Metal Monday 5/18/26 (Heavy Metal & Hard Rock Playlist)

The last time I was at the Met to hear an opera was to sit through Parsifal as a music student, which meant 'too bad if you don't love 5 hours worth of good opera.' Star soprano Jessye Norman was in it, so, of course I enjoyed myself, but wow, did they ever give me my money's worth. Anyway, Happy Metal Monday at Crystal Rhapsody by Sali O, your new home for bad opera and power chords.🎤🎸\m/ 'Bad opera' is what I call my metal vocals as I enter my Fred and Sally rock band era. It's quite a leap from "Jazz Bad" that was coined by Fred to describe my scat jazz vocals which he took off of another recording, sped up and featured on his Y2K Drum 'n' Bass beat that appears on Space, his first album. He described "Jazz Bad" as 'a charming perversion of DnB and jazz,' but Space, an album I love, is a melding of Rock and Electronica where such experimentation fits. Our new music is comparatively straight Rock that will fit into one of my Metal Monday playlists soon.

Btw, I apologize for the previous Metal Monday posts that I posted with the wrong dates. Yes, it's May, but since April 27 when I started Metal Monday, I've been stuck in April, writing 4/4/26 instead of 5/4/26, then I did it again the following week. I presume you've already heard our daughter is getting married, but you'll hear that a lot here lately.🩷🪽🕊️🌸💭🌷☁️🌹Claudia Kimmel, daughter of Fred Kimmel and I, Sali O. Kimmel, is a singer, too, and if you haven't heard "You're My Number One" yet, she with her virtuosic soprano voice knows her way around an aria, an FYI for those of you for whom the Met stage is your stomping ground.🩰

Love is in the air; we love our iconic New York power couple Jake and Claudia, and I'm enjoying compiling these playlists of Metal and Hard Rock as well as any song that fits under the Rock umbrella (or not, as long as it rocks). Here's to another list of songs I either grew up loving or came to love as we kick off Metal Monday, 5/18/26, with this hard-rockin' and incredibly well-produced track by Mayday Parade that I haven't stopped streaming since last Monday. Repeating makes it easier to listen, and there's a lot going on in that intricate arrangement. Speaking of which, "Anywhere but Here," have you ever heard of a destination wedding?✈️🤵👰💐🧳❤️⛴️🍾

Here in NY, it's getting warmer each day as beach season begins this coming Memorial Day weekend. NYC in May fast approaching June feels like this: By the time I won't need a light jacket to go out at night anymore, it'll feel like an ice box indoors.❄️ I'll be taking Memorial Day off from blogging next week just out of respect.🇺🇲💜 See you in a fortnight; until then, keep the gods and goddess of rock from Donny to Stevie streaming on repeat till practice makes perfect the art of listening. \m/\m/