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WILD PLACES WILD HEARTS

–Jean Weiss, Jackson Hole News Falls Arts Festival Special Edition

SONGWRITER AND AUTHOR OFFER CONCERT MOOD TO CELEBRATE THE GRIZZLY

Beth McIntosh and Doug Peacock began collaborating years ago because of a common interest in the grizzly. McIntosh’s third album, Grizzlies Walking Upright, came to her through a poet friend’s dream; Peacock’s book, Grizzly Years, was the result of living in the wilderness in an attempt to flee from the world that created his Vietnam nightmare. Through mcIntosh’s music and Peacock’s rare backcountry film footage, both framed their work around the message not to blindly fear the powerful bear, but instead to view this creature as a positive symbol, our mirror in the wilderness.

This fall, the two artists pair up once again, with a slightly different angle. Through a series of concerts which begins in November in Laramie, WY, Bozeman and Kalispell, MT, and Salt Lake City, UT, their aim is to offer through riveting entertainment, a reminder of the significance of the bear and of preserving bear habitat.

So how can two people with huge visions but small budgets pull off such a plan? McIntosh and Peacock are going to do what they naturally do 90 percent of the time they;re in cahoots. They’re going to have fun and show audiences that going into the wild is a state of mind and a way of life.

“If we have to wild place, we’ll have no wild hearts,” said McIntosh, who lives in Wilson, WY. “Wild land is literally the auger in which we live wildly, so as far as the bear is concerned, or native species in general, they are an indicator of the health of a wild place. Bears certainly symbolize this in a specifically elegant way. They need so much range. They are closely related to human beings in their stature.”

McIntosh and Peacock are uniquely paired to convey the interrelatedness of external and internal wilderness. Peacock’s realm is the landscape. McIntosh’s realm is the psyche. As McIntosh puts it, together they’ll “Bring the bear back into an emotional arena, a social arena and get human beings to remember the bear, the importance of the bear, the beauty and the significance.”

The celebrate, enjoy and remember the bear, Peacock will offer a discussion about bears, wolves and bison, along with his rare grizzly bear film.

McIntosh will perform works from her project, The Wild Ride, based on childbirth which all mothers know, can be just as riveting as a bear encounter. The program is sponsored by the Bozeman-based group, Wild Forever.

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