Heartbreaking and devastating words to write for the “Motivator of Millions”. It’s just completely surreal to write an obituary on this blog that was ultimately one of the many creative visions of the iconic Bobby Carlton.
I had first met Bobby through my brother, Jarrad, who was assisting Bobby with the opening of his rock and roll photography gallery, The Shooting Gallery, on Sunset, back in the late 2000s. One night, Jarrad was kind enough to let me tag along as we went to meet Bobby at the Sunset Marquis to hang out near the pool (or maybe it was the Standard Hotel?). Following that first meeting, there was a series of various art exhibitions throughout L.A. that Jarrad, Bobby and I would attend, mixed in with a handful of fantastic concerts. Seriously fun times and Bobby always knew every single person at every show, with stories for every acquaintance. I was an awe to befriend someone who knew every cool person worth knowing, but his charisma made a lot of sense, Bobby has long been a beacon of sobriety in getting countless folks clean. However, that is barely scratching the surface of the many lives Bobby has lived.
Around this time, I had been finishing my Design | Media Arts program at UCLA, which led to being part of a collective that created live music visuals and video art installations. Bobby was very keen on checking out some of these events and I was ecstatic that he was so enthusiastically supportive, especially as hanging out, I’d get to hear stories he’d tell from his days in the music business, or from Club Lingerie, or from the rough East Coast streets of the 70s/80s, etc. Accordingly, we found ourselves keeping up with the arts and counter-culture, especially as “street art” was becoming even more mainstream. Years and many art shows later, Bobby chatted with me about helping launch a blog so that we could interview influential figures in art, fashion, music, film, etc. I had some intermediate experience in web design and documentation, so we were quickly off to the races. We had some great momentum immediately upon launch and through Bobby, I was honored to interview Danny Fields, Alison Mosshart, Stormie Mills, Shepard Fairey, RISK, and many more interesting characters. When Bowie passed away, Bobby rallied to get some monumental heartfelt tributes on this website from an A-list roster of musicians and friends of “Carlton”.
The Chelsea Tribe has been in a state of dormancy the past few years. Reasons being, I moved to Orange County and between full-time work, plus a city council run, it was just hard to keep up with content, especially living outside of L.A. It was also these past few years, where Bobby unfortunately started to deal head-on with some significant health issues.
Even amidst health set-backs, Bobby found many moments to head down to San Clemente (thank you to Jeremy for always hosting him), where we’d hang at the beach or go to one of his favorite spots in Dana Point, R.J.’s. With the lack of art openings and concerts during the pandemic, Bobby certainly enjoyed the laid-back life in O.C. I’m so grateful that he was a regular visitor to San Clemente and I’m so indebted for the unofficial street-cred mentorships over the many years.
I’ve been able to drop the “Carlton” name-card many times to profound effects. Bobby has left me with an abundance of memories and an appreciation of all things “creative”. The Chelsea Tribe was Bobby’s brain-child, so the archive of content here is definitely a tribute to him, but on a personal level, I’m just deeply sad for this loss, but will cherish all the good times, in which there were plenty.
I send my deepest condolences to Bobby’s family and friends. Heartfelt wishes for 2025.
– Shane
