“You won’t want to be leaning on the stage in a few minutes, trust me,” a headset-wearing man at the MAC Viva Glam party told guests last night, minutes before Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin took the stage. Once the beer-swilling D.J. got the cue, he put on a mix of “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and a song by Nicki Minaj that I’d remember better if it weren’t for the ratio of guests to Champagne-serving Ken-doll waiters hovering, ridiculously and delightfully, at around 3 to 1. Then, smoke shot skyward from holes around the stage with such force that it was actually a little bit frightening, and the stage rotated to reveal a blonde, neon-pink-striped-suit-wearing Nicki Minaj and a very elegant goateed Ricky Martin, posing together on a stagnant motorcycle like they do in the campaign. Judging by the suits they were wearing, whatever they had to do for us would be more business than booty shaking, and so it was: a little speech about the Viva Glam campaign (all proceeds from Nicky’s lipstick and Ricky’s “lip conditioner” benefit men and women living with HIV/AIDS). After a few minutes of that and no singing or dancing from either of them (to which I say, “BOO, Ricky! Booooo.” But Nicki, you can rest), the smoke effect happened again, and the two rotated back around, making way for Benny Benassi. Watch it in the video.
