Well, I'm not Stadler (...or am I? You'll never know, will you? Okay, I'll fess up. I'm not. I could be. But I'm neither as handsome nor elequent), but I think I can answer all of these. And I think they are good questions.
1. By lawyers, do you mean you and Bosk, or do you mean the band's lawyers? Serious question.
I'm pretty sure he was referring to him, me, and Paul (or maybe Samsara, although I don't recall him saying anything). I don't think Stadler knows what the band's lawyers have said, if anything.
2. And if it's you and Bosk, do you guys have an actual OPINION on what happened? "We don't really know" is not an opinion. I'm asking, what is your opinion?
Bottom line is, we
don't know. Only a small handful of people actually do, and I don't think any of them are active members of this forum. It could have been any one of a million scenarios. For all we know, Mangini has an opportunity lined up that is a "perfect fit" for him at this stage of his life, and he initiated conversations with the band and said that he was thinking very seriously about pursuing that opportunity, which could have then prompted the band to go down the path of, "We can either start the audition process all over again, or we can reach out to Mike Portnoy and see if he is interested in coming back, and honestly, it's probably best for everyone if we go with the latter," and then it all fell into place and the band decided to go that direction. That's just one thing that popped into my mind as a possibility that would fit with all the public statements thus far. But we don't know. There isn't anywhere near enough info out there to form any opinion about what might have happened. Maybe someday there will be. But for right now, my answer
has to be "I don't know" because that is the only honest answer I can give.
But here is one additional piece of information I do have from a very reliable source (and I HATE saying I have a source without being able to say who it is, because I think it's really bad form to do that, which is why I usually just keep my mouth shut in these situations; but I'm making an exception in this case because I think it's for the greater good): Mike Mangini was not "fired." Whether the decision for him to leave was initiated by him, by the band, or was mutual, I don't know. But I do know he wasn't fired.
3. You mention ..."and people close to the band." Who do you mean? People that work for the band? Billy Sheehan?
Pretty sure he is referring to me and/or Wey. But I could be mistaken. But that said, I (and I think I can speak for Wey on this too) definitely fall into that category of being some who is
somewhat close to the band (not tooting my own horn, just saying that I know them better than the typical fan) AND who has said there is no evidence of any firing.
4. I absolutely believe that at the time of Rodrigo's interview, he knew. That's my opinion, but his disposition when Rodrigo asks about DT completely changed to me. I don't have a law career, but I do have a management career of dealing with people, and that's how I read it. I tried getting confirmation on when he was told. Twice. I couldn't get it confirmed.
Pure speculation on my part, but I think he almost surely knew. The timing would suggest that it was at least in motion if not decided, and so would his responses. I have a hard time reading
exactly what was going on in his mind, but his demeanor did appear to change and it really looks like there is more that he wanted to say but could not. What that is is hard to say.