Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise,Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation,Figures pedantical; these summer-fliesHave blown me full of maggot ostentation… Oy, what a dandy dish of verbal bonbons. The confectioner is Berowne, protesting to his lady love Rosaline that he is more than … Continue reading →

I’m in curmudgeon mode. I’ve been the village grouse for most of the week. I sit in my rocker by the stove over t’ the General Store, chewing the fat with the other geezers and never missing a beat when … Continue reading →

My noggin is buzzing and flickering like a computer in a 1950s sci-fi flick. Order is conspicuously absent; there are no controlling leitmotifs or themes overseeing the effluvia of mind-stuff. It just chatters and chomps along, churning out yards of … Continue reading →

Another turn of the cosmic wheel and I’m about to deliver my yearly Mozart lecture to my Music 27 class at UC Berkeley. I look forward to it, but as always with mixed emotions, because it’s like strolling through a … Continue reading →

I’m not proud of it, but I must admit that the combined pressure of the many hats I wear often mandates that I make short shrift of dinner, at least during the school year/concert season when I sprint continuously through … Continue reading →

The food nannies just never let go, never give up, never retreat, despite the overwhelming evidence that their pleas, exhortations, recommendations, and downright threats are falling on deaf ears. An article in today’s New York Times adds yet another faggot … Continue reading →

I just love it when nannies get their knickers into knots about something publicly sexy. In the case of the scandalous Antonio Federici Gelato ads that have whipped up such a scrum across the pond in England, the panjandrums of … Continue reading →

Joseph Ratzinger has been visiting England of late. He’s having a lousy time, what with a fusillade of accusations pelting him at every turn. The professional bashers are having themselves a fine time and the piles of invective just keep … Continue reading →

Some of my earliest memories are faulty, or at least unreliable, thanks to my dad’s penchant for filming family activities with a wind-up Bell & Howell 8mm camera, a whirring device which required tons of light to achieve a decent … Continue reading →

Buckets of composers have written symphonies over the years. Some of them were quite good at it. Some of them weren’t. For every Beethoven there were dozens of Ferdinand Ries-es, each scribbling away at threadbare glosses on the vastly greater … Continue reading →