August 5-11, 2004

naked city

fineprint

Illustration By: Jeffrey Bouchard

Less words, more story.

by Morris Bracy IV and Alexa James

The Art of Moving Butts

You're having problems getting that party started quickly, right? The disco ball's spinning and booze is flowing, but the guests are neither shaking their thangs nor getting the grooves on — this, even though they've been informed the roof is on fire. What to do?

How about hiring a party motivator? Such a thing exists. Seriously. These men and women go into office parties, wedding receptions or bar/bat mitzvahs and, like catalysts in a funky science project, add the ingredients that turn a party into a par-tay.

Eddie Bruce, co-owner of Eddie Bruce Entertainment (EBE), has used them to bolster the energy of private parties for more than 20 years. Once the music starts, motivators go out on the dancefloor and boldly lead the meek in the latest moves by making it look fun and easy. Bruce should know what it takes to motivate a party. Back at the dawn of the Reagan Era, he hosted Dancin' on Air, and his cabaret act just closed at the Prince Music Theater (see David Anthony Fox's online review). Motivators, Bruce says, need dancing talent and a knowledge of current popular music while possessing a convincing air of friendliness. Bruce uses them as standard fare whenever he organizes parties featuring bands or DJs, generally having anywhere from two to eight motivators per party. (The parties start at $2,500, but can reach the sky depending on what a client desires. Motivators pull in $100 to $200 a party.)

Sounds like a pretty good gig, no? Well, that's what aspiring motivators who recently headed to Club Flow for tryouts thought. Forty arrived; only half would leave with a new gig.

"It's something I've wanted to do for a long time," explained New York native Rabiah Murtaza, who's trained in jazz, hip-hop and flamenco. To get hired, Murtaza and the others had to show their wares to talent judge Matt Ostroff, who made it clear that some candidates had that special something. No. 3 came out strong, brandishing a strobe light smile and aggressive moves that scored big points with Ostroff, who noted that "he doesn't need any training," But No. 17, an attractive 20-something brunette, lost points by busting out with the Macarena.

"It's a tough job, you've got to be fearless," Bruce confides. "You need a big ego."

Which makes perfect sense. Because anybody with a big ego most certainly wouldn't do the Macarena.

Survey Says

Next Wednesday, Freshpair.com will celebrate its second annual National Underwear Day. To celebrate, the online unmentionables retailer will release skivvie-clad models onto the streets of New York City. Nice, right? Well, since we're not getting that treatment here, the best we can do is take a look at an underwear survey the company released in advance of the big day. It covered everything from boxers vs. briefs to how many men will admit to wearing panties. We took those stats onto the streets of Philadelphia where opinions were split.

According to Freshpair.com, 29 percent of men prefer boxers, 28 percent like briefs and 23 percent opt for boxer briefs. Only 9 percent like free-balling best. Says Michael Colabelli, 43, of Michael's Custom Cuts in University City: "My boys have gotta be tucked. Jockey briefs, thank you." Graham Hopper, 25, of Manayunk admits to wearing boxer briefs to work — but he's not all that happy about it because "I seem to get more ass when I don't wear underwear."

Our interviewees were split in the knicker-matching department — either coordinate bras and bottoms with the rest of the outfit or play the wildcard. That happened to be Christmas boxers for 21-year-old camp counselor Andrew Rinkus, cornered in the Cherry Hill Mall with girlfriend Shani Ghosh. Nineteen-year-old Ghosh, matching her undergarments to her Victoria's Secret shopping bag, sported pink and black boy shorts.

"I always used to wear my brother's boxers," said Ghosh, falling into the 82 percent of women who've worn men's underwear. "Then they'd be my boxers because he wouldn't touch them again." As for the fellas, statistics show 31 percent of men have tried on women's underwear, though a whopping zero percent of Philadelphians surveyed will come clean.

"No way!" said Colabelli. "I'm a hairdresser. It's tough enough."