Twilight Descends on Hot Topic at Hollywood & Highland
"Twilight Fans" swarm the Hot Topic store at Hollywood Highland
Here’s what I knew. Eight hundred die-hard fans of the "Twilight" book series would be making a pilgrimage to Hot Topic at Hollywood Highland in Los Angeles for an in-store autograph signing by the supporting cast of the “Twilight” films and live concert by bands (Death Cab for Cutie, Sea Wolf, Anya Marina and Band of Skulls) featured in the “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” soundtrack.
I was expecting post-apocalyptic rioting mayhem. Teenage girls screaming at such high decibels that would render dead the upper registers of my hearing. A day-after-Thanksgiving at Wal-Mart caliber of chaos.
I arrive at Hollywood Highland on Nov. 6, Friday afternoon, and it’s… organized and calm. But then again, none of the top three cast members (Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner) were on the bill to appear. The fans waited in neat lines that snaked around the shopping complex’s circular pathways all the way down to the street. To attend the signing, you had to buy a $30 “New Moon” T-shirt at Hot Topic on Oct. 31. The website emphasized “only” 800 would be available. (For those counting, that’s $24,000 worth of T-shirts.) One group I talked to camped out the night before T-shirts went on sale. “Was it worth it?” I asked. Their heads emphatically nodded, “Yes!” “Definitely!” 16-year-old Henry Alba ditched school that Friday to secure a place in line. He gushed, “Ashley [Greene, one of the vampires] touched my hand!” An overall smooth operation.
As the crew changed out the last band’s set (Death Cab for Cutie) to make way for the main event cast QA, I overhear a hubbub rippling through the crowd. “Is that Taylor?!” (Again, he was not on the bill to appear.) KROQ DJ Ted Stryker turned the simmering mob up to a boil and introduced Lautner on stage. Crazy screaming ensues. Then Stewart. The crazy screaming dial rises a notch up.
“I got one more person I would like to bring out for you guys.” By now, the Twi-hards know how this story ends and Stryker’s voice has been overrun by the kind of hysteric howling that only those who witnessed an *N Sync concert in 2000 can comprehend. “He plays Edward Cullen, Robert Pattinson” is what I think Stryker said under all the screaming. “I love you Rob!” “Taylor!” “Whoooo!” The trifecta is on stage for all of six minutes.
From left, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner. Cue rabid fan screaming.
The rest of the cast. Mediocre screaming.
Inside the Hot Topic store is a "Twilight" merchandise display that rivals Christian Audigier’s licensing hunger. The intense faces of “Edward” and “Jacob” are plastered on messenger bags, buttons, iPod skins, lunchboxes, jigsaw puzzles, umbrellas, beach towels, water bottles and T-shirts. There is “wolfpack tattoo” packing tape, jewelry and a line of makeup. Some need a shopping basket; they are hoarding so many accoutrements. This Los Angeles event was the first stop on a 14-city Hot Topic store tour leading up to the “New Moon” movie release on Nov. 20. About half of the cities have sold out of the 500 tickets allotted. Looks like Christmas is coming early for Hot Topic.
