More Popular Than Elvis And The Beatles Combined

Thanks to the real axis of evil -- indulgent parents, spoiled tweens and shameless marketers -- Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter has become the biggest act to hit popular music since Zamfir retired his pan flute.

Washington parents are still feeling the sting of shelling out their hard-earned money for eBay tickets to the Hannah Montana show Jan. 7 at Verizon Center, $250 to $300 a pop. That's if they were lucky: One broker priced floor seats at $1,595 each. Elsewhere in the country where the "Best of Both Worlds Tour" is headed, seats were reselling for as much as $3,000. The national average hit $240, reportedly more than for Springsteen or Beyonce.

This is big. Beatles big, her promoter bragged.

What my princess wants, my princess gets!

A few days before Hannah Montana tickets went on sale this month, Ellicott City resident Catherine Parks went shopping at Columbia Mall. In nearly every store, moms were buzzing about how to get special pre-sale ticket codes off the fan Web site and whether they'd have to resort to paying a scalper if they failed.

Then she went down to the food court. While her daughter ate her Happy Meal, a woman at the next table flipped open her cellphone to plot her strategy. Parks felt panic set in.

"I started to get freaked out," she said. " 'What am I going to do if I don't get these tickets?' "

She ended up winning one of the codes on eBay and bought her tickets on the fan site before they went on sale to the general public. Her son and daughter, ages 9 and 3, will be ferried to the Hannah Montana concert in a rented stretch limousine.

(If you think Ms. Parks is a good mother, please, don't have kids of your own.)

Thanks to MP3 players and cellphones, kids-oriented satellite radio and portable DVD players, advertisers have nearly unfettered access to the giggling demographic group. Experts say tweens represent $39 billion in buying power that comes from allowances and gifts from indulgent parents and grandparents. And because moms, more than ever, consult with them on anything from their favorite juice to shampoo, they influence family buying decisions for billions more.

Is it too late for grownups to reclaim the culture? Probably so, since "adults" -- at least many of those with children -- seem all too happy to cede control.

Comments

[Some Other Mike]

This makes me want to go live in one of those abandoned missile silos with a few years of provisions and a shotgun. Holy cow.

[Norma]

Zamfir retired?