Useless started with Ben & Nate’s long conversations over breakfast and grew into much of what you’ll see here on Puzzlegrass. Along the way they published the book Genesis, which is a record of their attempts to create themselves, and which Nate has often called the “urtext” of Puzzlegrass, wherein many of the image-based collaborative methods of Puzzlegrass were first attempted.

For purposes of self-creation, Ben plays the Fox and Nate plays the Rabbit. These are offices, functions, and temperaments. Ben & Nate made some cards to help them remember how to be Fox and Rabbit. They look like this:

In other words, Useless is an ongoing, sporadic conceptual art project that also looks a lot like two friends goofing off.

Ben’s favorite Useless project was the time they chose a tiny local band at random and went to see them on a sleepy Tuesday night wearing t-shirts that said “Feel It,” which was the name of one of the band’s songs. Ben & Nate sat in the back as the band played to a nearly empty room, then, when the band struck up “Feel It,” they ran to the front, danced and sang every word, and when the song ended, left immediately.

Nate’s favorite Useless project was probably the night they went to the beach and retold ancient myths to each other while gazing into a fire, to recreate the primordial storytelling experience. Ben tried to hypnotize Nate and induce a kind of vision quest—which even worked a little. Or Nate’s favorite project might also be the final “Day” of Genesis where their project and their friendship melded and became “all the same thing.”

“It’s all the same thing!” has become a touchpoint for Useless. That’s when Ben & Nate know something great has happened.

Useless continues, most often in little audacious fits of creativity that sometimes come to something and sometimes don’t.