NO Pending lawsuit between Mike Portnoy and Dream Theater

[DT2003]

maybe portnoy trying to give petrucci a taste of his own medicine.

Not sure exactly what you mean here?  In what way was Mike giving John a taste of his own medicine?

[Metabog]

Yes, but do you know that the chemistry completely sucked and it was time for Mike to go? Do you know he was so abrasive and so ornery that everyone was avoiding him? I had been to countless afterparties where JM wouldn't even come out of the tour bus because he just did not want to deal with him. He was a mega-crab and that went on for years. DT, aside from Mike, are basically "happy" guys. Getting a smile out of Mike was like pulling teeth for the last few years. So if Mike's sister wants to spin it like Mike was the victim, she's got it ass backwards. It was Mike who browbeat everyone around him, including techs and roadies (I could tell you a story or two...). He did not deal respectfully with people, he treated them like he was the Lord Marshall in Riddick. That gets real old. Real damn old. And once he was gone, the guys did not want him back, with or without a new drummer. We all family members who we "love" on some level, but are happy to be rid of for the most part. That describes Mike at the end.

Dude, believe me; I believe you. You have been right about pretty much everything you've said over the last year and I will not question you on it. What you said about Mike being a crap has been repeated elsewhere: I remember awhile back a friend of Jordan Rudess posting about how Mike was in a really bad mood and blew him off when Jordan was taking him around backstage. The friend was apparently upset and Jordan apologized saying something like, "sorry, Mike's always like this now" the next day. This was all on that person's blog somewhere, I just don't remember where.

As far as DT not taking him back, it likely has more to do with what you said than them having found a new guy already, I think. After the initial shock, a ton of fans were incredibly positive after Mike left realizing that a lot of what they'd come to dislike about the band would be leaving with him. You've gotta wonder-- the other guys in DT probably had their own feelings about Mike, but it must have been really something for them to see everything they'd been thinking verified by the fans going nuts with optimism after he quit. The band may have been frustrated with Mike, but they could not have imagined that a lot of fans were, too, until after he left and it became more apparent.

We should just leave it at these two posts and close the book. In my opinion, and based on my knowledge this is pretty much how it is. I saw this coming with my friends at least 3 years ago, though we never quite expected DT to bounce back if he leaves. It was impossible to say anything negative about him on pretty much any forum, so it was hard to find anyone to agree with, but a lot of people had that sentiment.

[Setlist Scotty]

I have to ask what to me is an obvious question - if MP was becoming so hard to be around, why did this happen?  Based on how seemingly everyone he was close to outside DT has rallied around him, it's hard to believe that his life outside the band was deteriorating.

I think there's also the factor that interacting with MP in the DT universe is (well, was) very different from interacting with him on a friend or partner (or even side project) basis. I think his friends are rallying around him because he seems a pretty swell guy when not in business mode. But it just seems that, once MP locked onto something he views as his personal responsibility to function, he can become rather controlling and overbearing.
I think over the years he also seemed to have lost sight of the "costs" of his OCD. I had the impression he had shifted more and more towards seeing his OCD as an asset, almost something people should be appreciative about. Or that's at least the impression I had from interviews.

I had wondered the same thing that ReaPsTA did, and you really might be on to something there, rumborak. I'd be curious to know the answer to that question (which I don't know if we'll ever find out).

What I will say from personal experience, knowing MP personally, is that when you talk to him, what he says or the way he says things is exactly the same as what he posts online. The only difference is, hearing it from him (the way he expresses it, the facial expressions, etc.) don't give the same impression that they do when you just read the words. Talking to him in person, there are times when he has expressed himself to be the victim or to be complaining, but those are *rare*. Most of the time, when he says something, it comes off as reasonable and understandable. But that emotion is lost when people read what he posts - all it ever comes off as is his whining or playing the victim card.

On top of that, don't forget that MP was the whipping boy while he *was* in DT, whether he was at fault for something or not. Fans were quick to blame him for anything they didn't like about DT, jumping to conclusions, much to his frustration (which he did express publicly some of the time). For example, since he had just worked with Neal Morse, when the titles of the songs on Train of Thought came out, many fans freaked out because they assumed the lyrics were all Christian inspired due to MP's association with Neal. Even when As I Am came out (before the album's release), everyone assumed MP must have written the lyrics because of the word "fucked" being in the lyrics. And there are many other instances where MP was unfairly blamed for something. So I think having that previous history has colored the view points of many so that they are far more critical of him, than say if it were JP who had left the band.

I'm not saying that MP is free from blame - there have been things he's posted I don't agree with and things he has posted that he could have worded differently. But again, I think that to *some degree*, people's beliefs and viewpoints may be affected both by his previous history (of being the whipping boy) as well misunderstanding what is said since they are simply reading the words, but not the feelings/emotion associated with them (which cannot be conveyed the same way); not to mention that none of us know *all* the facts (no, I haven't been privy to the legal stuff that is/has been going on). I'm not saying anyone critical of him is wrong for believing something - it's understandable, but knowing MP as well as I do, I think *some* of what's been said about him is unfair.

[rumborak]

On top of that, don't forget that MP was the whipping boy while he *was* in DT, whether he was at fault for something or not. Fans were quick to blame him for anything they didn't like about DT, jumping to conclusions, much to his frustration (which he did express publicly some of the time).

No doubt, but keep in mind that it was all of his own making. He prostrated himself as the leader of the band, and with that also came the criticism and his responsibility for taking blame for things. He of course also made the "mistake" in letting the world know which of the questionable decisions were his, whereas with other things the fans couldn't pinpoint directly what member was to blame.

not to mention that none of us know *all* the facts (no, I haven't been privy to the legal stuff that is/has been going on).

I've seen this argument before, but what it essentially means is asking the reader for the benefit of doubt towards MP. Personally I find MP has lost that benefit over the last few months. Whereas DT still retains it, and that's all due to how they carried themselves publicly. That doesn't mean MP's career is over; it just means that he needs to work extra-hard to regain the public's favor. And he needs to stop being passive-aggressive.

In the end, from my perspective, MP put himself consciously into the lion's den, the public eye. Now he got mauled by the animal because (I guess) he underestimated the fickle nature of it.

rumborak

[Cyclopssss]

What I did NOT like, however, was how Mike praised about every other prog or non-prog metal release, while not uttering a word, not a single syllable, about DT's latest effort, which in my book, is a true return to form.  Just my humble opinion, though.