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 Live Performance At The German House, April 2, 1982



The Progressive Shamanists, including Rob Prigge, Rob Kowtko and Greg Pichler, performed live at the German House at 212 Warren Square, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on the night of Friday, April 2, 1982. The German House was at the time an off campus, community living facility. The collective group performed nineteen songs over the course of the evening. The group recorded the live performance onto cassette tape. Sound Engineer, Aaron Shefter, manned the mixing boards during the evening performance.

At the time of the performance the group billed themselves as The Phoenix and only later changed the name to The Progressive Shamanists.

The band opened with the Doors song, Break On Through, to an audience of approximately sixty spectators jammed into a small living room at the facility.

The Progressive Shamanists' only indoor performance in front of an audience, while the members were actively taking classes at the University, was in fact at the German House. The group planned to play an outdoor concert on the lawn adjacent to the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity two weeks following their performance at the German House, however, the open-air concert immediately drew a complaint to the authorities and the Bethlehem police arrived shortly in to the first set, demanding the group cease disturbing the peace.

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


Track 22 Who Do You Love

The performance at the German House includes the good, the bad and the truly awful. The group's performance of Pichler's original song, Love Gave Me the Answers, was truly awful as all three group members made egregious mistakes. Kowtko frequently played the wrong chords, while at the same time Prigge lost the beat, while at the same time Pichler forgot the lyrics to his own song. Further, Kowtko failed to raise the key an interval in the song, Summertime Blues, remaining in G Major over the course of the entire song, while Pichler correctly transitioned the key to A Major at the appropriate point in the song.

The group's more respectable renditions include When The Music's Over (The Doors), the second rendition of Who Do You Love (The Doors), I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney), You Really Got Me (Ray Davies), Playing It Cool (R Kowtko), Do What You Like (Ginger Baker), Twenty-One Years (GE Pichler) and She's Not There (Rod Argent). In fact the group performed the song, Who Do You Love, twice that evening; the second was cut off when the cassette ran out of tape. Further, Rob Prigge's drum solo on the song, Do What You Like, is masterful and spine tingling.

All of the members of the group undertook the lead vocal duties at some point in the performance. Kowtko sang the lead vocal part on the songs he wrote as well as all of the renditions of material by The Doors. Pichler sang the lead vocal part on the songs I contributed as well as the Beatles song, I Saw Her Standing There, the Jim McGuinn, David Crosby song, I See You, and the Ginger Baker song, Do What You Like. Prigge sand the lead vocal parts on the Kinks medley, You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night.

In addition to taking lead vocal roles all three members contributed to backing vocal parts when not responsible for the lead vocal part on a number of songs. The crowd was largely unfamiliar with the group's original material with the except of my song, Twenty-One Years, which Pichler had performed a number of times at the fraternity house across the street at 227 Warren Square as a member of the fraternity group, The Shrooms.

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 01) Honky Tonk Woman (Keith Richards)
  2. 00:02:11 (Track 02) Break on Through (The Doors)
  3. 00:06:34 (Track 03) Message In A Bottle (Sting)
  4. 00:10:37 (Track 04) She's Gone (GE Pichler)
  5. 00:15:16 (Track 05) Who Do You Love (Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley)
  6. 00:20:49 (Track 06) Love Gave Me The Answers (GE Pichler))
  7. 00:25:23 (Track 07) I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney))
  8. 00:28:07 (Track 08) Fire In The Night (R Kowtko))
  9. 00:35:20 (Track 09) You Really Got Me (Ray Davies))
  10. 00:41:10 (Track 10) Play It Cool (R Kowtko))
  11. 00:46:27 (Track 11) Do What You Like (Ginge Baker))
  12. 00:58:36 (Track 12) I See You (Jim McGuinn, David Crosby))
  13. 01:05:28 (Track 13) The Time Is Right // Grasshopper Boogie (R Kowtko, Pichler, R Prigge))
  14. 01:12:36 (Track 14) Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix))
  15. 01:16:30 (Track 15) Summertime Blues (P Townsend))
  16. 01:19:29 (Track 16) Twenty-One Years (GE Pichler))
  17. 01:26:37 (Track 17) When The Music's Over (The Doors))
  18. 01:36:26 (Track 18) She's Not There (Rod Argent))
  19. 01:41:22 (Track 19) Who Do You Love (Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley))

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