Fire survivor to sing at benefit
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NORTHAMPTON - Her voice still husky from inhaling smoke, one survivor of the Dec. 27 fires will apply music as a balm tonight.
Elaine Yeskie's voice still catches recalling the fire that killed her husband and son. But to thank her community, she will plug into an amplifier and crank up a country song.
Yeskie and a companion managed to escape when their home, at 17 Fair St., was one of several dwellings targeted in an arson spree on the last Sunday of 2009. Her husband, Paul W. Yeskie, and her son, Paul W. Yeskie Jr., did not make it out.
Amid her belongings, Elaine Yeskie lost a trove of musical instruments, including a hollow-body electric Gibson guitar, a model called the Chet Atkins Tennessean; a concertina; an amplifier; a keyboard; two violins and many harmonicas, including a set once owned by her father. One of the guitars had also belonged to her father.
Yeskie, who is now in her 70s, says she started playing guitar as a little girl. "It's all by ear. I don't know how to read music," she said. Her public performances have been limited to events like weddings. She says she used to play for people out on a big dance floor at a hotel on West Street in Hadley that's no longer there.
Soon after the Dec. 27 fire, Yeskie invested some of her insurance proceeds in a new electric guitar. "I told my insurance man, ¿I need to replace my guitar or I'll go crazy.' I'd play it two or three hours every night. It keeps me from crying."
When an organizer of one of Northampton's many fire relief benefits contacted her, Yeskie agreed to bring her new guitar and amplifier along and to share her love of country music, particularly the songs of Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
That event is a spaghetti supper today at the World War II Club on Conz Street, with seatings at 5:30 and 7 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.
At first, Yeskie warned organizer Steven J. Connor her voice had suffered from smoke inhalation. She is still taking bronchial treatments, nearly a month after the fire.
"I said, ¿Don't worry about singing,'" Connor said. "She said, ¿I would love the distraction and I'd love to give back.' It would be really cool for people to come and see Elaine play. She'd like to get her mind on something else."
Duets planned
Yeskie will perform for both seatings at today's dinners, joined by a new friend, John Griffin. She met Griffin while staying with a relative in Colrain after the fire.
Griffin came in and admired Yeskie's new guitar, a Les Paul model, also by Gibson. She shared the story of the fire. "He had tears in his eyes when he heard what happened," she said.
Soon, they were sharing music, with Griffin inventing a ballad about the tragedy. "There are songs he just sings - and makes words up. He had me and my niece crying. ¿We're gone but we still love you,' he sang. It was really sad."
She and Griffin were not scheduled to rehearse before tonight's gigs. It's not that kind of concert. Today, the music is about being together and appreciating being alive. She plans to invite people at the dinners to sing along to her favorite country tunes.
"You get what you get," she said of the show. "I might mess up on the words on some of them, but I know a lot of songs. My voice is lousy because of the fire. It's made my voice kind of funny. If I don't sing loud, it might be OK."
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students 12 and under. Toddlers eat free. Businesses have donated prizes for a raffle; organizers plan drawings at each 125-person seating. Tickets are available at the World War II Club and Serio's Market and from members of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association. Seating is limited and advance ticket purchase is suggested.
