Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/9/05

What do Geraldo Rivera, Bam Bam Bigelow and Greg Allman all have in common? If you guessed they all have the same tattoo artist, give yourself a prize.

The talk show personality, professional wrestler and legendary rock vocalist are only a few of the notables that have had ink done by tattooing pioneer Gene Bernardo, the founder of Body Art World Tattoo chain, or at least wanted to.

"I was at the Stone Pony one night after work. This guy came up and wanted me to tattoo a star on his face. I thought this guy was crazy," Bernardo said. "I didn't know who he was. I told him to come back during business hours. Someone had to tell me later on it was Steven Tyler from Aerosmith."

Since opening his first shop in Asbury Park in 1972, Bernardo, of West Long Branch, and Body Art World have managed to establish and maintain a reputation as one of the most successful tattooing establishments in the tri-state area, operating five tattoo and body-piercing studios, in Asbury Park, Long Branch, Toms River, Seaside Heights and Point Pleasant.

And when your work garners that kind of reputation, you're bound to get the Boss' attention sooner or later.

"Springsteen and I have known each other since the early "70s. He's been telling me for years that he wants me to do some work on him. But I'm still waiting," he said.

Bernardo said he's been obsessed with the tattooing trade since he was a 13-year-old kid growing up in Brooklyn, where he used to draw on other kids with a magic marker.

"I used to play hooky from school and sneak over to the tattoo shop. I'd watch the artists work, and I knew I wanted to do exactly what they were doing," he said.

As a teenager growing up in a strict Italian family, Bernardo was forbidden by his father from getting any work done.

Finally, at the age of 17, after enlisting in the Navy, he got his first tattoo, an eagle with a banner that read "Mom and Dad."

"I figured, let me put their name on it. If they see it, they wouldn't be that upset with it," he said.

After leaving the Navy, Bernardo went into his father's plumbing business, taking over the company in 1965 when his father died. His heart wasn't in it, however and he passed it on to his younger brothers in 1968. And it was in 1969, while Bernardo was bouncing around getting construction work wherever he could find it, that Bernardo made a purchase that would change his life forever.

A local artist, Coney Island Freddy, was selling his tattoo equipment for $1,000. Bernardo bought the equipment, and began his journey into the tattooing business.

"I had the on-the-job training of watching it for so many years," Bernardo said. "I started by tattooing a rose on my left leg, and taught myself from there," Bernardo said. "I learned by tattooing myself first, and then moved on to my friends and brothers. Before I knew it, I had a small business growing from out of my home in Old Bridge."

After opening his first store in Asbury Park in 1973, Bernardo took on an apprentice, teaching him the trade. To attract business, the two would take a van to Wrightstown, outside Fort Dix, and give servicemen in boot camp a ride to Asbury Park and back for tattoos. He also drove to military bases in Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Norfolk, Va., renting motel rooms outside of the bases.

Bernardo said that this kind of dedication and commitment to craft is what sets him apart from his competition.

"Mohammed went to the mountain. The mountain didn't come to him," he said.

"I eat, drink, sleep and breathe tattoos. My customers know that, and that's why they keep coming back to me."

The 59-year-old believes that one of the secrets to remaining happy, no matter what your age, is to never stop moving, and cites his wife, Nikoletta, and two sons, Eugene and Anthony, as the No. 1 reason he's never lost his edge.

"I couldn't have done it without their constant support," Bernardo said. "Their energy and spirit is what keeps me young."

He also credits the staff at all of the Body Art World locations, whom he refers to as his second family.

"My staff are the hardest-working, best crew around. They're the reason this business has been and will continue to be so successful," Bernardo said. "They, along with my manager, Eric Eastburn, are like a family to me."

Though the majority of Bernardo's life revolves around his family and his business, he's always looking for interesting ways to keep busy and active. He's currently vice president of the Asbury Park Fishing Club, and was owner of Asbury's Casino Skate Park for roughly 3 years.

"That period of time where I owned the skate park was a particularly exciting episode in my life," Bernardo said. "My son was really into skateboarding, so he was there a lot. I was just surrounded by a lot of young people and a lot of positive energy.

Bernardo admits that his nonconformist attitude and unconventional lifestyle are hard for some people to accept, and he often finds himself being prematurely labeled by people who have yet to meet him.

"I don't let it bother me. I've always went my own way," Bernardo said. "I'll never be the guy who spends all of his time sitting on the couch, watching television. That's just not me."

Neal Dougherty, professor at Montclair State University and Bernardo's friend of over 25 years, lives in Roselle but travels to Long Branch to get all of his tattoos from the artist personally.

"He's an amazing person. But I travel the distance not just because he's a friend, but because I trust his work as an artist," he said.

Dougherty said he recently took his 78-year-old mother, who was curious as to how tattoos were done, to see Bernardo in action.

"I went out for a while. When I came back, the two of them were talking on the couch. They were hanging out like a couple of teenagers," Dougherty said.

Bernardo said that when it comes down it, the secret to happiness is simple. It's a matter of understanding that growing old isn't synonymous with growing stagnant, and remaining focused on the things that matter.

"I think my secret is that I never let it become about the money. I love what I do for a living. And because of that, every day is like hitting the jackpot. I cherish every moment, every customer, every conversation. Each tattoo I do becomes another piece of my legacy. That's truly an amazing thing." he said.

From  SILive.com

EUGENE BERNARDO, 59

Former Rosebank resident was tattoo artist

Monday, August 08, 2005

Eugene Bernardo, 59, of West Long Branch, N.J., a former Rosebank resident and tattoo artist, died yesterday in Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch.

Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Bernardo moved to Rosebank as a young child. He moved to New Jersey 22 years later and settled in West Long Branch two years ago.

Mr. Bernardo, who attended New Dorp High School, was a plumber by trade, but he soon found his passion in the art of tattooing, a career he enjoyed for 35 years. His family said that his tattoo shop, Gene's Body Art World, which he opened in 1971 in Asbury Park, N.J., is New Jersey's oldest tattoo shop. The business has since grown to include five locations throughout the state. A member of the National Tattoo Association. Mr. Bernardo's clients included the musician Greg Allman and the wrestler Bam-Bam Bigelow, according to his family.

An avid fisherman, Mr. Bernardo was vice president of the Asbury Park Fishing Club, where he was also a proud member of the "Sopranos," a group within that club.

He was a volunteer coordinator for Half Measures, Inc., where he organized Thanksgiving and Christmas events and served meals to the homeless.

His son, Anthony V., said his father was a great role model who showed him the man he wants to become.

Mr. Bernardo loved his large family, and played a big role in raising a niece and two nephews who lived with him.

He also loved to cook, and his family fondly remembered his sausage manicotti.

Mr. Bernardo served in the Navy from 1962 until 1964, stationed in New Jersey.

"He truly was a wonderful man," said his wife of 10 years, the former Nikoletta Kalis. "Even though Gene is gone in body, he will always remain in my heart and soul."

In addition to his wife, Nikoletta, and sons, Eugene and Anthony, surviving are two brothers, Francis and Robert, and a sister, Rosemarie Walsh.

The funeral will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Francioni, Taylor & Lopez Funeral Home, Neptune. Arrangements include cremation.

Mindfulness can be seen as the practice of "being in the moment" - but what does this actually mean? Does it mean that if we're mindful we should never think about the past or the future, never try to plan or to reflect on our past experience?

Actually, being in the moment means being mindfully aware of what is going on right here and now, in our experience, and this includes any thinking we do about the past or future. Much of the time our experience does not have this quality of awareness or mindfulness. A lot of the time we are like robots, automatically living out habitual patterns of self-pity, anger, wish fulfillment, fear, etc. These habitual tendencies take us over and run our lives for us - without our being able to stand back and decide whether this is what we actually want to be doing. It can be a real shock when we start to realize just how habitual and automatic our lives are, and when we realize how much runaway thinking leads to states of suffering.

When we're in this robotic state, we're not mindfully aware of what's going on. We may know on some level that we're angry but we probably don't realize most of the time that we have an option not to be angry. We fantasize without any discernment of whether what we're thinking about is making us happy or unhappy. And in fact, a lot of the time when we are letting our habits dominate us we are not making ourselves or others happy - often quite the opposite.

Being in the moment is just another way of saying that we are aware of what is going on in our experience, that we are not just being angry (or whatever) but are aware that we are angry and are aware that we can choose to be otherwise. Of course a lot of the time when we are not being in the moment, we are literally thinking about the past or present. We might be dwelling on the past - brooding about some past hurt. Or we may be fantasizing about a future in which we have won the lottery and are living out our lives in some imagined paradise, or daydreaming about being with the perfect partner.

Often these fantasized pasts and futures are not even real possibilities, but simply fantasies of how things might be or of how we would have liked them to have been. And as with all unmindful activity, we have no awareness that this fantasizing is pointless. All that it does is reinforce unhelpful emotional tendencies that can never truly enrich our lives.

There are, of course, ways of mindfully thinking about the past or future. Being in the moment does not mean that we are stuck in the moment. We can mindfully and creatively call to mind past events, or imagine what might happen in the future. We can think about the past and think about how we might have acted differently, or wonder why something happened the way it did. We can think about possible futures, and of how the actions that we commit now will make those futures more or less likely. When we are thinking about the past or future while being in the moment, we are conscious that we are reflecting and we're not lost in thought. We don't confuse fantasy with reality. We don't stray from thinking about the past in order to construct imaginary pasts in which we said or did the right thing - or if we do so then it's part of a conscious thought experiment to see what we might learn from the experience. We think about the future, but rather than it being idle daydreaming we're thinking about the consequences of our actions or otherwise reflecting on where we want to go in life.

Sometimes daydreaming can be creative. It can be wonderful to relax the reins of consciousness and allow our creative unconscious mind the opportunity to express itself. But it's generally far more useful to have a part of our conscious mind standing by, observing, watching for any sign that the creative expression of the unconscious is turning gray - turning into the repetitive and reactive expression of old and unhelpful emotional patterns. The conscious mind can intervene at such moments with a light touch, a gentle redirection of our mental energies so that we stay in the present; aware, mindful, and creative.
--- Wildmind Buddhist Meditation

In Loving Memory of

Eugene Bernardo

11/26/1945 - 8/7/2005

He died peacefully in his sleep


 When I die...

When I die
when my coffin
is being taken out
you must never think
i am missing this world

don't shed any tears
don't lament or
feel sorry
i'm not falling
into a monster's abyss

when you see
my corpse is being carried
don't cry for my leaving
i'm not leaving
i'm arriving at eternal love

when you leave me
in the grave
don't say goodbye
remember a grave is
only a curtain
for the paradise behind

you'll only see me
descending into a grave
now watch me rise
how can there be an end
when the sun sets or
the moon goes down

it looks like the end
it seems like a sunset
but in reality it is a dawn
when the grave locks you up
that is when your soul is freed

have you ever seen
a seed fallen to earth
not rise with a new life
why should you doubt the rise
of a seed named human

have you ever seen
a bucket lowered into a well
coming back empty
why lament for a soul
when it can come back
like Joseph from the well

when for the last time
you close your mouth
your words and soul
will belong to the world of
no place no time

~RUMI, ghazal number 911,
translated May 18, 1992,
by Nader Khalili.