THE MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW

Doug Wendt's original legendary 60's radio program FOCUS: COLLAGE with THE MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW (featuring a short snippet of Dylan's version as the theme) shows Doug's roots as a pioneer in radio custom mixing with drop-ins, samples, jingles and wild super-impositions (now called 'mash-ups') featuring the best and most unusual late 60's renaissance rock, pop and protest music.

CD compilations of highlight mixes from the years 1968 (FOCUS '68) & 1969 'SPECIAL 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION' (SPACED '69) are available for $20 each postpaid in our online store.


1968
Time travel to the 'year of the century'. It's psychedelic and amazing!

"Thirty years ago I began my radio career on KUDI Top 40 AM in Montana with a summertime progressive rock show FOCUS COLLAGE with The Man Of Constant Sorrow. Here are actual tapes of my shows from 1968. The program debuted about two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.; about six weeks after the death of my father Wally Wendt and just two weeks after Robert Kennedy was killed (hence the nom de plume, Man of Constant Sorrow). I'd put the program together while watching nightly t-v reports on Vietnam (often followed by premiere episodes of The Prisoner) preparing for my nightly 9-11pm slot. When the program returned to the airwaves the following summer it became HIERONYMOUS ANONYMOUS' JUMPIN' JACK FLASH SPACE-D PROGRAM. I was on the air live during the Chicago riots and as man first walked on the moon. With great music and themes plus superimpositions featuring sampling, scratching and drop-ins I fearlessly tread where only 19 year olds seem to know to go. Enjoy this aural time capsule from one of the greatest and wildest years of the 20th Century, 1968."


1969
Hieronymous Anonymous' Jumpin' Jack Flash Space-d Program with The Man Of Constant Sorrow

"The year 1969 was another kettle of fish. The 18 month "Renaissance" was over in early '68, 'the year of the century' (which collapsed in bad vibes), and we were midway on our march to the ultimate, Altamount, in December '69. Now The Man Of Constant Sorrow: FOCUS COLLAGE had become The Man Of Constant Sorrow: HIERONYMOUS ANONYMOUS' JUMPIN' JACK FLASH SPACE-D PROGRAM where I was mum as Gary Cooper (who also grew up around here). What I love about Montana is that in those times when there was so much freedom being expressed we had even more. We were still outside the coming tide of coopted commercial radio shows like in the big burgs and I was diving deep into the flood of new releases and giving heavy airplay to obscure and great post-renaissance reverberations as every day the radio station got tons of very broad and creative interpretations of what pop, rock, folk, blues, jazz etc. could be. They all arrived as promos, 45 and 33 rpm shiny discs, filled with ambition and feeling, many little heard outside my program. Just about the time I went on the air each night our massive AM signal changed direction at sunset streaming wide my mix of what would become known as classic rock with rare gems. Enjoy this flight to 1969, the year that capped freedom, just before the corps took over the corpse and all was sanitized for our protection. This cd features original tapes including the standard opening collage, plus original records, sequencing and segues recreated since other tapes from 1969 require careful refurbishing and reconstruction. Look for those in future Volumes of The Man Of Constant Sorrow. I was on the air live the night of the Chicago riots and as man first walked on the moon. It was quite a summer and bitchin' last blast. Anyone who lived through it and survives to these dreadful times can exclaim "I am so glad I was alive then." Or paraphrasing it as Dylan put it on 9/11/01, the day his cd LOVE AND THEFT was released, 'I know some people who were never alive.' Oh, and it's amazing how much music I loved back then (1969) that had a reggae lilt!"

Go deh? Go dare! -MIDNIGHT DREAD, Doug Wendt, The Man of Constant Sorrow