MIKE PORTNOY Impersonator Is Back!

June 27, 2006

A man who was jailed in 2003 for allegedly impersonating Mike Portnoy, drummer for the progressive rock/metal band DREAM THEATER, is apparently back on the streets and is once again posing as the world-renowned musician, according to posting on Portnoy's official web site, MikePortnoy.com.

The New York Post reported in an April 2003 article that Portnoy and his impersonator are the same age and they look vaguely alike. But cops said the alleged imersonator ripped off at least two men three years ago — one he met in a gay bar and another he met at Finally Fred's in the Meatpacking District — while posing as the musician named Best Progressive Rock Drummer by Modern Drummer magazine eight years in a row.

Portnoy has posted the following e-mail he received from someone who recently came in contact with the alleged impersonator:

"This guy came over to my house the other day claiming to be 'Mike from DREAM THEATER.' This guy looked like a wreck, he had met my roommate at a jazz show in NYC. He was clearly on some heavy drugs, I just couldn't believe that it would actually be Mike Portnoy from DREAM THEATER!!!

"You must be thinking this is a joke, but it's not. This guy maintained that he was Mike Portnoy the whole time he was hanging out at my house. I totally would've assumed this guy was lying, but he KNEW EVERYTHING about the band, tours, album covers and their meanings, etc.

"Please tell me this guy was an impostor, I'd hate to think that the real Mike Portnoy is a drugged out wreck. See the picture attached. I snapped it while he was hanging out at my house in Brooklyn."

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