Deadweight on Tour Tank Top

This photo was taken by Carla Freestep, known by rock photographers as "Wild Lupin", she traveled with us on a portion of our tour opening up for Les Claypool's Frog Brigade in 2003. This was the East Coast secrtion of the tour, and I believe we were in Columbus Ohio where we played a show that Adrian Belew joined the Frog Brigade and played with us as we backed up Les after our set. We were outselling the headlining band in merch sales the whole tour. We were asked to join the Frog Brigade for the next big gig of theirs, The Bladk and Whitle Ball 2003. We shared a stage with Berlin, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The lead singer of Berlin pulled some Cougar Maneuvers on me. I was wearing a Mandarin Collared Tuxedo for the gig, and she liked putting her hands on the satin cuffs. Cougars, Can't live without them, dont want to.

Benjamin Barnes, aka Bencasso Barnesquiat (a comical play on the names of famous artists) is a musician and artist based in San Francisco, CA. He received his Bachelor's and Master's of Music Degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with renowned teachers such as Sherry Kloss, Marlon Carlson, Izzy Tinkleman, Paul Hersh, Zaven Melikian, and Don Ehrlich. In addition to his classical training, Ben also studied electric violin, jazz performance, and composition with David Balakrishnan of the Turtle Island String Quartet. As a musician, Ben has played and recorded with a variety of artists including Les Claypool, Mr. Bungle, Dead Prez, The Coup, Carla Kihlstedt, Eric McFadden, George Clinton and P-Funk, Jason...