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
In 2007, a catastrophic accident with a BART train left Benjamin Barnes with a shattered skull and a swelling brain. Surgeons removed over 100 bone fragments and a large section of his skull to save his life. What followed was a brutal, uncertain journey through emergency brain surgery, survival, and the beginning of a long reconstruction process that would test his identity, resilience, and will to live.
You ever hear the phrase “life can change in an instant”? Yeah… sometimes it doesn’t change. It explodes.
In 2007, I was hit by a BART train.
My skull didn’t crack—it shattered. Over 100 pieces of bone were removed from my brain. Imagine that. Not metaphorically. Literally.
And my brain? It was swelling. Fast. Deadly fast.
So the doctors made a call: remove part of my skull or lose me entirely.
They cut out about a quarter of it—right side. Gone. This wasn’t cosmetic. This was survival.
That procedure? It’s called a cranioplasty.
But don’t let the clean word fool you—this is battlefield medicine.
They took the remaining piece of skull… and froze it. Cryogenic storage. Like something out of sci-fi, except this was my head, my life.
For six months, I walked around with part of my skull missing.
Helmet on. All the time.
Not optional.
Because without that bone, one wrong move—one bump, one fall—and that’s it. Game over.
But here’s the thing nobody tells you…
You don’t just lose bone. You lose identity.
You look in the mirror and don’t recognize the person staring back. You feel fragile. Exposed. Like your own body betrayed you.
And still… you have to keep going.
Because healing doesn’t ask how you feel. It demands discipline.
Six months later, they put the bone back in.
You’d think that’s the happy ending.
It wasn’t even the beginning.
This was just round one.
Bio: Benjamin Barnes, known as Bencasso™, is a violinist, artist, and entrepreneur who survived a catastrophic brain injury after being struck by a BART train in 2007. His journey through multiple surgeries and recovery shaped his philosophy on resilience, discipline, and purpose. Today, he shares his story through The Coaches Corner, inspiring artistpreneurs and survivors to transform adversity into power.
Artwork: Yellow Lizard Cactus Flowers
Bencasso available at Bencasso Art Gallery “Showing the works of artists with mental health challenges”
https://bencasso.org/featured/yellow-lizardcactus-flowers-bencasso-barnesquiat.html
Ben’s autobiography Loosened Associations Jazz: Automemoirography of
Music, Mischief and Madness https://a.co/d/9JBJWTl
Review: https://atlantapostnews.com/2025/08/24/broken-strings-and-beautifulmadness-a-review-of-loosened-associations-jazz/
How to Make a Living Doing What You Love: Artistpreneur Economic new book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFB5JK6C
Review https://dallasgazettenews.com/2025/08/28/the-artists-survival-guide-areview-of-how-to-make-a-living-doing-what-you-love/
Music: Graeme Jennings Two Pieces for Viola and Piano Benjamin Barnes viola, Margaret Wong piano https://open.spotify.com/track/4Ze85bOMLAENiqLDGpwLiI?
si=b122c2deab774c61 https://open.spotify.com/track/6ndVCRgCsDGsWnE50HyKDS? si=aed9e29b743d4c73
Social Media
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/benjamindavidbarnes
- Facebook: https:// facebook.com/benjamindavidbarnes
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/benjamindbarnes
