JEFF The Brotherhood‘s We Are the Champions was the very first record I bought in Nashville, during the time I was in town for the now-defunct Soundland festival, which was the same very weekend that we decided to pack up everything we knew on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and stuff it all into a car (and a truck) and move down south. For that reason, the twosome will always be my permanent soundtrack to the smartest transition I’ve ever made – and in that moment, it was also the perfect bridge for the merging of my two selves, riling up the essence of what I had been and grew up with (decamping on the floor of CBGB waiting for a friend’s band to play, nights on 7th and A looking for Lou Reed and shadows of the Ramones, the ramshackle power of pure city punk) mixed with where I would be going (the slow, hazy fuzz of “Hey Friend,” that could still be distinctly southern in its spiraling guitars with nary a clucking banjo). They’ve continued to epitomize the soul of this community to me – criss-crossing the nation on tour but still coming back to play a free show at Dinos and breaking the ceiling in the process. If they headlined the Ryman one day, they’d still probably play a show at The End for $5 the next night, because that’s just what they do.
The summer after I moved, I was out at the 5 Spot, battling the summer heat with a cheap beer and good company. JEFF was playing Letterman that night, and the bar’s televisions were tuned to CBS waiting for them to take the stage like the results in a presidential election were about to come ou
t. When they came on – at least is how it goes in my memory – the sound was turned up, and we all watched around the bar as Jake Orrall wore a dress to play “Sixpack” with his brother Jamin. Because, you know, this is Letterman. You just gotta dress up.
For their Nashville Five, Jake decided to list the best disc golf courses in Nashville. I know nothing about golf, but I’ll take their word for it. B&W photos above and below by Mick Leonardi from JEFF’s Dino’s gig. And, for an added holiday bonus, you can download their new song, “What’s A Creep,” on their website for free. It’s a preview from their upcoming album, due in 2015. Thanks, Santa.
Nashville Five /// By JEFF The Brotherhood :::
1. Crockett Park:
This is the best course to play the “am” tees and feel good about yourself, lots of big wide open drives and some nice technical wooded holes thrown in. also has a fair amount of holes where you shoot out of the woods into a field which is exciting.
2. Seven Oaks:
This is kind of my home course since its quick to play and near my house. Its a very technical course, mostly short wooded holes with lots of trees and lots of room for error, a few tough tunnel drives, a few nearly impossible to par (for me) 450′ holes through the woods, and big payoff 18, out of the woods and down a huge slope to the right. Also, if you are in the know, theres 3 secret holes on this course.
3. Cedar Hill:
Haven’t played this one too much but ive enjoyed it very much the few times i have, except the one time that we were on about hole 5 and a tournament started and we got yelled at and kicked off the course, so we went to Shelby Bottoms and played the course there.
4. Shelby:
I forget the real name of this course but its pretty interesting, mostly open course using more man made boundrys and obstacles than trees etc. Very difficult to play in the wind because so much of it is on a hillside and wide open. Also difficult in the summer because of the dense underbrush, makes finding your disc a pain if you drive into the woods accidentally.
5. Fontanel:
There used to be a course at Fontanel which was really awesome, it had a pro shop, and you could pre-game at the bar (and post-game). It was a pay course but i think it was only 5 dollars. It closed this year i think, Seven Oaks has their orange baskets now. The greatest thing about Fontanel was the elevation changes as it was set up back in the hills behind the amphitheater, and also the few shots that went off the side of hills INTO the amphitheater were pretty exciting. I miss this course already.
Lockeland Springsteen 