Racer Session #363 | Simon Henneman | February 26, 2017

Greetings, fans of the Avant!

This weekend, we have a very special presentation from a dear member of our scene, guitarist Simon Henneman. Simon is an integral part of the session and how it runs each week, working with the Racer and Table & Chairs communities to organize and exist. As a musician and improvisor, he is prolific and unmatched. His statement below describes the new music he will present:

"I work diligently to not believe dogmatically in anything, but in light of current events and the current political climate what I'm thinking about and working on right now are these hypotheses:

All action is political action. All art is political action.
My steadfast vulnerability is my greatest strength.
My ability to fail is my greatest asset and greatest privilege.
My communities are the best.

My solo performance for tonight's Racer Session is the first performance in a series of pieces about the season of winter and specifically my historical dysfunction and mental illness related to it. It's an experiment in sincerity, story, and truth. The form I'm borrowing from Mike Gebhart's session of a couple of years ago about the power of story: I'll tell a story about a particular winter and then make a piece of music in response.

They are stories that are mostly dark like winter. I think they have little to do with the person I am now; I'm not the sum of my stories, but they did happen to me. I hope that by sharing some of my stories what might happen is that through honesty and listening some of what has been mine can be what is ours and we can be more than we were because of it. I'll be doing the music bit with an electric guitar and making noises like singing with my mouth. I'm fairly terrified I'm doing this, but I think it could make good art. I hope.

For the session and your life I would like to encourage you to try to actively listen to those around you with new ears in your conversations both on and off the bandstand, like really really listen, and try to do something you are afraid of. Every minute we're brand new.