Adventures of Devon Carlton - 5. ADC Chapter 5

When Robert and Devon returned from their chat with the skipper, they announced that their trip has been extended by another two days, Robert said he had spoken to the band manager to alter the plans, and the manager had packed their belongings and stored them in his suite, so the band had officially checked out of the resort, which sent the reporters off looking for where they had gone.

Devon said that their other planned activities have been postponed till they return, so now they were free to spend four more days just having fun, and they decided to remain where they are at the moment, which allowed the skipper to send two crew in a dingy to go and get some more supplies for the next two days.

After lunch was served on the beach, the crew set up a volleyball net, and corner markers for the court and the 8 boys spent the next few hours enjoying a good hard competitive game, followed by a cooling swim in the ocean, then another game of soccer, while the crew set up for a beach cookout, with a bonfire included.

Robert invited the skipper and crew to please join them for after dinner drinks and marshmallows by the campfire, and when Devon overheard the invite, he too insisted on the crew joining them.

Reluctantly the skipper agreed to the invite and went to notify all of his crew, that being his first mate, engineer, chef and two stewards.

When the crew arrived at the campfire about half an hour after the meal had ended, bringing with them an esky full of drinks, Devon went to the esky and pulled out six beers, and went and thanked each crew member, starting with the skipper, shaking their hands and handing them a beer, when he had done that, there was a sound coming from one of the band members, which Devon realised was a mouth organ, and suddenly EQD was singing acapella.

Halfway through the second song, David stood up and disappeared into the night, and suddenly the sound of bagpipes could be heard nearby, playing along to the song currently been sung.

It was so beautiful the combination of the singing and the bagpipes, and it took a few seconds after the song was finished before Devon, Mitch, Gary and all the yacht crew burst into applause.

When they had stopped Devon stood up and walked around the fire once, before saying, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound” David started the bagpipes to play along, and Devon continued saying, not singing, the rest of the first verse.

”That saved a wretch like me…” everyone just watched and listened as Devon said the words, but as the second verse started, he began to sing, and much to everyone’s surprise it was a magnificent soprano voice, at the third verse the rest of the band joined in to finish the song in style, and the applause was huge as Mitch, Gary and the yacht crew stood up cheered at such an amazing performance.

“That is the best rendition of Amazing Grace I have ever heard, you can join the band whenever you are ready,” Robert said and the other four nodded in agreement, Devon just blushed with embarrassment and sat down.

“No, the public life does not suit me at all, thanks for the offer, but I’m happy as I am,” Devon said. The skipper and crew stood up, thanked them for the drinks and concert and wished them a good night.

All the crew except the stewards went back to the yacht, while the stewards finished packing up the tables from dinner time, and took them back to the yacht, returning to the beach half an hour later, where they waited for the guests to want to return to the yacht.

“You know guys, that Devon’s mother’s name is Grace, I think he was thinking of her when he started that song, but man I had no idea he was such a good singer,” Mitchell said to the band members, Devon nodded that this was indeed true. Gary smiled at his good friend,

“Well mate we can send her a nice surprise present, Hugh here has a portable video camera, which he passed to me before the concert began, and I have it all recorded, so maybe we can send her a copy of the video of Devon’s song on DVD disk” Gary said, which caught Devon totally by surprise.

”Let’s see what it looks like first before we do that” Devon said and he got up and made his way to the beach, and everyone else followed, after dousing out the campfire.

During breakfast Hugh passed a DVD to the steward, to place it in the player, and turned on the television, ‘I was able to do some editing of it on the video recorder, so it is pretty much ready to go” Hugh said, and they all waited for the DVD to play.

The next 3 ½ minutes was spent silently watching the recording, it was well recorded, nice and steady, and the quality was excellent, when it was over, Robert stood up and raised his glass of fruit juice.

”To Devon and his mother Grace” he said, and the others stood up and rose their glasses to the toast, and everyone took a sip, before sitting down again.

“Guys, I have an idea”, Robert began, looking at each of his teammates, “Instead of using those to acapella songs as part of a new album, how about we use it as a single special release, two songs by EQD and a guest artist as a bonus item, that’s if its ok with the guest artist?” Robert said looking at Devon, who had no idea, what he was really saying.

“Dev, what my clumsy cousin is saying is that we want to make this a special release because after seeing your performance in the DVD, it doesn’t need any studio work to clean it up, it is perfect as it is.

After you three went to bed last night, the band played the whole video, and thanks to Gary’s great filming work, we have video clips of three great songs, which could be a huge hit, we are thinking of putting them up on I-Tunes, to see how we go with the response.

I for one am happy to allow you to have 1/4 of all proceeds of the sales of the this special release” Hugh said, and the other members of the band agreed.

After some thought, Devon looked at his new friends, “I am happy for you guys to release the song as you see fit, all I ask is that you keep the amount of information about me to the public to the bare minimum.

I think the offer of proceeds is way too much, as you know I am already quite wealthy, so how about donating my share to a Children’s Cancer Research Centre somewhere” Devon replied.

As the yacht was setting off to a new destination, James went to his cabin and made a phone call to the bands manager, telling him of what has happened in the past sixteen hours, and what the band wants to do, and the manager was pleased with this, having already heard the boys sing the two songs in acapella in their hotel bungalow before the cruise.

A day and a half later the yacht was back at the jetty on the main island of Vanuatu, and the bus was there waiting to take them back to the resort, and instead of re-booking rooms for the band members, Devon had arranged for one more bungalow adjoining there’s, using his name to the media don’t discover where the band members are.

Once settled back in, everyone met in Devon’s bungalow, so the band manager could see the video clip of the three songs, he said he too was pleased with the quality of the recording and the performance and gave the ok to put it on I Tunes, so for the next twenty minutes or so, with laptop computer in hand, the video was split into three separate clips, and made available for sale on I Tunes.

Meanwhile, Devon had gone to the reception desk and arranged to have the DVD of his recorded song, sent home to his mother via express post, hoping it would get to her within a few days before the I Tunes gets too crazy with it.

Two hours later the group of 8 young men and the band manager were enjoying a relaxing late dinner in the restaurant, which was nearly empty of other guests when the hotel manager came rushing towards their table, and not far behind two staff were bringing a trolley with a large television on it.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I thought you might want to watch this, it's direct via satellite from Australia,” the manager said and he turned and pointed the remote at the television, and the Australian commercial channel broadcasting a news and current events show came on.

“... and now to our next story, many of the younger generations have heard of this new boy band for the UK, 5 young men, all related but from three different countries, EQD is their name, and they are from Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Mann.

Having been together as a band for just eighteen short months, they have gathered a huge gathering of fans.

Just a few hours ago EQD did the unexpected, they released a three-song video clip special on I Tunes, and it has gone viral, up till just a few moments ago, a total of 1.2 million copies have been purchased.

I myself have paid and seen these songs, and as a middle-aged person with ten years as a music reporter, for a number of publications, I can honestly say that this is the best I have seen of their music so far.

The recording has been done at night on a beach with a campfire burning, with the waves rolling onto the beach in the background, and with band member David playing the bagpipes, this is one very clever production.

However, what is the main surprise is their guest performer, who is only known as Carlton, whose face is mostly hidden by the darkness around him, as he sings a very hauntingly beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, I highly recommend that you check it out…”

The television was turned off and wheeled away, and there was total silence around the room, for some time till the manage broke the silence, “Well young man, you have become an instant hit, the boys have told me you have refused to join the band, but would you be interested in doing a one-off performance at a live concert?” he asked looking directly at Devon.

Giving a small smile, he thought about it before replying, “I will consider it but no promises”, “Oh, by the way, you just donated $3.7 million to Children’s cancer research” Robert added in reference to Devon’s share of the proceeds of the sales.

By the time they got back to the bungalow and checked the laptop, sales had increased by another 1.6 million and climbing, “Maybe make that half of my share as a donation, I don’t want to be too generous” Devon said to Robert, who nodded that he understood.

The next morning as the group was enjoying breakfast on the bungalow balcony, Devon’s mobile phone beeped with a message. “Dude is that you in the video clip with EQD, wow I knew you could sing, but man that was awesome, Mum was in tears when we showed it to her, Love the Twins”.

Devon smiled and handed Mitch the phone, as he stood up and squatted behind the EQD band members, so Mitch would take a photo. With the photo attached, Devon typed out a short message and sent it.

“Here is a picture that Mitchell has just taken of me and the band, we are still eating breakfast here, this is for family’s eyes only, ok twins? No one is to know that I am the singer in their latest release on I Tunes as it may interfere with future plans. Tell mum that the song was for her, and a copy on DVD is in the mail, Love Devon”

A few moments later the phone beeped again. “Mum says thank-you, and she looks forward to receiving it”, Devon smiled and put the phone away and continued eating. Once he had finished, he looked at Robert.

“The text messages are from my twin bros, they recognised me in the video clip and said my mum was in tears when she saw the clip, I told them it that this was for family only to know, as it may interfere with future plans” he said.

“So, you agree to do the one-off concert,” David asked, Devon looked at him and nodded yes, then after some thought he asked, “Where and when is this concert if a's already planned as I suspect it has”.

“Yes it has, they take a fair bit of advanced planning” the manager said, “It’s in Edinburgh 45 days from today and counting” Robert added, for a moment Devon was doing some thinking, then turned to his two mates, “well there goes our African Safari, how about a trip to Scotland instead? he said with a grin.

Both Gary and Mitchell nodded in agreement, then faced Robert again, “well that’s all organised, I will ring my travel agent to change that part of the itinerary, from Africa to Scotland, she won’t mind”, Devon said and everyone laughed, as they stood up from the table.

“Guys, the band and I have to leave this afternoon, so can you join us for a 12 noon lunch at our bungalow,” the band manager said, Devon, nodded acceptance of the invite and waved as the band headed off to their bungalow, no doubt they had some business to deal with.

Devon, Mitch and Gary lounged around the pool for the remainder of the morning, before they returned to the bungalow half an hour before their lunch appointment, so they could shower and change.

Arriving at the bungalow on time, the manager invited them in, and a buffet lunch was ready to be served on the balcony, and as they sat down to eat. About twenty minutes later Robert stood up and after a few moments, he began to speak.

“Gary, Mitchell and especially Devon, we the band wanted to thank you for your friendship, and the opportunity to really relax, without you guys the upcoming concert tour would be a real battle.

We went to our special gift shop and produced for you guys just a small gift each as a thank-you, just a copy of the videos we filmed on the beach, each of them autographed by us, also we have included our personal mobile numbers, so you can keep in touch with us, just don’t call when we are in the studio recording or on stage at a concert” and this made everyone laugh.

Grabbing a napkin, Devon wrote his mobile number down before handing it to Mitchell, who shook his head no, “Nah you guys keep in touch with Devon, and we will get all the info from him, it’s been great to know you guys, and spend time with you, good luck with the concert tour” Mitch said handing his copy of the business card and the napkin to Robert, and Gary did the same.

“We have one last favour to ask Devon, after lunch we are doing an impromptu concert in front of the resort restaurant, for the staff and guests staying here, and we are audio recording it, and we would like to ask you, Devon, to sing along with us, one of our songs if you know any? Robert asked, Devon, smiled, “I quite like the song STORM, if that’s ok? he said.

“Perfect choice, you can do the 3rd verse, when I’m on the bagpipes” David said, “Good, it’s all been arranged with the Resort manager, so we better get moving as we are meant to be there by 12.45pm” the manager said, and they all stood up to get moving over to the restaurant., but approaching it from the reception foyer, where they waited for the announcement.

The restaurant was half full, as there has been a large increase the in number of guests arrive earlier in the day, “Ladies and Gentlemen, as some of you are aware, we have had the honour of having as special guests, all the way from the UK, and performing one song for us before their departure later today, I give you EQD” the resort manager announced.

There was a huge applause, and this died down with the sound of thunder, coming from a wobble board, created from a sheet of steel, that is a sign.

The sound came again followed by the sound of a loud crash of thunder, and a sort of moaning/ whirling noise, coming from makeshift sound effects courtesy of the kitchen, and the singing began from a distance, softly at first then louder as the group slowly appeared, as the song neared the end of the 2nd verse, the sound of bagpipes could be heard, as David has slipped out of sight to gather his bagpipes from its hiding spot on the patio, and played them just out on the patio so it wasn’t too loud.

At the opposite door, just out of sight of the public, Devon began to sing his solo, for the final chorus, the rest of the group joined in with Devon, and as soon as it was over, Devon disappeared back to the bungalow, as he heard the applause coming from the restaurant behind him.