Drum legend Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs, The Neal Morse Band, ex-Dream Theater) recently checked in with the following announcement:

"April 20th, 2017 is my 50th Birthday! If I could have any wish, any birthday gift to celebrate half a century on Earth, it would be to gather all of my family, friends, bandmates and fans on a ship sailing across the ocean and celebrate my 50 years of life and 30 years of making music with all my loved ones!

Thank you to Larry Morand and Cruise To The Edge for granting me this wish and enabling me to share this gift of life and music with my family, friends, bandmates and fans on next year's Cruise To The Edge!"

Mike Portnoy's 50th Birthday Bash will be an All-Star career retrospective concert spanning 30 years of music. This will be the ultimate Mike Portnoy concert event, a celebration of life and music. Mark your calendars now and book your trip ASAP before this event sells out.

The cruise will run from February 7th to 11th, 2017, leaving from Tampa, FL. Watch CruiseToTheEdge.com for updates and information.

Bands confirmed so far for Cruise To The Edge 2017 include Yes as headliners, Kansas, Steve Hackett, John Wetton and more. Stay tuned for more bands to be announced soon.

Portnoy recently checked in from The Neal Morse Band's current recording sessions in Nashville:

"This selfie was snapped at the end of last night's session where we listened to playback of the entire new Neal Morse Band album from start to finish (only my drum tracks are finished so far). WOW! I am absolutely speechless....

As much as I initially fought against the idea (for very obvious reasons), it has grown into a double concept album. I usually never say this about new albums I make, but I honestly feel this album is an absolute masterpiece, and probably in the Top 3 of the most defining albums of my entire career (along with Dream Theater's Scenes From A Memory and Transatlantic's The Whirlwind)

I'll just say this: If you think you've heard the Prog Album of 2016, you ain't heard nuthin' yet! Wait 'til you get a load of this..."

The new album is slated for release in September/October. More news coming soon.

In 2015, The Neal Morse Band released the video for the title track from their album The Grand Experiment. Check it out below.

For information and updates on The Neal Morse Band go to this location.