Well said!

I cry for anyone who doesn't spring wood over Vinnie's performance on Zappa's Joe's Garage.

Felix, how long we been e-friends? Have I ever called you unenlightened? You know me better than that.

I don't think you have to be a fan of a musician's playing to appreciate what they bring to the table. For example, I "don't get" Jeff Beck's appeal, but I know he was an innovator who is set apart from other guitarists in his genre. I don't think you have to get Colaiuta's or Gadd's appeal -- I don't think they have to inspire you -- to appreciate that they are set apart from their peers. I think it's less subjective than you're suggesting.

I don't care at all for Elvis, but am I going to deny his impact on 20th Century music? Not at all. I think an argument could be made Bill Haley, Chubby Checker and Little Richard had an equally important role influencing musicians into the next era, but Elvis stands alone because he is the most revered by musicians who followed.

Ok, first off, Steve Gadd is by far the drummer who has the most memorable parts. That's one of the hugest accomplishments any musician can have. Having the most memorable parts, Gregg Bissonette expresses this in his new DVD. It's a huge goal, and it take years and years, but c'mon everyone knows 50 ways, his ratamacue fill, his double paraddiddle on the hi-hat thing, his style in general is so memorable. Now I'm not saying your wrong for not being a huge fan of his, I just don't know how you can't be a huge fan of his. Also, Portnoy without a doubt has his own sound and style. He's taken the sound of, Bonham, Moone, Ringo, Peart, and morphed it into his own. He has some of the most memorable drum parts (if you listen to his music).

-EML.

Stop your arguing and go watch some Drummer Cafe TV! 

Aquarian**

Haha sorry man, I'm so out of it. I just took a 5 hour college placement test.  

On the comment about Portnoy lacking dynamics, all I can say is:  I can totally understand how you'd get that impression about him.  But Portnoy is just as capable playing with a very, very wide dynamic range as the best drummers out there.  But with DT's music, he doesn't have as many opportunities to get all that dynamic.  But as mentioned with "Solitary Shell", he does some really cool stuff that, when I first heard it, I had to listen to it over and over and over going "wow, that's Mike Portnoy?"

And as for him not having much emotion in his playing like Tony Williams, and being all "straight", I can see that too.  I mean, when he's playing with DT, much of his drum parts are pre-written so he's basically just going through the motions.  He has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and when he writes his drum parts, he makes sure that they're perfect, and thus he'll play them pretty much exactly the same way every time.  And so when he plays them live, they're almost precisely the same as they were on the studio recording.  But there will be variations, and this is where we can hear Mike's emotions.  After all, he must react to the music just like everyone else.  I've seen them live 3-4 times, and I've seen hours of live footage.  There's plenty of emotion coming from him, but I think one has to know his original drum part pretty well to hear it.  Otherwise, it all sounds like he's reading from sheet music.

As for my feelings on him, well, I guess I'm a fan of his playing.  But I'm not a fan of his hand and foot technique.  I mean, I think that he could be SO much better.  When I first saw Todd Sucherman's trailer for his new DVD (it was the first time I saw a quality video of him), I said to myself that he is what Mike Portnoy could be if he would work on his technique.  For me, Todd is like a cross between Dave Weckl and Mike Portnoy.  On some DVD Dream Theater recently released (I think it was their Tokyo one), there's footage of Mike on the tour bus complaining about his right elbow.  He has tendonitis.  And if you watch him play, it's obviously from his technique (there's one piece of footage I'm thinking about in particular where he's soloing and playing on his octobans with a very tense arm.  It just looks harmful).  I'm not trying to say that I'm any better, because Mike is far beyond anything I'll ever achieve.  I'm just saying that when I compare his technique to guys who have excellent technique (who's technique I try to copy), I can see that Mike could use some lessons here from guys like Jim Chapin, or Freddie Gruber who have made guys like Dave Weckl become amazing.

But other than me complaining about his technique, I just love his creativity and his musicality and also his discipline.  He takes so much care into writing his drum parts and making them fit the song as best as he possibly can.  Of course, he's a perfectionist (but he's also extremely good at improvising.  I love listening to him improvise.  It's like everything was planned.  He has very "big ears".)  And even though it's a bit weird, I kinda like his goofiness behind the drums.  It's a good reminder to me to just have fun and to not get overly serious!

So, while I think guys like Dave Weckl, Thomas Lang, Todd Sucherman, John Blackwell, Dennis Chambers, Mike Mangini, Jojo Mayer, and of course all of the older legends can wipe the floor with Portnoy, I still enjoy his playing, and he's still inspiring to me.  I just wish his playing were more... hmm..  I can't put my finger on it.  There's just something missing that these other guys HAVE.  Antman, I have to admit:  you're right.  His playing is just too straight.

And I also want to mention here that I used to be a major Dream Theater fan, and I also obsessed over Mike Portnoy for a short time.  I also have Liquid Tension Experiment 1 and 2.  I've also heard a few clips from Mike's other projects he has worked on.  He's very, very talented.  But again, I admit that his playing does leave something to be desired now that I've moved on to liking guys like Dave Weckl even more.

So, I guess that's what I think of MP.

Actually, Solitary Shell is being used here as an example to show that Mike Portnoy isn't a drummer who has a limited dynamic range (e.g. Mostly loud).  We're not trying to say "here's a good example of what Dream Theater has done."  I only made that comment about playing it over and over and over because I really liked what Mike did with it in that certain passage when it almost sounds like fusion!  He did a nice job with it.

But as you know, Dream Theater isn't the first band to write a song that's very much like somebody else's.  But that's not the point here.  The topic at hand is what we think of our brother Mike Portnoy.  I gave my thoughts and I participated in the discussion about how Solitary Shell can be used to show that Mike Portnoy isn't just a loud, aggressive drummer.  And for the record, Solitary Shell is just one of many Dream Theater songs that can be used in this manner.  They've written several songs where Mike has shown a much softer side to his playing.

hehe goofball.