Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Lion's Drum

What have you written?

“‘The Lion's Drum - A Retelling of an African Folktale.’ It’s the retelling of an African folktale. It’s available at talesalive.com, and some major bookstores.”

Tell me about it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“A young African hunter finds a lion beating what he thinks is a magic tree stump, and all the animals are dancing. Later, he steals the magic tree stump, brings it back to his village, and introduces the villagers, and essentially the people of Africa, to the drum.”

How did you come to write this?

“I actually have my bachelor’s in writing from UCSD. I went to college dreaming of becoming a famous writer and being retired before I hit 35. That didn’t work out, but I still enjoy writing, and when I got into storytelling, it gave me a different avenue. My wife and I do multicultural storytelling. We’re trying to raise cultural awareness, which will in turn promote harmony among different people and different cultures. She’s half Japanese, and we do Japanese stories and, of course, with my background, we do African stories. We go to libraries and schools, and we were just up at the Carnival of Cultures in San Marcos. We bring out different backdrops with typical motifs from each culture, and we always have musical accompaniment with instruments from that culture. A lot of people are familiar with the African drum, but they might not know the exact name or be familiar with the thumb piano or some of the shakers and rattles. And only a very few people have seen the Japanese koto — it’s about six feet long and played with picks on the fingers. It kind of sounds like a harp.

“In the course of reading folk tales and traditional stories, we came across this [story], and it wasn’t in book form like this anywhere that we could find, so we went ahead and did our own version. With a lot of tales, you can go straight from the book. But with others — and particularly with Africa, because it’s such a harsh culture — the tales are not really appropriate for children. There are a lot of stories where the penalty is death for somebody who tells a lie. In the story ‘Koi and the Kola Nuts,’ Koi has to do all these tasks to keep from being eaten by the villagers he meets. In the published version, Koi is trying to win the chief’s daughter. We go through and kind of rework it — keep the same African flavor, but make it a little more palatable. This was a nice story about the drum, and it’s an origin story.”

When do you write?

“Whenever it hits me. We’ll do a lot of storytelling shows where I’ve got stories going through my head and I really want to sit down and write one because it’s just there, present, and it’s kind of calling, ‘Hey, put me down so you don’t forget me.’”

What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?

“I’m not a big fan of Hemingway or Fitzgerald. They’re very good at, basically, stories about somebody you know is going to fail. Hemingway is very good at bringing you into the character — you’re wanting the wonderful ending for the character — and then he drops you. The hero dies, or everything he’s fought for is destroyed.”

Name: Steven Gregory | Age: 39 | Occupation: Technical Writer/Storyteller

Neighborhood: Bay Park | Where interviewed: At his home

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Next Article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island

What have you written?

“‘The Lion's Drum - A Retelling of an African Folktale.’ It’s the retelling of an African folktale. It’s available at talesalive.com, and some major bookstores.”

Tell me about it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“A young African hunter finds a lion beating what he thinks is a magic tree stump, and all the animals are dancing. Later, he steals the magic tree stump, brings it back to his village, and introduces the villagers, and essentially the people of Africa, to the drum.”

How did you come to write this?

“I actually have my bachelor’s in writing from UCSD. I went to college dreaming of becoming a famous writer and being retired before I hit 35. That didn’t work out, but I still enjoy writing, and when I got into storytelling, it gave me a different avenue. My wife and I do multicultural storytelling. We’re trying to raise cultural awareness, which will in turn promote harmony among different people and different cultures. She’s half Japanese, and we do Japanese stories and, of course, with my background, we do African stories. We go to libraries and schools, and we were just up at the Carnival of Cultures in San Marcos. We bring out different backdrops with typical motifs from each culture, and we always have musical accompaniment with instruments from that culture. A lot of people are familiar with the African drum, but they might not know the exact name or be familiar with the thumb piano or some of the shakers and rattles. And only a very few people have seen the Japanese koto — it’s about six feet long and played with picks on the fingers. It kind of sounds like a harp.

“In the course of reading folk tales and traditional stories, we came across this [story], and it wasn’t in book form like this anywhere that we could find, so we went ahead and did our own version. With a lot of tales, you can go straight from the book. But with others — and particularly with Africa, because it’s such a harsh culture — the tales are not really appropriate for children. There are a lot of stories where the penalty is death for somebody who tells a lie. In the story ‘Koi and the Kola Nuts,’ Koi has to do all these tasks to keep from being eaten by the villagers he meets. In the published version, Koi is trying to win the chief’s daughter. We go through and kind of rework it — keep the same African flavor, but make it a little more palatable. This was a nice story about the drum, and it’s an origin story.”

When do you write?

“Whenever it hits me. We’ll do a lot of storytelling shows where I’ve got stories going through my head and I really want to sit down and write one because it’s just there, present, and it’s kind of calling, ‘Hey, put me down so you don’t forget me.’”

What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?

“I’m not a big fan of Hemingway or Fitzgerald. They’re very good at, basically, stories about somebody you know is going to fail. Hemingway is very good at bringing you into the character — you’re wanting the wonderful ending for the character — and then he drops you. The hero dies, or everything he’s fought for is destroyed.”

Name: Steven Gregory | Age: 39 | Occupation: Technical Writer/Storyteller

Neighborhood: Bay Park | Where interviewed: At his home

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief
Next Article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader