Attendees at the 149th Annual, Lehigh vs. LaFayette game, Bethlehem, PA 2013

Crafting Original Music, Spanning Three Decades.

Founding Members of The Progressive Shamanists on break in the Poconos.

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The Immaculate Conception



The Progressive Shamanists, including Rob Prigge, Rob Kowtko and Greg Pichler, met at the studio in Tanglewood, Pennsylvania on the weekend, starting Friday, March 26, 1982. Both Rob Kowtko and Greg Pichler were in their fourth year, their senior year in attendance at Lehigh University towards earning a Bachelor's degree—Kowtko's from the Engineering College, Pichler's from the Arts and Sciences College.

Percussionist, Rob Prigge, was also attending Lehigh University at the time, but Prigge was in his first year—his freshman year—of attendance. Prigge was also enrolled in the Arts and Science College as was Pichler.

During that weekend the group rehearsed and recorded nine songs on a cassette tape recorder in advance of a scheduled performance at the German House on Friday, April 2, 1982.

Pichler was the only member of the group who had introduced a number of original songs in advance of the rehearsal, including the song, She's Gone and the song, Love Has The Answers. Kowtko had originally composed the one song that bears his name as credit on the song list, namely Fire In The Night, years prior to forming the group, the Phoenix. The name, The Phoenix was the name the group billed themselves as until the name change perpetrated by Greg Pichler and Keith Swanson in 1984.

In addition to the two new original songs penned by Pichler, the group collaboratively scored the song, The Time Is Right, out of the course of an improvisational session over the course of the weekend. In addition to the collaboration effort on the song, The Time Is Right the group recorded initial renditions of their respective original material, including, Twenty-One Years (GE Pichler), and Fire In The Night (R Kowtko).

The video includes still photo images of all the members of the group over the course of the weekend, starting Friday, March 26, 1982.


Music Contributions

The following contributions were applied to the music video:

  • Rob Prigge: percussion
  • Rob Kowtko: keyboards
  • Greg Pichler: guitar, vocals

List of Tracks

The list of tracks from the albumthat resulted from the work over the weekend includes:

  1. 00:00:02 (Track 1) Message In A Bottle (Sting)
  2. 00:03:51 (Track 2) Break on Through, Live Version (The Doors)
  3. 00:08:23 (Track 3) She's Gone (GE Pichler)
  4. 00:12:55 (Track 4) Incidental I
  5. 00:13:04 (Track 5) Who Do You Love (Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley)
  6. 00:19:34 (Track 6) Incidental II
  7. 00:19:41 (Track 7) Love Gave Me The Answers, Live Version (GE Pichler)
  8. 00:24:19 (Track 8) I Saw Her Standing There, Live Version (Lennon/McCartney)
  9. 00:27:08 (Track 9) Fire In The Night, Live Version (R Kowtko)
  10. 00:35:03 (Track 10) You Really Got Me (Ray Davies)
  11. 00:40:56 (Track 11) Playing It Cool (R Kowtko)
  12. 00:45:54 (Track 12) Incidental III
  13. 00:46:08 (Track 13) Do What You Like (Ginge Baker)
  14. 00:58:19 (Track 14) I See You (Jim McGuinn, David Crosby)
  15. 01:05:24 (Track 15) Incidental IV
  16. 01:05:31 (Track 16) The Time Is Right // Grasshopper Boogie (R Kowtko, Pichler, R Prigge)
  17. 01:12:40 (Track 17) Foxy Lady, Live Version (Jimi Hendrix)
  18. 01:16:41 (Track 18) Summertime Blues, Live Version (Pete Townsend)
  19. 01:19:49 (Track 19) Twenty-One Years (GE Pichler)
  20. 01:30:07 (Track 20) When The Music's Over (The Doors)
  21. 01:40:37 (Track 21) She's Not There, Live Version (Rod Argent)
  22. 01:45:37 (Track 22) Who Do You Love (Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley)

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