Fly Like an (American) Eagle

• Pell Mell, “American Eagle”

See the American eagle – how majestic a figure it cuts! So assured, its feathers bristling. Almost aggressive in its ease & entitlement, almost furious.

Anyway, I’m off to the city of Washington for the rest of the week, for the annual big American book convention. A work trip, but I’ve been to D.C. – or are you supposed to signify wannabe familiarity with “the District”? – a couple times before, so I won’t miss the sightseeing too much this time. Would be nice to get to the Lincoln Memorial again (awe-inspiring) or to see Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross again (likewise), but we’ll see.

On another note, Jeff has pointed out this group. My Internet connection’s acting all pissy lately, so I haven’t been able to access their streams, but I trust his recommendation & I sure do like their name. (I always thought “Call Me Ishmael” would be a good name for a band, too.)

And I noticed Matt Suggs in the lineup list, which prompted me to go look at my Butterglory albums. Butterglory was Suggs’ mid-1990s Pavement-influenced band, and while I sometimes ask myself “How the hell do I own three Butterglory records?” when in a certain mood, I listened to their first again last night & it holds up very well.

Especially these two songs, but then they always were the highlights.

• Butterglory, “Waiting on the Guns”
• Butterglory, “The Skills of the Star Pilot”

(No buy-here links this time, sorry. See aforementioned pissiness of Internet connection.)