Dancing Light

From Minnewiki

The acoustic duo, dancing Light is an acoustic duo comprised of contemporary singer/songwriters, Kiki & Greg Webb.

Page contents

1 History of dancing Light
2 Members
3 Discography
4 Audio
5 Related Web sites
6 Related groups

History of dancing Light

Kiki and Greg met on stage in June of 1987 at a benefit concert in Kiki's hometown of Gainesville, Florida. Kiki was well known as a singer-songwriter and environmental activist and Greg was the lead vocalist for the popular Gainesville-based band, the Rhythm and Blues Revue, a twelve-piece band covering many of the Blues Brothers songs.

The Rhythm and Blues Revue was playing at an environmental benefit at Gainesville's Florida Theater to raise funds for an environmental organization Kiki was spearheading. Kiki was singing as a solo vocalist at the concert that day and was invited to sing with the Rhythm and Blues Revue on an original song written by band member Cathy DeWitt called, "Arms are for Hugging." The song was broken down into verses with duets and Kiki was invited to sing a duet with Greg. Cathy introduced them, saying, "This is Greg Webb, he'll be your duet partner tonight."

They met again in March of 1993, this tim in Cathy's home at a birthday party for Cathy's boyfriend, Rob Rothschild. The party evolved into a jam. Greg was singing original material and Kiki was sitting at the piano. Though this was the first time Kiki was hearing his songs, she and Greg experienced a profound telepathy that evening and Kiki started playing along and singing harmony. That night Greg went home and wrote Wings of Song, now a mainstay of their performances.

Greg asked Kiki to join his band, The Great Wet Band (a mispronounciation of The Greg Webb Band that stuck) which included Dave Ottenberg on bass, Michael Cripe on guitar and Rob Rothschild on drums. They played at a few festivals and benefits, including opening for Arlo Guthrie at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at a benefit for the Vets for Peace Freindship Village, a village in Vietnam for children with Agent Orange-related deformities.

Greg and Kiki started performing more and more as a duo, incorporating Kiki's original songs into their sets. They performed a concert together at the Thomas Center with the Washington Sisters opening for them and Bob Eyclesheimer running an elaborate sound system. Greg did the poster art for the concert - at that time they were billed as simply, Kiki Carter & Greg Webb.

As a duo, they performed many concerts, benefits, church concerts and festivals throughout the region and appeared occasionally on Cathy DeWitt's radio show, Across the Prairie, a weekly live show broadcast on WUFT-FM, the NPR affiliate at the University of Florida, a station where Kiki had worked in college as the on-air classical radio announcer of Symphony Hall.

Kiki and Greg were married at the Thomas Center in the Turtle Court in February of 1998. The Rhythm and Blues Revue played the reception and band members Cathy DeWitt and Janet Rucker sang the song Greg wrote for Kiki, Wings of Song, as Greg and Kiki danced together for the first time as husband and wife.

During the next few years they flirted with band names for their duo using the name Astralbears for a brief time. Finally they settled on the name dancing Light, a reference to the song of the same title Kiki had written about a near-death experience (NDE) she had in August of 1983. During the 24 hours following her NDE, Kiki reported seeing sparkling light everywhere, appearing as the building blocks of all matter. Kiki continued hearing the music she heard during her NDE, which she has described as "contrapuntal in nature over a sustained pedal point - much like some of JS Bach's work." The music and lights faded after about a 24 hour period.

In 1999 Kiki and Greg were feeling the pressures of a public life in Gainesville and decided to venture to the pacific northwest. They stopped first at the Webb family summer lake home, on Leech Lake in Minnesota and then set out on a scenic journey to the west coast. They bought a national parks pass in Pipestone - then went on a family journey though Pipestone, MN, the Badlands, Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations, the Black Hills, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Craters of the Moon and then to the Redwoods in northern California. They traveled and played in northern California, Oregon and Washington, settling in the Portland area. Greg talked Kiki into busking, which was a new experience for her, and they played at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon and at the Eugene Saturday Farmer's Market.

Just as they were planning to settle into a home in Milwaukee, Oregon, outside of Portland, Greg got a phone call from his family in Minnesota. His father was dying of pancreatic cancer. Greg and Kiki returned to Minnsota to be with his family and his father passed away in January of 2000.

In the summer of 2000, Greg and Kiki moved to the Webb's summer home on the shores of Leech Lake. They were invited to play at the Common Grounds of Longville and enjoyed many Friday jams with a variety of regional musicians.

Common Grounds manager, Marty Johnson extended an invitation to Greg and Kiki to play a regular weekly gig every Saturday, which they accepted. Thinking it might be fun to have a variety of featured musicians perform with them each week, they created the Saturday Cafe Concert Series, which began in the fall of 2004. Kiki and Greg would play the first hour and then feature a new performer every week.

Kiki and Greg were also introduced to Mike and Cindy Chase, owners of the Woodtick Musical Theater in Akeley, Minnesota, and dancing Light began performing a regular Saturday night pre-show for the Woodtick's audience.

During these years, dancing Light would return to Florida, playing to sold out rooms. Wanting to share stories of their new life in Minnesota with their Florida friends, dancing Light introduced the addition of a digital slide show, culling photos from a collection of over 5000 that Kiki had taken since moving to Minnesota.