The Consequences of Jumping in Front of a BART Train

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INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.

Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, welcomed Benjamin “BENCASSO” Barnes to provide another commentary in a series.

The Benjamin “BENCASSO” Barnes Commentaries

Benjamin Barnes, known as Bencasso™, survived a catastrophic accident after jumping in front of a BART train. The impact shattered his skull, broke his scapula and collarbone, and left him in a month-long coma. Doctors reconstructed his skull through multiple surgeries, including skin graft expansion using tissue balloons and complex microsurgery that transferred muscle from his back to his scalp to stop years of bleeding. After awakening, disoriented from traumatic brain injury, he famously told his sister Karen that he was at “Piccadilly Circus” and that she was “Elvis’s baby.” His long recovery became a testament to resilience, humor, and the healing power of music and art.

Every life has a chapter where everything changes.

For me, that chapter begins under a BART train.

The impact shattered my skull. It broke my right collarbone and my scapula. My head was crushed so badly that surgeons would later spend years reconstructing it piece by piece. For a month I was in a coma.

Thirty days.

While I was out cold, machines were breathing for me and my family was waiting and hoping that somewhere in there… I was still in there.

Eventually I woke up.

My sister Karen was standing over me in the hospital. She asked the kind of question doctors always ask when someone wakes up from a traumatic brain injury.

“Do you know where you are?”

I looked around at the lights and the machines and the tubes coming out of me and said, very confidently: “Piccadilly Circus.”

Karen paused.

She tried again.

“Do you know who I am?”

I looked at her and said:

“You’re Elvis’s baby.”

Traumatic brain injuries are strange things. Your brain is trying to reboot the operating system, but the files are all scrambled.

The recovery that followed wasn’t simple.

My skull had to be reconstructed in multiple surgeries. My scalp had been so damaged that the surgeons didn’t have enough healthy skin to close the wounds. So they implanted what were essentially expandable balloons under my scalp and slowly filled them with fluid over time.

Imagine stretching skin like a balloon so the doctors could create enough tissue to graft over my skull.

Even that wasn’t the end of it.

For seven years the skin graft on my head wouldn’t stop bleeding. The tissue was just too thin.

Finally the surgeons did something extraordinary. Through microsurgery they removed the latissimus muscle from my back and transplanted it onto the top of my head to create living tissue strong enough to support the graft.

So yes… technically speaking… I now have back muscle on top of my head.

Most musicians say they “put their back into their music.”

I literally did.

Recovery from traumatic brain injury is a long road. It’s physical therapy, patience, frustration, and a lot of learning how to do things again that once came naturally.

For me, one of the biggest mountains was music.

The violin had always been part of my life. After the accident, even holding it again felt like starting from the beginning.

But musicians are stubborn people.

You keep playing.

You keep practicing.

You keep trying until the notes start making sense again.

Little by little, the music came back.

And today I’m still here—performing, teaching, recording, painting, writing, and telling the story of what it means to rebuild a life after it nearly disappears.

The scars are still there.

The memories are still there.

But so is the music.

And sometimes when people ask me where I am…

A small part of my brain might still answer:

“Piccadilly Circus.”

Artwork: Tomas (Ben’s 7 year old violin prodigy student) https://bencasso.org/featured/ colorful-abstract-doodle-tomas.html

Press and Reviews

Book Review Atlanta Post News – https://atlantapostnews.com/2025/08/24/ broken-strings-and-beautiful-madness-a-review-of-loosened-associations-jazz/ Dallas Gazette News – https://dallasgazettenews.com/2025/08/28/the-artists survival-guide-a-review-of-how-to-make-a-living-doing-what-you-love/ New York City Independent – https://nycindependent.com/2025/09/07/ together-in-tempo-the-symbiosis-of-a-humanitarian-company-and-nonprofit for-mental-wellness-through-the-arts/

Miami Chronicle – https://miamichroniclenews.com/2025/08/31/the-jazz-of jumping-back-benjamin-barnes-loosened-associations-and-the-sonic-soul-of survival/

https://cioviews.com/benjamin-barnes-uplifting-people-through-music-and-

creativity/

https://nycindependent.com/2025/09/07/together-in-tempo-the-symbiosis of-a-humanitarian-company-and-nonprofit-for-mental-wellness-through the-arts/

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Ben’s autobiography “Loosened Associations Jazz: Automemoirography of Music, Mischeif, and Madness” https://a.co/d/9C0mHfP

How to Make a Living Doing What You Love: “Artistpreneur Economic” new book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFB5JK6C

Dallas Gazette Book Review https://dallasgazettenews.com/2025/08/28/the artists-survival-guide-a-review-of-how-to-make-a-living-doing-what-you-love/

Benjamin Barnes, also known as Bencasso™, is a nationally syndicated radio commentator, musician, author, educator, entrepreneur, and founder of Bencasso™ LLC and Culture Scholar Corporation 501(c)(3). A survivor of catastrophic injuries and mental health challenges, Barnes rebuilt his life through music, art, education, and entrepreneurship. He is a violinist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, grant-winning artist, podcast host, nonprofit executive director, and creator of over 110 recordings available worldwide. Through Artistpreneur Economics™, Barnes teaches creatives how to transform adversity into opportunity, blending streetwise experience, artistic passion, and business strategy with the soul of a performer and the grit of a survivor.

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