Cal – Judgecal – Mark Chamberlain

Later on Cal’s true serious nature became more apparent, and he went on to do some interesting work at Pseudo and even CNN, and I know he was very into Burning Man as of late. But I’ll always remember him as that funny, adorable kid who looked a bit like Billy.

On a sidenote, and for those of you who lean the same way I do spiritually, my mother has told me to expect more friends to pass as the earth moves towards the shift that’s occurring right now. Some people don’t feel they’re ready to participate here for the shift or have other work to do on the other side. Either way it’s just part of the massive change that is going on around us right now. For those of you who don’t believe this, it’s fine, I’m not trying to sell you. I”m just putting it out there because it certainly seems true in my social scene, and it is confusing, especially when someone as young, healthy and loved as Cal just drops out unexpectedly.

Cal as I met him in 1984, with a girl named Frankie. I love this photo because it captures how we all looked and felt back then. We were all just babies and lived in our own private world…

And Cal recently, with the same sweet smile…

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, our friend Cal was found dead in his apt a few days ago.

Its very sad because he was in there for a while before the police and his landlord went in. I have one friend that had been calling him with no answer and thought something might be up, but she’s in LA and didn’t know who to call to check on it. I understand from digging around online that there is an autopsy and investigation going on to find out what happened. There are reports that he was feeling down, another friend who ran into him recently believes it could have been suicide, but this is all speculation at this point and could be completely false. I just heard from another friend who saw him two weeks ago and says he was smiling. I don’t want to put untruths out there, I’m just trying to give the information I have at the moment, since there doesn’t seem to be much available.

From what I understand Cal had a rough childhood, I know when I met him he was a runaway. He was very private about his family life, and now people are trying to find contact info for them. If you have any information email MAN RAY, he’s got an email from Cal’s old roommate who is looking around. And if anyone knows or is putting together a memorial, please let me know. I’d love to pay my respects.

See you on the other side, buddy. xoxo

[UPDATE 8.3.08 6:33 PM: Just talked to Mauricio fom Mao and he tells me that there was no note and the current early opinion is that it was some sort of natural occurrence possibly brought on by past drug abuse (which I’ve experienced with other friends) rather than self-inflicted. His friends are still trying to locate contact info for his family and if they are unable to locate them are going to set up a memorial fund. Will keep you posted as info comes in.]

[UPDATE 8.5.08: There’s a great piece on Cal here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/belisa-vranich/cal-chamberlain-rip_b_116645.html and there’s a new group for exchanging info here: http://groups.google.com/group/more-judgecal/]