Eric Ript4Hire was awesome and indeed versatile. I should have clarified that the Erik I was referring to in my post went by "blondbluewith8x6" and was definitely not versatile. He looked like a ripped blond farm boy with a sexy deep voice.
NYC had two pretty amazing guys named Erik/Eric back then, and both are missed. That said, I'm sure Eric Ript4Hire and Benjamin Nicholas must have made for an incredible pairing at Steamworks. I feel lucky to have experienced both of those gents firsthand