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March 2010, Featured Articles, Spotlight33
The After Party: When We All Got Down
Menya, Part 2. Photos by Sherry Morris.
This article has been hard. I've been sitting here staring at this blank screen for about two days. It's not that there's nothing to say, more like there is too much. How can I possibly describe the sound, the energy, the magic that exudes from this group? Before the show, one of the opening acts asked Menya, "So are you guys like a techno-pop band?" Angie Ripe replied, "No, we're like Menya." I think that is both the easiest and the best way to describe it.
In the way of introductions, Menya is a NYC-based band comprised of Good Goose (the DJ), Coco Dame (the rapper), and Angie RIpe (the singer). They played the Blue Nile on Friday, January 22nd.
The Blue Nile is one of my favorite venues. It has a true "underground" vibe. It's in the basement (below the restaurant) which 
just adds to the almost secretive feeling. The entrance is off the street, behind the establishment, and not very well marked. You almost feel like you should whisper to the bouncer "Big Joe sent me" as you hand him your cover. It's very small and intimate, and yet very open for dancing, which made it a perfect place for Menya.
An acoustic singer Thomas Leahy, and local band Malatese opened for Menya. The crowd was certainly appreciative. Then Menya got up on stage and started the show with the profane, powerful song "DTF" (Down To Fuck). The band threw it all at them, Coco Dame getting right up in everyone's face, dropping perfect rhymes. At first, the audience had an almost stunned look, almost like everyone was thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this sound? How do I act?" It must be a culture shock for both the band and the audience when two expectations collide, the NYC vibe and the college town mentality. But by the end of the song, people started to understand. With the prompting of Coco Dame, the entire crowd began chanting "D . . . T . . . F . . ."
Menya continued slapping the crowd with their sound, but in a hot, sexy, dominatrix sort of way. The temperature began to rise, the hearts began to race, the inhibitions began to crumble, the crowd began to strip and don their "more comfortable" mental attire. Then Menya asked the house to turn the lights off, and it all went down. The entire joint was on their feet and everyone was dancing. Jumping, swaying, hands in the air, grinding everywhere . . .
The show continued with a cover of "White Houses." While Coco went back to run the computer and bang on some mean bongos, the Goose came up and helped out Angie on the vocals. Soon, he was sliding on his back into the middle of the crowd. Angie stayed "hot all night" and was ripe with sex and seductiveness. Her smooth, sensual voice created a beautiful contrast to the dirty, harsh lyrics she was singing. 
By the end of the last song, even before any applause, the crowd erupted into "ENCORE, ENCORE . . ." Menya just smiled at each other and pulled out "Ripe." "You strip! uh uh . . ." It was a dance party. Half the audience was on stage with the band just dancing their heart out. No one wanted it to end.
I have heard it said that, after attending one of the Beatles' concerts, everyone in the audience is left in a state of euphoria and that all anyone wanted to do was love one another. Some might think it blasphemy to compare anyone to the Beatles, especially a group such as Menya. Say what you will, but now, two days after the fact, I am still dancing at work, I am still singing at the coffee shop (albeit rather uncolorfully), and I have a giddy sort of feeling that "nobody can do me no harm." It is the longest lasting high I have ever had. No, this group will never reach Beatles status with millions of air-play counts and concert venues that seat tens of thousands, and I hope they don't. You need to experience Menya in a much more private, intimate way. Although Menya might be something of a freak, you can't just have her whenever you want. You need to give her the respect she deserves. Go see one of the live shows in one of the small venues next time. Only then will you understand and only then will she break out the hand-cuffs and whips. And I bet she'll be the best you ever had . . .
You can find out more about Menya @
You can see what's going on at the "Nile" @
Born into a musical family in middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania, Adam began to actively pursue a career in music after he heard a high school pep band in fourth grade. He began studying classical clarinet, but quickly discovered his passion for jazz, and adopted the saxophone as his love. He has been blessed to pursue his art in the cultural hubs of New York City and Florence, Italy. Currently residing in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Adam continues to play jazz and classical gigs as a freelance musician as well as break out the keyboard for the occasional rock or indie project. When he is not playing music, Adam enjoys hanging with friends and family, traveling, and exploring good food, drink, and the culinary arts.