For the fourth and final episode of JoJo Hermann’s weekly “Shut Up and Play” video series, the Widespread Panic keyboardist kicked off the final show in bawdy, bard-worthy performance. Hermann remained seated as he jammed out on his open-face piano, providing a much-needed musical remedy to the community with two debuts and other rarities and familiarities.
Broadcasting from Nashville’s Purple Building, an unfamiliar “Squirrels In The Attic” warmed up the piano’s hammers to chisel the ice off of a primitive “Big Wooly Mammoth” [“Gotta wear that coat / In the middle of the summertime!”]. Afterward, JoJo paused to break down the opener and how the name to this boogie melody got its name. His casual way of talkin’ out the side of his mouth was amplified by the fact that he was speaking away from the microphone to look at the camera. He retold a story about the pitter-patter footsteps and his wife unintentional dubbing of “Squirrels in the Attic”. According to JoJo, bats and spiders inhabited his attic after getting rid of the squirrels.
By request, JoJo performed his newly debuted instrumental “Almost Infinite” which initially arrived three weeks ago during the first episode of “Shut Up and Play” (The high re-watchability factor of all four episodes will make this a reliable cure for the doldrums amidst 2020’s empty horizon). A sliding flourish dropped the melody into the folklore of WSP’s classic, “One Arm Steve.” Another segue followed, and a blink later, JoJo led his cyber audience into “Dark Bar” (Part 2).
As explained during a breather afterward, JoJo gave the background behind the song explaining that he likes to write different songs while using the same title to mess with his publisher and because not many people do it. Humble and sincere, a genuine JoJo dedicated a couple of songs to the nurses and thanked them for their incredible work.
After showing off his Willie Stargell bobblehead during last week’s episode, JoJo, a lover of baseball, brought out more bobblehead buddies, and—in the words of JoJo himself—“They kinda keep me goin’ here.” He continued to tell a story about the time he threw out the first pitch at a baseball game and subsequently met Cy Young candidate Chris Sale during his season prior to free agency with the Chicago White Sox. In an audacious attempt to impress his friends, JoJo remembers wanting to throw out the infamously erratic “knuckleball” pitch.
When he told Sale, who was catching the ceremonial first pitch, Sale warned him not to bounce the pitch. Faced with an existential dilemma, JoJo weighed the repercussions of potentially hurting a superstar athlete against letting down his friends. JoJo ended up aiming for a “high strike” to overcompensate against the alternative possibility, which he executed as flawlessly as he had hoped.
Taking another request (many suspect ‘twas from the nefarious Moondog), JoJo’s keys hammered out “Smoking Factory” from Hermann’s 2002 solo album, Defector. Dropping into “Imitation Leather Shoes” and its ominously descending rhythm, JoJo dished out a fast-paced, musical take on Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
JoJo debuted another new tune “Chickasaw Princess” which was written in collaboration with Jerry Joseph while on tour with Sherman Ewing in Telluride, Colorado. The song was inspired by their friend Ron Shapiro and “all the good times” at his place the Hoka Theater in Oxford, Mississippi (“Try to hurry anyway / Don’t be late / Can’t be early”). A sudden transition rounded the bend into a hearty “Bust It Big”. The lines “Ride my liquor down / To Mexico!” hurt a little extra considering the dates to Panic en la Playa 2021 would have been announced last week.
Honoring Brian Brooks’ request, JoJo covered NRBQ’s “Help Me Somebody” before paying tribute to Professor Longhair with a smokin’ “Stag-O-Lee” closer. Before closing out, JoJo reaffirmed the good deeds of Nuci’s Space; as well as thanked the audience, his producers, Matt DeCamp and Ellie MacKnight at Brown Cat Management, and admitting—unabashedly—that Professor Longhair made him drop out of sports and school to pursue music.
The next shows for Widespread Panic are to take place January 21st-23rd in Austin, Texas for ACL Live at Moody Theater. To the grumblers that demanded to change it up from N.Y.E. at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, all I can say is… I hope you’re happy now. But mostly safe. Take care, friends.
JoJo Hermann – “Shut Up And Play” Ep. 04 – 7/9/20
[Video: Widespread Panic]
Setlist: JoJo Hermann | Shut Up and Play Ep. 4 | 7/9/20
Set: Squirrels In The Attic > Big Wooly Mammoth, Almost Infinite > One Arm Steve > Dark Bar, Smoking Factory [1] > Imitation Leather Shoes, Chickasaw Princess > Bust It Big, Help Me Somebody, Stag-O-Lee
Notes: “Dear Prudence” tease