While I do think Mike acts rashly at times, I have to say this:
I've never known a guy that cares so much about... well, everyone. He's really passionate, and really emotional, to a fault at times. But he's also a very kind and giving person.
I had absolutely no reason to expect him to even remember who I was, but I was surprised that he actually remembered my name - after meeting me 3 times. In 2014 I did the VIP thing for Neal Morse band (btw, if you want to support a band monetarily - this is the absolute best way to do so). And I said "I don't know if you remember me", and he looked me over for a second and said "Of course I do. It's Kim, right?". Blew my mind. And asking him for anything in the recent years has always been met with kindness and accomodation.
Asking him for the interview in April was met with a joke - he had seen the James interview, and noticed that James consistenly called me "Tim". He pointed that out, jokingly saying that I could only interview him if "he could call me Tim". First of all - he saw the interview I did - second of all - he noticed that James called me the wrong name... And I'm not someone who's been in his face or been in this to get them to know -me-, I've always enjoyed being the guy that helped others meet their idols and standing back watching them enjoy it. Mike was the first who -really- showed that he knew me. Now, it's a different story, since I've been in DTs face since I took over the world wide fan club (except for Mangini - who apparently refuses to remember who I am).
So while I do know that Mike can be viewed as abrasive - I also know him from another side. I know he's the real deal. It's not fake when he's passionate. It's not fake when he's emotional and hurt by personal attacks. He's simply a human being who happens to be a well known music artist, but he also knows very well what it is to be a fan, and is very down to earth. That's why I love these guys, all of them. I can have conversations with any of them, and they treat me as thought they're actually interested. It may be fake, it may be a face they put on, but they try to see "the people", not just fans.
Of course, this personal attachment does make it harder for me to do some of my tasks like reviewing albums and such. But at the same time, I know that they all know that it's kinda my job to be honest about my opinions, and they value it..... except for that one time... 
As a somewhat frequent critic of the man, I will say that none of this really surprises me. It reminds me of a lady I worked with a long time ago. She was, let's say, difficult to get along with, but she had a handful or two of close friends who thought she was the greatest thing, and to them, she was. She would do anything for them, which I saw firsthand (her and I did not care for each other, but several of her close friends were also close friends of mine, so we often tolerated each other), but if you were someone she didn't care for, look out, because she would be aggressively be a raging bitch to you. It was astonishing to see how someone could be so nice to someone one minute and then flip the switch and be so mean to someone else the next.
So, while there are differences, Mike Portnoy, in some ways, reminds me of her. To the people that are in his corner, Mike Portnoy is the greatest thing ever, and he treats them well, but to those who have that audacity to not back him up 100% on everything, you are crap, and he shows little to no regard for you. If nothing else, it's fascination to watch.
Yeah, this is kind of my interpretation too. He's all about being the "fan friendly artist." Which is sort of an ego trip of its own. He has a certain level of condescension in his approach. People who buy your music, your art, aren't children who need to be treated like you're providing a charity towards. I haven't seen or heard of many fan interactions with him where he actually treated the other person like a normal person, it's always "MP" (his 3rd person references are a start) meeting "his fans," "his kids," or his "haters." Very binary, and very vain. Either you talk about how he "treats his fans" by releasing "official bootlegs" (releasing a product to buy is giving a treat to people who need to be treated?) or you see it all as a bit much, and end up having "Never Enough" written about you.
Add in DS and I genuinely wonder what the impact of this all will be on sales. I mean, if we're being frank, I don't think anyone expects this project to light it up monetarily regardless, but it can't be helping.
Given that we aren't talking about Taylor Swift numbers to begin with, I think it will have a negligible effect on net sales. They're going to do 50K to 100K regardless of what Derek tweets or doesn't tweet. Granted there will be a few people for whom "Derek's a douche, I'm not buying THIS now!", but there will also be those that say "HUH. Who's this Derek Kardashian dude? Prog kings, eh? No cheese, eh? I'll give this a listen."
The one time I met him - and Neal was present, for what that's worth - he looked tired, but was extremely "present", took time with every fan without it being a "rock star moment", and was engaging. He was nothing like the raving egomaniac who "needs counseling". Then again, it wasn't the forum for that. Who knows? Can you really know ANYONE without seeing them in all facets of their life?
As for doing loadouts... I have seen Brett Eldredge four times now (rising country star; bigger act than either AMob or Neal Morse; as a headliner, would probably play the same venues as Dream Theater, maybe a little bigger) and every time, his band came out and set up their own rigs, checked their own levels, etc. Really kind of refreshing if you ask me.
Topic: Mike Portnoy's "Prog Metal" supergroup: Sons of Apollo (Read 308750 times)
