pricing is the best to suit the tough times, but lets face it, if you want it you gonna get it, no matter what the price. Sony officially stated that a slimline ps3 is coming but the price tag is unknown. The war will forever be between these two machines until one dies... For now you have to be in it to enjoy it... You choose your world, I have. source>>>

Ads are currently circulating the web that reflect an Xbox 360 price drop for Sunday, August 30th. Engadget nabbed the Target Ad, which lists the Pro model at $249, and the 120GB Elite model at $299. A Best Buy ad surfaced on Kotaku, and one for Walmart on Joystiq. This appears to be Microsoft's answer to the Sony's PS3 Slim and the price drop announcement. We'll be keeping an eye out to see if these ads turn out to be the real deal. source>>>

Sell Shoes on eBay! eBay is a great place to sell shoes. You can sell new shoes or used shoes. And if you sell them the right way, you can really earn some decent extra money! I've sold lots of shoes on eBay. Here is what I learned:

Take Good Photos! It's hard to buy something that you can't really see. Make sure you take photos from all angles. If the shoe is used you may even want to take a photo of the sole to show how scuffed it is.

Give Measurements! Don't just give a size. People can't try on the shoe so they need measurements. Place a tape measure inside the shoe and state the actual length of the inside of the shoe from the toe to the heel. Also give the width at the widest part of the shoe and the height of the heel.

State the Brand! If the shoe has a brand by all means say so! But you don't have to sell only brand name shoes. There is a market out there for all types of shoes.

Give Ideas! Don't think anyone wants grandma's chunky heels from 1950? Think again! Old shoes are great for Halloween costumes. So say that in your auction!

Don't Show Feet! Take photos of only the shoes. And if you are selling sandals, never put them on a bare foot. eBay has been known to take down auctions with bare feet because they assume you are catering to those with a foot fetish. source>>>

The alleged Kenyan birth certificate offered by eBay seller Lucas Smith and displayed last weekend on YouTube.com is not a valid document, a WND investigation has revealed.

Screen shot of whole document from Lucas Smith's video; close-up views available in clip below

Administrators at Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, the hospital named as President Obama's supposed birth hospital in the document, refused to authenticate the record when contacted by WND sources in Kenya.

Demand the truth by joining the petition campaign to make President Obama reveal his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate!

The document appears to have the following defects:

1. Kenyan news sources have called into question the use of "Coast Province" or "Coast Provincial" as a correct reference to the official name of the Mombasa general public hospital in 1961, citing Professor Dan Branch of the University of Warwick who noted that the term "Coast Province" was not used in the early 1960s when Kenyan provinces were typically referred to as "regions."

2. Until 1964, Kenya was the Dominion of Kenya, not the Republic of Kenya, and Mombasa was part of Zanzibar until Dec. 12, 1963, not a coastal province of Kenya.

3. Dr. James O.W. Ang'awa, the physician who was named in the document as the attending physician at Obama's birth, was a physician who worked in Kenya during the 1960s; however, he worked at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. Dr. James O.W. Ang'awa never worked at any hospital in Mombasa.

4. The dates on the document are formatted in U.S. style, listing in order the month, day and year; this is not the British format which typically follows the order of day, month and year.

5. The footprint on the document appears nearly perfect in definition; real infant footprints typically show signs of smudging because of foot movement.

6. The footprint on the document is densely black, revealing few natural lines on the sole of the foot; footprints used for document identification are typically inked much lighter to allow for natural lines to be clearly apparent.

7. Footprints taken for document identification are typically taken for both feet, just as fingerprints taken for identification are typically taken for both hands.

8. The document does not look remotely like the 1961-era birth certificates used in Kenya; infant footprints were not displayed on Kenyan birth certificates in the 1961-era.

WND sources in Kenya described the Smith document as a clever forgery in that Helton Muganga is currently an administrator at Coast Provincial General Hospital
. source>>>

Does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have a deal for you.

His plans to cut up the state's credit cards didn't go so well, and voters gave the thumbs-down to his bid to shackle government spending. No matter. In his latest effort to balance the budget, the governor is cleaning out the state's storage sheds and holding a garage sale on Craigslist and EBay.

Need a 2001 Ford Focus wagon with 110,059 miles and Schwarzenegger's autograph on the visor? Someone did, offering the high bid of $1,625.01 for the old state car as of Tuesday afternoon. The governor got the idea to sign the visors from one of nearly 1 million people who follow him on Twitter, and he jumped on it.

"I look forward to selling these signed cars and making some $ for California," the governor tweeted last week as he autographed the visors.

"It's an innovative idea," said the governor's spokesman, Aaron McLear. "We're always happy to listen to the people about ways in which we can run government more efficiently."

The state began selling unneeded or unclaimed items online last week and is holding a two-day auction of 6,000 more on Friday and Saturday at a Sacramento warehouse.

In the market for seven used State of California coat racks? You could snap them up at $5 each -- or buy six and get one free. A pearl ring in 10-carat gold with diamond accents drew a high bid of $46 on EBay on Tuesday. Earrings were selling for $51.

"He's auctioning Maria's earrings?" asked John Burton, the state Democratic Party chairman and former Senate leader. Hold on. . . . The jewelry didn't belong to First Lady Maria Shriver; it was confiscated or listed as unclaimed by the state police.

Strictly speaking, Schwarzenegger's signature on the visor of a state car might add $400 of value at most, according to Darren Julien, president and chief executive officer of Julien's Auctions in West Hollywood. A motorcycle or a jacket from a Schwarzenegger movie would be highly coveted, but none of those items is on sale.

"We've sold his 'Terminator' jackets for as much as $40,000," said Julien, who specializes in celebrity auctions, including an upcoming sale of some of Barbra Streisand's possessions. "It's too early right now for him to be highly collectible as a governor or as a politician. That could change in the future."

Schwarzenegger has drawn on his cinematic background for politics and government before, smashing a car to symbolize his plan to roll back vehicle license fees and twisting a fake spigot to stop a flow of "red ink" in criticism of state spending habits.

State Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), a frequent critic, noted that Schwarzenegger's approval ratings are in the mid-30s, and said he was "amazed" that the governor still "resorts to these antics that are kind of reflective of a person that is larger than life."

The state regularly sells its extra property. The cars being auctioned were declared surplus in an executive order by Schwarzenegger last month to reduce the size of California's vehicle fleet. And he told state agencies to look for even more things to sell.

The state held a similar "garage sale" in 2004, Schwarzenegger's first full year in office, and sold some items on EBay then too.

On Tuesday, California unloaded a FoodSaver Original Home Packaging System for $27 on EBay (plus $15 for shipping), officials said.

"It's a seal-a-meal, if you've watched any infomercials," explained Erin Shaw, a spokeswoman for the State and Consumer Services Agency, which is overseeing the auction.

Shaw said the item came from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, but it was unclear why the prison agency had it and why it wasn't wanted anymore.

At www.dgs.ca.gov/ garagesale, prospective buyers can find a list of other things the state no longer desires, such as box cutters, binoculars, a belt buckle, a ceramic heart, a fishing pole and Sacramento Kings bobblehead dolls.

The sale may be mostly symbolic, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. But "if this is the beginning of taking a . . . thorough review of our property management practices, it's a good thing." source>>>

Rising Detroit R&B singer Kem, who was featured earlier this month in a New York Times article about the revival of soul music, will be back in the D this Sunday to offer up a free concert for his home community.

The event is dubbed "KEM Live @ Mack & Third: A Call to Service," and the concert lineup, featuring local hip-hop, soul, gospel and funk artists, was released yesterday on the Detroit Free Press.

Two of the biggest names on the lineup are local soul singer Monica Blaire and funk band HotSauce.

The concert will take place in Detroit's Cass Park, Sunday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m.

Admission is free, but attendees are encouraged to bring along canned goods that can be donated to Gleaner's Food Bank.

Kem is known for incorporating his spirituality into his concerts and the lineup will include some Christian and gospel artists.

Here's the schedule that was posted on the Freep, in order of performance. Exact times have yet to be released.

- DJ Phil tha Mixx

- Detroit Jazz All Stars

- Bill Moss

- LaShell Griffin

- Emazin and Good Son

- DJ Invisible

- Savallace

- Selfmeyi

- Monica Blaire

- HotSauce

- Kem

According to the event's Web site, kemmunity.org, the concert is "in support of Detroit's homeless, as well as those who provide them with help and hope."

In addition to the music, there will be free health screenings, food and craft vendors and other activities. source>>>

Even though Kings of Leon continue to tour in the wake of 2008's platinum "Only By Night," the group is planning a couple of new projects for the fall -- and is starting to focus on its next album.

Though both are untitled and unscheduled at the moment, the quartet plans to release a live DVD and a remix album in the coming months. The former was filmed at London's O2 Arena in July, an appropriate locale since, as drummer Nathan Followill tells Billboard.com, "England is really the first place we broke...We figured what better place to make a live DVD than where the fans have been the craziest for the longest?" The show featured some choice rarities, and Followill says "we just put the cameras in the back of our minds and acted like they weren't even there."

Even more exciting, however, is a remix album that came to life after Kings of Leon learned that other artists such as Justin Timberlake and Pharrell had started working on revisions of the band's songs. Mark Ronson, Kenna, Lykke Li and Linkin Park are also contributing remixes, according to Followill.

"It's neat to have these people who we would've jumped at the chance to work with ourselves...coming to us before we even get a chance to ask them," the drummer says. "It's amazing to hear your song played by these people who are so creative. Most of the time it takes me two or three listens to even wrap my head around, 'Oh man, that's our song...'"

While all that is going on, Kings of Leon are pondering the release of another single for "Only By Night" -- Followill is thumping for "Notion" -- but will not, as rumored, be contributing anything to the soundtrack for "New Moon," the second film in the "Twilight" series. Frontman Caleb Followill, meanwhile, is preparing for a fall appearance as a guest judge on "Iron Chef," which brother Nathan, who's getting married in November, says "is awesome...Me and him are really big fans of nice meals and nice wine, but we just let him do it because I'm usually so drunk by the end of the meal that I probably would not make any sense on that show and they would have to bleep out a lot more than they could use."

Amidst all this, Kings of Leon has been working on new material, mostly at sound checks, and has "a good eight or 10 ideas kicking around" according to drummer Followill. "The new stuff is all over the place," he reports. "I call it 'Aha Shake...' but by guys that are a little grown-up and a little better at their instruments. There's stuff that sounds like Radiohead. There's stuff that sounds like Thin Lizzy. There's stuff that sounds like The Band. We're pretty much to the point now where...we can be experimental and try stuff we would've been scared to death to try on the first couple of records. Now we find ourselves being a little more adventurous."

The group plans to enjoy the holidays at home, but Followill doesn't expect the quartet to stay at rest for long. "At the end of every record cycle," he notes, "we're like, 'Dude, we're taking a year off.' We get home and after two weeks of sitting on our ass we're like, 'Y'all wanna rehearse or something?' and that gets the creative juices flowing and leads to writing and before you know it, we're back at it." source>>>