The Mike Portnoy Appreciation/Discussion Thread (merged)

[Perpetual Change]

Since people are (still) talking about Mike everywhere, I figured it'd be best to have a thread for him, just as any other non-DT artist would have their own thread. Those of us who want to follow Mike's career outside DT can talk about it all in one place, rather than in every thread where he might or might not be mentioned. Like any appreciation thread, please keep negativity out of it. I don't mind discussing controversial news related to DT or A7X, but let's keep from giving Mike our usual armchair psychoanalysis.

Mods, if this isn't a good idea, just merge what I have to say here in the A7X thread.

Personally, at the moment I'm very interested in this:

https://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/m2619687.aspx

The following was posted on DBN (A7X's DTF)

According LadiesOfVengenz/TheWildRide who met Mike Portnoy at his Sam Ash signing in Las Vegas this evening the show last night at The Joint was his last show with Avenged Sevenfold. Rumor goes as is:

   "The Wild Ride was at the signing. Rachel and I commented on the show and Mike's response was "Thanks, that was my last show with the guys".

NOTE: Please remember that THIS IS ONLY A RUMOR unless Mike Portnoy or Avenged Sevenfold confirm it themselves. I've been unable to get confirmation from Avenged Sevenfold's camp. This is all the information that's been said. I've been told this by multiple people today but take it with a grain of salt until otherwise stated.

I HOPE TO GOD THIS ISNT TRUE

Now that "rumor" alone is nothing to really read much into, but it comes coupled with this:

https://twitter.com/MikePortnoy/statuses/14250134065909762

There's alot of things going on in my life I wish I could openly & honestly talk about at the moment, but cannot...but when I can, I will..

What do you guys think?

I seriously hope everything with Mike is OK. That Twitter quote makes me think something might be wrong- and not necessarily just with A7X.

[zerogravityfat]

he fell off the wagon lol.

[skydivingninja]

Who?

He's said before he'll be touring with them past January, in Europe maybe?  He might've meant their last US show.

[SPNKr]

What is an Mike Portnoy?

[Moonchild]

INVENTORY 

[Zydar]

I'm more curious about that tweet than the A7X thing.

[ReaperKK]

I'm more curious about that tweet than the A7X thing.

This

[Ben_Jamin]

Hope its not what I'm thinking. If it is, then thats just a real bummer. But then, maybe its just a thing he wants to talk about but can't until maybe....the new drummer is announced.

[The Letter M]

Maybe he's talking about his two projects with Neal Morse? That would seem to keep him busy, and rumor has it that Mike is recording this week in Nashville with Neal for his Testimony 2 album, so flying from Las Vegas to Nashville and then recording a whole album...that's quite a lot to do. Then there's that Morse/Morse/LaRue thing he's doing, so if that isn't already done, then he'll have that to do in the coming months.

I hope it's not anything related to his past vices, or even worse, family trouble... perhaps he is just concerned about the hype surrounding the new DT drummer? I would be to, to be honest...

-Marc.

[emindead]

I'm more curious about that tweet than the A7X thing.

This

[rumborak]

Yeah, the tweet is definitely ominous. Then again, he's also wont to spice things up a bit for the sake of publicity. So, it's hard to tell.

If he fell of the bandwagon I could only shake my head. You don't join a party band if you're at risk of relapsing.

rumborak

[Nick]

Be interesting to see where this goes, but I get the feeling it will be good/exciting news coming from MP's camp.

[skydivingninja]

As much as Mike is wont to blow things out of proportion or try to draw attention to himself, I doubt he'd post a tweet like that if he fell off the wagon.  Or got on the wagon.  Or interacted with a wagon in any way that made him uncomfortable.

[Nihil-Morari]

Maybe he's talking about his two projects with Neal Morse? That would seem to keep him busy, and rumor has it that Mike is recording this week in Nashville with Neal for his Testimony 2 album, so flying from Las Vegas to Nashville and then recording a whole album...that's quite a lot to do. Then there's that Morse/Morse/LaRue thing he's doing, so if that isn't already done, then he'll have that to do in the coming months.

I hope it's not anything related to his past vices, or even worse, family trouble... perhaps he is just concerned about the hype surrounding the new DT drummer? I would be to, to be honest...

-Marc.

Wait a second. Testimony 2? Please, do you have more info?

[Sigz]

It definitely sounds a little ominous, but I feel like that's more just due to poor wording than anything seriously wrong. Just a feeling though.

[Durg]

Read further down.  A message from his Marlene.

Hi everyone, I never post things but I really have to just let everyone know that there are no problems at the home front. Mike and I are great he may not have been home but as a family we traveled almost the entire summer with him, traveled to Europe and I am with him in Vegas. We have been having an amazing time with mike and all this touring. The kids and I have had great times while we were touring with Avenged Sevenfold, they are really fun people to be around and we even took our dogs on tour this summer and the kids brought along some friends, we had a great summer.
I stand behind every decision Mike has made and we always discuss everything together before he does something. He's a great husband, great Dad and also my best friend. Mike doesn't make any decisions that will hurt us as a family or do anything that i disagree with so PLEASE don't think differently. The family is great and so is the relationship between us.
Also, thanks to all the supportive fan that have stood behind Mike through all these crazy months. You guys are awesome!
Marlene

[KevShmev]

If I had to guess, it wouldn't surprise me if he is already had some major internal regret about his decision to leave Dream Theater.  How could he not?  I know he will say he is at peace with his decision, but you don't leave something like that, something you had such a big hand in, and not have many moments of regret, sadness, feelings of loss, etc.

[skydivingninja]

Yeah, its probably some kind of DT-related regret.  That's good to know.  Sucks that only "the supportive fan" stuck with MP through all this though.  You'd think he'd have more.

[ariich]

I'm more curious about that tweet than the A7X thing.

I would imagine that the two are linked to be honest.

Read further down.  A message from his Marlene.

Hi everyone, I never post things but I really have to just let everyone know that there are no problems at the home front. Mike and I are great he may not have been home but as a family we traveled almost the entire summer with him, traveled to Europe and I am with him in Vegas. We have been having an amazing time with mike and all this touring. The kids and I have had great times while we were touring with Avenged Sevenfold, they are really fun people to be around and we even took our dogs on tour this summer and the kids brought along some friends, we had a great summer.
I stand behind every decision Mike has made and we always discuss everything together before he does something. He's a great husband, great Dad and also my best friend. Mike doesn't make any decisions that will hurt us as a family or do anything that i disagree with so PLEASE don't think differently. The family is great and so is the relationship between us.
Also, thanks to all the supportive fan that have stood behind Mike through all these crazy months. You guys are awesome!
Marlene

That's a big relief to hear that things are fine in his personal life. Could well be some interesting news in that case!

And Joe, no problem with this thread at all; it's a really good idea in fact. Obviously any DT-related stuff should be discussed in the DT board, but you're right that for the rest it's best to have a single thread to discuss it, rather than random threads popping up every now and then!

[The Letter M]

Maybe he's talking about his two projects with Neal Morse? That would seem to keep him busy, and rumor has it that Mike is recording this week in Nashville with Neal for his Testimony 2 album, so flying from Las Vegas to Nashville and then recording a whole album...that's quite a lot to do. Then there's that Morse/Morse/LaRue thing he's doing, so if that isn't already done, then he'll have that to do in the coming months.

I hope it's not anything related to his past vices, or even worse, family trouble... perhaps he is just concerned about the hype surrounding the new DT drummer? I would be to, to be honest...

-Marc.

Wait a second. Testimony 2? Please, do you have more info?

Not much more. Check out the Neal Morse Thread on here for updates as I (and anyone else) posts them. So far, it was stated in (one of) the latest Neal's Inner Circle Newsletter that he would be doing Testimony 2 sometime soon.
Then earlier last week, someone who is an acquaintance of Randy George's spoke to him on the phone about him leaving to Nashville, presumably to record Testimony 2, the week before Christmas, which would be sometime this week.

Other than that, that's all the information that *I* have at the moment, but if I find out any more (as I scour the Neal Morse boards often, as well as other boards), I'll post it here!

-Marc.

[rumborak]

If I had to guess, it wouldn't surprise me if he is already had some major internal regret about his decision to leave Dream Theater.  How could he not?  I know he will say he is at peace with his decision, but you don't leave something like that, something you had such a big hand in, and not have many moments of regret, sadness, feelings of loss, etc.

Oh, absolutely. It somewhat reminds me how I broke up with my last gf. What seemed to me as a sequence of harmless and inconsequential events suddenly conspired together to make the whole thing implode. And before you know it, you're standing in front of a pile of debris and wonder "WTF just happened?". At some point your rational brain kicks in and tells you (correctly) that it was the inevitable and right thing, but nonetheless you're taken aback by the swiftness from hunky-dory to zilch.

rumborak

[Nihil-Morari]

Maybe he's talking about his two projects with Neal Morse? That would seem to keep him busy, and rumor has it that Mike is recording this week in Nashville with Neal for his Testimony 2 album, so flying from Las Vegas to Nashville and then recording a whole album...that's quite a lot to do. Then there's that Morse/Morse/LaRue thing he's doing, so if that isn't already done, then he'll have that to do in the coming months.

I hope it's not anything related to his past vices, or even worse, family trouble... perhaps he is just concerned about the hype surrounding the new DT drummer? I would be to, to be honest...

-Marc.

Wait a second. Testimony 2? Please, do you have more info?

Not much more. Check out the Neal Morse Thread on here for updates as I (and anyone else) posts them. So far, it was stated in (one of) the latest Neal's Inner Circle Newsletter that he would be doing Testimony 2 sometime soon.
Then earlier last week, someone who is an acquaintance of Randy George's spoke to him on the phone about him leaving to Nashville, presumably to record Testimony 2, the week before Christmas, which would be sometime this week.

Other than that, that's all the information that *I* have at the moment, but if I find out any more (as I scour the Neal Morse boards often, as well as other boards), I'll post it here!

-Marc.

Thanks! Man, I'm interested to hear that!

[TAC]

Read further down.  A message from his Marlene.

Hi everyone, I never post things but I really have to just let everyone know that there are no problems at the home front. Mike and I are great he may not have been home but as a family we traveled almost the entire summer with him, traveled to Europe and I am with him in Vegas. We have been having an amazing time with mike and all this touring. The kids and I have had great times while we were touring with Avenged Sevenfold, they are really fun people to be around and we even took our dogs on tour this summer and the kids brought along some friends, we had a great summer.
I stand behind every decision Mike has made and we always discuss everything together before he does something. He's a great husband, great Dad and also my best friend. Mike doesn't make any decisions that will hurt us as a family or do anything that i disagree with so PLEASE don't think differently. The family is great and so is the relationship between us.
Also, thanks to all the supportive fan that have stood behind Mike through all these crazy months. You guys are awesome!
Marlene

Thanks for the note, and that's a great post by Mrs. MP. No one is wishing him any ill will and this message is comforting amid all of the speculation.

[antigoon]

From MP's Facebook

Mike Portnoy: is sad...... : ( It's been a long, exhausting year (both physically and mentally) with many unexpected ups and downs and I think the most valuable lesson for me has been that the only people you can TRULY count on is FAMILY...thank you Marlene, Melody and Max for ALWAYS being there for me....

MAKE IT STOP

[skydivingninja]

Ugh...

[Gorille85]

I think he is being pretty selfish to be sad like that. What about the fans?

[antigoon]

more like "fans."

[Pyroph]

Why can't people just get along? 

[TheVoxyn]

Merge this with the 'pathetic facebook status' thread.

[MetalManiac666]

God dammit MP.

[Pyroph]

Wonder if this may have anything to do with what Kev said and DT teasing their new drummer.

[ReaperKK]

As time goes from MP leaving DT I'm becoming less interested in the music he'll be releasing and more interested in what he is grumbling about next.

That being said, I'm sure it's a tough thing to deal with (leaving DT). With time I'm sure it'll be better.

[SPNKr]

Merge this with the 'pathetic facebook status' thread.

[Perpetual Change]

I don't think there's anything wrong with hiim saying he's "sad" honestly.

[rumborak]

I actually don't care much about whatever emotional state he's in on a minute-by-minute basis. What bothers me is the jab at DT. I mean, it's in character, he did the same with KM, but still...

rumborak