Flanfire

Gina's Bread Is Rising!


The first time I saw Gina Chavez was back in April, when she talked Momo's into giving her Suzanna Choffel's slot on a night when Suzanna was playing at Antone's. She brought 75 of her closest friends to the venue -- but it was her big, beautiful voice and her on-stage camaderie (that transcended beyond just those who knew her) that ensured that Gina would soon become a regular at the club with my favorite rooftop patio.

Gina's CD "Hanging Spoons" was actually released at the end of the last school year, but I was wrapped up in a college graduation (YEA! Melody!!!!) and relocating my lovely mother Eluida to Austin (it took ALL summer!!!!) and only got around to listening to Gina's music after running into her at Momo's (where else?) a couple of weeks ago.

Gina, for the record, has come a long way on stage from even her debut at Momo's -- she was recently a finalist in a major competition held at Emo's (see her myspace for details), but mainly her co-conspirators onstage have begun to realize they are part of something that, like yeasted bread, is rising. Rael Martinez used to just bring his mandolin and play a little -- now he brings a fuller arsenal that includes electric guitar; Gina also has a cajon player to keep the rhythm going, especially when the songs have a Latin flavor. Guys sitting way out on the Momo's patio the other night were waaay tuned in to Gina's voice and on-stage manner that is fast fast winning fans in Austin.

Let me just say right up front that "Hanging Spoons" (a Chavez family tradition, we are told) is by far the most POWERFUL song collection I have heard this year and last year too -- and this woman is just learning how to write songs, so you know she is getting "extra" help that sometimes comes to those who "have their radio on." I must add that Gina also provides the harmony vocals that often seem like an angel choir floating the listener up to heaven on a cloud or two. The lyrics range from the personal to the divine ..... [Onstage, by the way, Gina breaks into Broadway from time to time (reminding me a LOT of the newlywed Jamie Blythe who is way out West these days.]

"You Might Say," the opening cut, is indeed about a very human love -- tested by time and distance -- in which "in the woods between the worlds is where we stand wanting so much to take hold of one another's hand." "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" builds on that theme but with a turn toward a higher love. "Hagios" (which means holiness, sort of, in Greek) notes that "ten thousand wells dot a wasted land where go thirsting souls cupping empty hands" and speaks of "restless wanderers [who] refuse your peace." What is, asks Gina, the path to a pure heart?

"Beautiful Feet" is one of those songs you never forget after hearing it -- and singing it through several times. I am reminded of Susan Gibson's "My Best Feature," or of any of a number of Terri Hendrix songs -- but Gina takes these concepts two steps further, moving from "how beautiful are the feet of those who carry news of good things" to admitting that she once kept "a little black book" in her mind that recorded other people's faults but today finds that just bringing good news to everyone while judging no one works much better -- and urges others to follow suit. "Embrujo" (sung in Spanish) is a memoir of sorts of Gina's year in Argentina.

"Bless the Night (the blanket song)" is yet another revelation of imperfection -- "I'm a living contradiction, a tainted sanctuary, so tell me how can I see your beauty through these tears of gray" -- but this song is all about being careful not to stumble during the nighttime hours. "Disarray" also addresses that contradiction between our hearts and our own deeds -- and the recognition that we cannot rely on our own goodness. "St. Anthony" expresses the heart of the homeless and downtrodden who is seeking affirmation: "don't you see me?"

But the record only gets better from here -- "Seeking Poetry" shows Gina's frustration at trying to write songs that matter when we are clumsy with words -- and yet she can write, "It's in the creation the imagination lifting mind and eye to light, glorious formation of an aspiration molded so others can take flight." Now that, my friends IS "poetry in motion" that moves us on.

"Exaggerate" moves back to the human sphere -- and to a time of rude awakening -- "how can it be that I be gone for less than half a year with you on my mind the entire time when for me you have no tears"? The only recourse -- "stay you far from this soul of mine lest my tears not evaporate." "Mean As Blue," on the other hand, speaks of "a boy who lived in a haze stuck in a shoe-gazing trance" who "couldn't lift his mouth from a frown, couldn't stop his chin from falling down ...." Here the songwriter encourages herself, noting that, "Don't cry those blue tears of pain for that stupid boy again...." and that "there's a greater love than the one that failed you and his chariot's coming soon." Here again, we learn that the great beauty which is this recording is available to us only after the artist has endured great pain.

Somehow, Gina has indeed saved the very best for last (not counting the hidden track for insiders only). "Matter" is perhaps one of the strongest songs of faith I have ever heard -- and trust me, I have heard a boatload (make that an ARK-load). In sweating out the blood used to scribble down these lyrics, the writer recognizes that neither the long sob story of heartache and pain nor the saving grace that rescued her in her darkest hours matters a whit -- "mere words won't matter." Instead, it is that emptying out of the self-seeking soul that enables us to hear the deepest truth -- that "without brokenness nothing matters."

The first half of this song is the lead-in to the prayer that closes out this true confession from a soul who knows she does not have it all together -- and she makes it universal: "Fear not to cry my friends fear not to die just a little, fear not to love my friends, fear not to lose just a little, and be not afraid of the things you've done .. no, loving ain't loving if if lingers on the past too long .. what you done don't matter ... I love you no matter what you've done my child, what you've done don't matter ... I love you no matter....."

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.