A small and somber group of about 25 activists gathered in the shadow of the Hancock Tower today for a funeral on Copley Square. Dressed in all-black, satirical grief filling their faces, the mourners – representing MassUniting and likeminded progressive fronts – came to sink a casket for the countless jobs that cease to exist as a result of Hancock tenant Bain Capital's outrageously greedy practices.

For James Geary, metaphor is not just another literary device, a word scribbled on a 7^th grade note card before receding into memory. In his new book, I Is An Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See The World, the bestselling author exposes how metaphors impact almost every aspect of our lives, from advertising to economics to physics, illuminating how such a simple rhetorical trick effects decision making at its core.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I write about the anxiety permeating Beacon Hill, as Sal DiMasi makes his way to Worcester, reportedly to testify before the federal grand jury considering the probation patronage scandal.

At the close of 2010, I predicted that the probation scandal would ultimately be seen as the biggest Massachusetts political story of that year:

Those in the market for an even crunchier version of Iron & Wine have found it in WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS, whose voice sounds like dripping water put to music. The assembled crowd at Royale last Friday evening was likely no greater in number than 100 and fit comfortably on the platform abutting the stage, with several folks sipping beers at their own tables.

Passion Pit are at the BoA Pavilion on June 22

On Sale Now

Rubblebucket | May 4 at Paradise Rock Club | $15 | On sale @ ticketmaster.com

Eleanor Friedberger + Hospitality + DJ Carbo | May 6 at Great Scott | $15 | On sale @ ticketweb.com

On Sale Friday, February 24

AT 10 AM

The Book Rat Project, a sustained experiment in which a book critic (me) will attempt to act as a human algorithm for a willing subject (my Phoenix colleague Will Delman), sprints into its third week. After his tepid response to The Rook and his qualified embrace of The Orphan Master's Son, I told him to read Ellen Ullman's latest novel, By Blood

A barista competition might not evoke images of training sessions lasting into the night, or enough blood, sweat and tears to fill a few espresso demitasse cups, but for the last two months, this has been Daria Whalen and Wolfie Barn's reality. 

There's a lot of hand-wringing these days -- as there should be -- over the millions being spent in the Presidential nominating contest by so-called Super PACs, some of which are funded almost entirely by one or two very wealthy individuals.

But I would argue that, to a large extent, this phenomenon is a response to something else that's happening -- it's an attempt to fill in the gap left by the lack of money in the Presidential nominating contest.

There's an awful lot of near-apocalyptic analysis these days about Mitt Romney, who, depending upon your pundit of choice, is either A) on the verge of losing the GOP Presidential nomination to Rick Santorum; B) soon to be supplanted by a white knight savior like Jeb Bush; or C) salvaging the nomination by dooming himself in the general election.

There's no such thing as seriously awesome news in hip-hop anymore. Everything has more or less been done. Twice. If Tupac returned from Hawaii to cut a track with Sam Adams about how much he loves the FCC, I might find it blog-worthy. But if there's a marathon of some Angie Harmon show or another on TNT, then forget about it.

As we first reported back in December when we sat down with CHRIS BROKAW before his gig at the Plough & Stars in Cambridge, '90s slowcore veterans CODEINE today announced a world tour to coincide with their reunion and album reissues. They hit the Brighton Music Hall on Saturday, June 30, in the middle of a 19-date run that includes mostly club shows with a sprinkling of festival dates (notably, All Tomorrow's Parties in Japan and the UK, and Primavera Sound in Spain).

Rap Class 2011 alumnus CAM MEEKINS, who left Wellsley’s oak-strewn suburbs for the music mecca of Los Angeles last September, is back in Boston, but not with his tail between his legs. The first to be singed onto Atlantic Records' resurgent indie label Giant Records, Meekins was in his hometown Thursday shooting “Cut Me Off,” the first single off his upcoming mixtape, the title of which hasn’t yet been announced.

From developing the '60s TV series "The Monkees" to directing such movie masterpieces as "Five Easy Pieces" (1970) [pictured] and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1981), not to mention producing French filmmaker Jean Eustache's epic "The Mother and the Whore" (1973), Bob Rafelson embodies the definition of film auteur.

Remember last week when the session drummer from Jack Black and Juliette Lewis' TV bands went on the Grammys and said all that racist shit against DJs right before performing with Deadmaus5? Awkward. A couple days ago he put out a pretty funny, lengthy, and charming apology, in which he said, in part “I don't know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that's badass.

FIONA APPLE announced her first US tour in years today, including a March 27th stop in Boston at Royale.

This tour follows the announcement by Epic Records that Fiona Apple will "absolutely" be releasing a new record in 2012, though the details have not yet surfaced.

The tour also includes stops at Austin, Chicago, DC, New York, and New Jersey.

In this week’s Phoenix, Michael Christopher talks to Brandon Welchez of San Diego noise-pop duo CROCODILES, who bring a fuzzy haze of rock and roll fury to the Brighton Music Hall in Allston tonight.

Hey, want to go? We're giving away a pair of passes, courtesy of our friends over at Fenway Recording Sessions.

Today I find myself in the frustrating position of having to urgently explain the term "rape culture" to two members of the mainstream media, in response to two isolated articles that desperately misunderstand 1_ the extent to which rape and sexual violence continue to prevail throughout the world at large, 2_ the ways that said sexual violence epidemic is normalized by the media today.

Big ups to the presidents! This here three day weekend edition of BOSTON ACCENTS kicked off with 20 minutes of electronic bliss, then dipped into my upcoming Spring Preview, which runs in the Boston Phoenix March 1. Hey, I had to write it this week, so the bands –- Sand Reckoner, Twin Berlin, Autochrome –- were fresh on my mind.