Leaving the humdrum, living the dream
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Updated: July 17, 2009 3:58 PM
Five years ago, Greg Weber made a promise to himself.
He would become self-employed, freeing himself up for more quality time with his young son. He would leave the 9-5 humdrum and make a life for himself, a life that he wanted to live. He would follow his passion, and in the end he would be proud of his work.
And, he told himself, he would get there by the age of 30.
Well, that birthday came and went this last weekend. And he spent his day selling the object of that dream, reaping the rewards of five years of hard work.
And, with an eye to the future, he was planting the seeds for success in the years still to come.
And he’s doing it all with a seemingly simple instrument — the drum.
There really is nothing more innate than the impulse to pound out a beat. It could be a tap of the foot, a hand on the steering wheel, thumbs on the leg. We all do it, consciously or otherwise.
We all share the impulse, and ability, to drum in some sense.
It's primal.
But the drums Weber has become obsessed with are anything but primitive.
He started his obsession with drums years ago, banging on barrels with friends at parties. But he liked it so much, he decided on looking for his own drum. A nice one.
But you know what they say about doing something right? Do it yourself. And Weber took that seriously. Five years later, he is living in an eastern hillside home, with an artists' studio behind it. A reknowned luthier used to live there, and there are a few signs of his previous work. But the focus here is now on Weber's drums.
"It's definitely an obsession," he says, holding onto one of his first cajones, a rectangular box drum.
But it's his djembes that people are going crazy for.
"You can tell him what size, what colour, what wood, what sound, and he can do it," says his friend Lennie Bennett, a fellow drummer who is in town to help Weber out with the festival.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's amazing."
While Weber started out experimenting with drum designs, exotic woods and sound, he's quickly learned what works, what doesn't, and most importantly, what he wants to build.
"I didn't think it would get like this," he says. But it has.
Now, he's working on new designs. To find out more, visit him at the Harrison Festival of the Arts art market this weekend. For more, visit www.darkwooddrums.com.
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