various Mike Portnoy comments

MP: Well, after listening to all 54 entries (at roughly 11 minutes each!) we finally have chosen a winner! It was a very hard decision for us to make as so many of these entries were truly incredible and worthy of reward. The amount of time and effort put forward by each and every one of the contestants really blew us away! There is so much talent out there among our fanbase and we are truly impressed....

Being there were so many great compositions, we wanted to think of a way to award more than just the Grand Prize winner...so in order to share their wonderful talents with everybody, we’ve decided to take the top 7 finalists and manufacture a CD with their entries to distribute through a future issue of the Dream Theater International Fan Club magazine “Theater of Dreams”. (many of the regional fan clubs are going to take place in this CD promotion as well!)

So without any further ado:

1st Place Grand Prize Winner: Andy Rowland and Ant Law (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Andy and Ant’s entry will be played each and every night on the Dream Theater 2004 World Tour approximately 20 minutes before DT hits the stage.

They also win 4 Tickets and Backstage Passes to the 2004 DT show of his choice, a copy of “Train of Thought” signed by all 5 members of DT, and a set of the 3 latest Ytsejam Records releases (for more information, visit www.ytsejamrecords.com).

2nd Place Winner: Daisuke Kurosawa (Tokiwadai, Japan)

Daisuke’s entry was a VERY close runner-up (we had to listen to the top 2 finalists several times back to back), so we’d like to reward his incredible efforts as well with 4 Tickets and Backstage Passes to the 2004 DT show of his choice.

Top 5 Runner Up Winners:

1. Linear Sphere Theater (London, England)

2. Richard Campbell (London, England)

3. Brian Wherry (Auburndale, MA - USA)

4. Redemption (Los Angeles, CA - USA)

5. Eric Clemenzi (Byfield, MA - USA)

Each of these entries (pending their permission) will be included on the upcoming Dream Theater Songwriting Contest CD.

Honorable Mentions:

Most Creative Entry: Eric Broughton and Umesh Madhavan (Sylvan Beach, NY - USA)

Best Musical Moment: Bass Solo from Godforsaken Project (North Hollywood, CA - USA)

Best Song Title: “Slightly Ominous Cheeseburger” by Divided Sky (Exton, PA - USA)

Best Band Name: Sweet Brown Otter Meat (Renton, WA - USA)

Congratulations to all of the winners and a big thank you to all of the contestants!

C-ya on tour,

Dream Theater

MP: For the record, I have been skeptical about this promotion because of it being perceived as some of you are...

However here are the facts:

The Premium seating concept is something that was suggested and created by DT management and is maintained by DT’s merchandise company, NOT the band....It is very important to point out that the members of Dream Theater are *NOT* in anyway profiting from this promotion...The video and lights for this tour are a huge step up in the band’s vision of their presentation and the fact is that this upgrade cost a great deal of $$$...Not a SINGLE penny of the premium seating money goes to the band, but rather it all is going back to the fans by delivering a much better show for their money. It should be noted as well that the band too, is making a huge sacrifice, in that they too need to buy seats for their friends, or have their friends buy the seats.....Dream Theater HAS NEVER been motivated by money and this case is no different...it is all about delivering the greatest DT Live experience possible to the fans.

quote from article: Before wrapping up, talk turns back to the DVD and the duet with Dream Theater on The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. “We began playing that song because of the Iraq War and the George Bush administration. We felt strongly about it because it’s a protest song. Iraq is a complete disaster and it’s a no-win situation. The Bush administration is corrupt and conniving. They’ve lied so many times to the people of the United States and the world. I know they’re in Iraq for the oil, but the social issues in those fundamentalist countries are so awful. I don’t believe in fundamentalism of any sort. The whole fundamentalist perspective is wrong. It needs to be taken out and obliterated. What they’re doing to people especially women... the rape, the murder and the torture is completely ridiculous. It’s prehistoric and against everything that, as an American, I believe in. From that stance, we have an obligation to go in and liberate the women of these countries.”

MP: Geoff is speaking on behalf of himself there...

I suggested the song to him only because I thought it would be a kickass song to jam on!

comment: I’m just returning from the airport. I met zoso and chuchoDT over there. We saw everyone but they were rude. They didn’t say hello or something. They just passed by and I managed to get the Jordan autograph. JP tried to sign too but the marker didn’t work in the LSFNY cd. Their manager was yelling at us to stay back and we were not being rude or forcing DT to do something. We just wanted them to say hello or something like that. I must say I’m a little disappointed. I guess DT is the normal band and not the SUPER OUT OF CONTEXT bands that will do anything for their fans.

MP: I stopped posting on The Forum earlier this year because I was tired of being bashed all over the place for things I did/didn’t do or said/didn’t say, etc. etc.

How ironic that once again it takes a good ol MP/DT bashing to bring me out of my “solitary shell”.

I’m sorry if you great, dedicated Mexican DT fans felt mistreated, mishandled, disrespected or ignored today at the airport. We know you had the best intentions in mind and we really do love and appreciate all of our fans.

Please understand the circumstances surround today’s incident:

a) we have travelled on airplanes ALL day...up since 7am and finally arriving in Mexico at around 8pm (or whatever time it was)....we were VERY tired

b) we had just been dealing with lost luggage at baggage claim so we weren’t in the greatest spirits

c) and most importantly - there were 15 of us (band and crew) trying to get to our cars with our bags & luggage, confused promoter reps not knowing where to send us, etc.

We have NO PROBLEM stopping to sign autographs, take pictures, etc. but it really helps when it is a “controlled environment”. (the way it usually is by our bus after the show) When you are trying to shuffle 15 people and all of their bags from a 6 week tour to their cars, it is VERY hard to stop and sign autographs. If one person stops, then the pushing and shoving begins and soon all hell breaks loose. (yes even with 12 fans!)

In our experiences it is too dangerous, chaotic and confusing to stop the moving process and begin taking pictures and signing autographs at an airport. The best (and only safe) solution is to simply keep moving and get in the cars... And it is our tour manager’s job to make sure that happens...even if it means yelling. (sorry!)

Under other circumstances (at the gig, at the bus, even at the hotel) we usually do our best to say hello to fans.

Please do not hold this incident against us. We know how great our fans are and we never take their devotion for granted.

Tomorrow we will be “back to work” to deliver to you a great show and lots of great music for you all to enjoy!