Mass Merrymaking in Britain
British Singer Calvin Harris to do some "merrymaking" at a lucky fan's home.
LONDON, Aug. 7, 2007— -- The floor is littered with beer bottles, and half-drunk-half-asleep guys are strewn eveywhere. The living room smells of cigarettes. And the kitchen, well, just forget about the kitchen.
Seen that before? That's how a house looks after it has been trashed by dozens of party crashers.
On Aug. 18, this might happen, not to one house but to hundreds.
Calvin Harris, a British songwriter, called on youth to throw parties at their parents' homes, in an effort to promote his latest song "Merrymaking at My Place."
"Would you like me to come round your house?" read a post on Harris' MySpace page. "I will be at your disposal until you chuck me out."
"This morning we had 500 applications," said Paul Bursche at Sony BMG, Harris' production company.
On MySpace, fans from around the world sent messages to Harris.
"Come to my house!" said Rachel on a post. "I won't be chucking you out! You can stay as long as you like!"
MarcusAntonio invited Harris to crash his party across the Atlantic.
"Calvin buddy, you need to come to the states anyway," said MarcusAntonio, "so why not start in Atlanta my house sucks, let's trash it."
Lauren was so keen on having the singer come to her place that she offered him an open-ended invitation.
"You can come to my house aaaaaaany day," read her post.
According to Bursche, the winner will receive a $3,000 prize and the singer will give a live, acoustic performance for the party's happy few.
But in England, house party does not prompt only good memories.
The British press have reported several cases of houses being wrecked by raucous party crashers.
One of the most famous and recent cases took place in Durham.
A 17-year-old girl reportedly advertised a house party on MySpace. Crashers got her details from the Web site and reportedly ruined the place.
Two hundred guests, £20,000 pounds worth of damage. Clothes were wrecked and urine stained the carpets.
The last thing Sony BMG wants, the company said, is to be responsible for a countrywide disaster.
Related Stories
ABC News Live