Me and Mike Portnoy

It happened. It really happened...


I have met quite a few musicians and actors before, but last weekend my biggest dream came true: Meeting Mike Portnoy, who is a legend among musicians from all across the globe. After 9 years of wishful thinking I got to meet my all-time hero.


In 2009 I made a drawing in honour of him:



...to show my appreciation and respect towards his insane music qualities. Not only is he an amazing drummer who used to play in prog metal band Dream Theater for 25 years, he is also very down-to-earth despite his fame within the music world.


I met Mike at a drummers festival in Belgium. Apparently I was the ONLY girl drummer at said festival as all the males kept staring at me with this surprising gaze. After strolling around for a few hours I finally stood in front of him:

Mike: "Hey there" :)


I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be.


Me:"Hi Mike! I'm not sure you remember this but..." *shows drawing*
Mike: "Hey! So it's you who made this drawing?"
Me:"You bet!" *blushes*
Mike: "It's so cool! I'm still using this as my profile image at my forum."
Me:"Really? Awesome!" (I knew this)


I was so happy he recognized my drawing. He even told me it's the best artwork of him he had ever seen. <3


Me:"I was wondering if you could sign it for me?"
Mike: "Of course!"
Me:*grabs expensive pen* "Could you use this pen?"
Mike: "Alright. So, what's your name?"
Me:"Nicolien"
Mike: "Uh.. could you spell it for me while I write it down?"
Me: "N... I... C..."


...so I continued spelling my name until...


Mike: "Cool! We share similar names!"


...and that's when I noticed he misspelled my name! It's a common thing though. _{(Remember some guy called Milo Ventimiglia?) 8D}

"Sorry for my bad handwriting," he said. "I wrote 'To Nicolien: Thank you for making me look so good!!'" and he smiled at me. Mike Portnoy, world's greatest drummer, smiled at me.


Before I left the table we took a picture together and I thanked him for being so awesome. In return, he thanked *me* for visitng him...! It was one of the best moments in my life.


Here are some more drum related deviations of mine:



P.S. I sadly forgot to take my expensive pen back after the drawing got signed. At least MP got a souvenir from me