The Beatdown

In the early '90s, Sundermeier fronted a group of California transplants called Deafen Reality,who had signed to Polygram Records. After the players racked up $185,000 in studio time, with an album nearly completed, the label decided that hair metal was no longer bankable and dropped them. As a result, Sundermeier was forced to file bankruptcy two years ago.

This time around, he's making sure things are handled better. If he's lucky enough to get struck by lightning twice, that is.

"I'm talking to two or three different entertainment lawyers about going about this the right way," he says. "Because when this happened to me before, I was nineteen and like, 'Dude, rock and roll.' So I have to play it the smart route this time."

So now, when he and the rest of the Poets aren't holed up in the studio, Sundermeier is busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. He's helping Mike Makkay with bookings at the Soiled Dove while assembling the next compilation of Acoustic Circus and scheduling future Acoustic Circus shows.

Catch Ordinary Poets' final show of the year (and their last with the Seaton brothers, who are leaving to devote themselves to their other outfit, the Good Sirs), Saturday, October 11, with Strange Condition and Salus at Herman's Hideaway.

Upbeats and Beatdowns:Also this Saturday, members of Newcomers Home will celebrate the release of their live disc, Live at the Boulder Theater, at the Boulder Theater (fittingly enough). Hobbs NM (Aaron Hobbs from Blusom) will be at the Larimer Lounge, while the Bastard Squad and the Otter Popps slide into the 15th Street Tavern.