Part 29 - Mr. Blanc's offer

Mr Blanc was worried – Edward had been missing now for six months. The fact that no one had contacted him about a ransom was no comfort, if that was the case at least he would know Edward was alive. He could do nothing but sit on his huge mounds of money and worry.
Mr Blanc had recently been approached by the NE Corporation to supply security for the upcoming I.Q=∞ tour. This seemed a bit odd to Mr Blanc as it wasn’t usually up to the sponsors of tours to handle these arrangements, they were the Promoters responsibility.
A representative of NE owner Hugh Jenning approached Mr Blanc saying he needed people who were serious and he heard Mr Blanc’s personnel were the best in the business and could keep their mouths shut. Mr Jenning wanted the members of the band and NE’s specialist equipment to be the direct responsibility of Mr Blanc himself and wanted absolutely nothing to come near either while on this tour. The money NE commissioned was extraordinary and it was an offer Mr Blanc would be a fool to turn down.
But Mr Blanc didn’t get where he was today by not being suspicious of all things gift wrapped in money, something was not kosher with all this.

Part 28 - Meanwhile in Paris Part 3

Boris was currently one of Mr Blanc’s most trusted henchmen; his loyalty was unquestionable even though they had never met.
There were now only two people in the world who could tell Boris what to do, one was Mr Blanc of course and Boris had been totally loyal in the 4 weeks he’d been employed by him and would as long as he was continued to be paid.
The other was the reason why he was waiting at Gare du Nord railway station. Boris feared no man and only one woman – his mum.
When Boris’ mum called to say she may have to stay an extra night in Paris because of a travel agency oversight Boris rushed to meet and collect her.
Having her fill his life with grief because things weren’t going as expected was something he just didn’t need right now, especially with the current personal protection contract they were involved in.
The band he was paid an obscene amount of money to supervise were the most passive and well behaved rock stars he’d even experienced, well maybe not that David, he didn’t mind a drop or two. But the fans, they were rabid and sometimes Boris felt if they told the crowds to jump off the stands he felt like they crowd would just go ahead and do it.
It was all very strange.
On the way to meet his mother Boris walked through the rest areas as he walked passed rows of lockers one inexplicably thrust itself open. Boris – who in normal circumstances would have punched the door off its hinges with his lightening reflexes but this time he just stopped and looked inside the open locker.
Inside were a collection of glittering diamonds and propped on top was a beautiful smooth red stone the size of a golf ball.
It was beautiful.
“Finders Keepers” thought Boris and stuffed everything into his trouser pockets all except the red stone which he placed into his shirt breast pocket. It felt so warm next to his heart.
Boris went off to meet his mum thinking:
“she’d wouldn’t half like these diamonds in me pocket”

Part 27 - Pre Tour organization

The response and demand of the I.Q=∞ recording had pushed demand for the band into the stratosphere.
So it was planned to do a huge European and American tour over the Northern summer.
Everybody wanted to know or get a piece of the monks from the Abbey but their privacy was a well guarded secret, not just from the fans and general public but also those they did business with.
David- who had his own self interest at

heart- was ever vigilant and never let his guard down.
Soon offers for sponsorship came flooding in and most people were wondering how one of the main contracts was awarded to an obscure little brewery in the south of France.
It was Hugh Jenning who made David sit up and listen.
Jenning’s NE Group was willing to finance the entire tour on two continents and then guarantee a minimum after tax profit of fifteen percent. He wasn’t even going to insist on branding all he wanted was to bring his research crew and equipment and observe the crowds while making a documentary film of the tour.
Jenning was quite happy to respect the boy’s privacy and not demand to meet them in person. Jenning’s reasoning was that the band would return him commercial exposure, marketing information and profit regardless.
Little did the boys know that Hugh Jenning would have tripled the amount if he had to get on board this tour and the valuable information he would glean from it.

























Mr Jenning and his equipment intimidated the members of the band.

Part 26 - More Promotion

THE THREE MUNCHS

There was no denying Mr Sincerity's innovation when it came to marketing.

Part 25- I.Q=∞ merchandising

I.Q=∞ merchandising

Special edition Round CD cases with your favourite Monk inside

Free wall posters - Just click on image


The band was adored by the critics, soon promotional works were appearing everywhere

” I have seen the future of popular music…” Bruce Springsteen
“Makes feel like a busking fiddle player”..Andre Rieu
“ayeeee yayayayayayaya!” Bjork
“What would I know? I’m dead” George Harrison
Mr. Sincerity and David were never short of ideas.