Detroit native travels from rodeo to journeyman engineering to comedy to a Poncha Springs tattoo parlor

By Kyle Kirves

“When people ask me what my favorite or best tattoo is,” says Jason James Benci, owner and artist at Integrity Tattoo in Poncha Springs, “I always answer ‘the next one.’”

It’s a theme that seems to run through Benci’s professional career as well – something akin to curiosity or revinvention or experimentation that he brings now to his work at Integrity.

A Detroit native (and fan of a certain hockey team that will go unnamed), Benci was raised by police officer parents. In his teens, his father introduced him to the kind of high-contact sport that keeps mothers up at night.

Integrity Tattoo is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week (closed Sunday). While an appointment is suggested, they do take same day appointments and walk-ins. Several guest artists will be on hand this summer. Committed to local philanthropy, Benci is working with the Salida Chamber on a New Year’s Eve comedy show and fundraiser. He also plans to help Elevation Brewing Co. celebrate their 12th anniversary on June 8, providing temporary tattoos.

No, not the aforementioned hockey. Or even football.

“My dad used to bull ride,” Benci explains, “and he got me into it. I rode in the National High School Rodeo Association and then the International Professional Rodeo Association at the novice level.” Benci relates a particular story around his 17th birthday of riding with a broken arm splinted with metal bars and duct tape. “The first buck out of the chute threw me forward and I hit my head on the horns and my feet blew back behind me. As I was coming up he planted his feet square in my back.”

OK - so maybe this story suggests that a duct-tape cast isn’t the best example of what one might call “structural integrity,” but it belies where Benci ended up professionally after school.

“I ended up working for a high-tech company for over 11 years doing structural, electrical, mult-idiscipline work,” he says. “City planning type stuff from large-scale engineering projects. Using CAD, all of that.” It’s a skill that has translated well into the design elements he works into his art at Integrity.

Engineering became his day job but, after going through a divorce and looking for something new, Benci took on yet another ambitious career choice: stand up comedy, starting with a class at Michigan State. Starting out at Connection Comedy Club in Lansing, Michigan, Benci quickly made a name for himself doing open mic nights. “The manager gave me the number of my first agent and it just kind of snowballed from there,” he says. “Two years later, I was touring as a working comedian and on the road quite a bit.”

With work at an engineering firm with offices all over the country in major cities, Benci was capable of leading the kind of double life frequently only seen in superhero comics – engineer by day, stand up comic by night.

This nomadic lifestyle was, however, a recipe for burnout. Benci admits that the love of touring can become compulsive, oftentimes at the expense of stability. Wearying of engineering, and tired of the road, Benci sought a change and connected with tattoo artists in his home state through a cousin, apprenticing until he was satisfied that he could go out on his own. He relocated first to Colorado Springs and then, in 2019, during this quest for a fresh start, Benci discovered Pagosa Springs (after hearing a commercial on the radio for Elevation Brewing). He established Integrity Tattoo shortly after, a studio that is inspired by the symbolism of the anvil and the forge, which Benci sees as emblematic of forging connection with his clients and hammering out their ideas into permanent art.

It’s a place that Benci calls home in every sense of the word. He has emerged as a dedicated and community-oriented philanthropist, supporting local non-profits and apprenticeship programs for underserved populations. He continues to be involved in comedy in the sense that he produces comedy shows locally as fundraisers with the Salida Chamber of Commerce in service to numerous causes.

From dusty rodeo arenas to the bright lights of stand-up comedy and now to the human canvas that is tattoo art, Benci continues to chart his own path. It is this odyssey as well as his appropriately named shop – but mostly his sense of service to the Poncha Springs community – that mark him as a man of Integrity.

Kyle Kirves drinks beer, plays guitar, runs trails, and manages projects – all with varying degrees of success. While not a craftsman himself, he is quite content writing about the Colorado artisans who create such wonderful things and memorable experiences.