Friends and family,

We three brothers wanted to put out a call to family, friends and acquaintances. We grew up with Charley in the 1980s. We were joyful most of the time—among friends & family & chosen family—at church, at school, down at the Longfellow lifeguard stand in Hermosa Beach, skating at the Pier. We learned to surf & swim & call out the dolphins we always loved & felt afraid of. We came out of the ocean soaked, & rolled in the sand, & called ourselves sugar donuts.

We watched as his love for art, for music, for making something out of nothing, became his way of carving space into the world. His guitar, his voice, his songs—they have carried some of our anguish & sorrow. They have given a generation of fans something to hold onto.

We have watched him raising his three sons, within & among family. They are loved, nurtured, as close to Charley’s heart as anything. They will be okay. Charley is a great dad, present as possible, doing everything he can to let them carry all the Story of him that they can.

So now we ask.

Charley’s cancer is beyond cure. We have known this for two years. Years where he has endured difficult radiation, immunotherapy, and a steady stream of shifting medicines to manage his pain and symptoms. He has already outlived the earliest predictions, & the good news is that his treatment is working—it is slowing the spread, it is prolonging his time.

Right now, that time belongs most to his three sons. He hopes to fill these days with them, to echo back the love they send him, to share stories, to make more memories—ones they can carry forward.

If you have ever been moved by Charley’s music, his presence, his way of shaping meaning, his sense of humor, we ask: Pitch in twenty bucks. Or pitch in much more.

When Charley first found out about his cancer, all of his friends wanted to know “what can I do?“ and “let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.“ At the time, what he needed was your emotional support. Unfortunately, it’s come to the point of needing some financial support to navigate the insurance deductibles and co-pays for doctors, scans, prescriptions, and maintaining his immunotherapy. There are also some medical bills that have gone unpaid from last the two years.

He hates to allow us to ask. He’s not starving or in risk of losing a roof over his head. He is just incurring more and more debt and, most difficult, not able to keep up with the large medical deductible of his treatments and other medical expenses.

As often the case, Charley’s illness has made so many of us reconsider & deepen the meaningfulness of our lives—with his brothers, through music, through art, through friendship, through fatherhood, through the way he has led so many of us or walked alongside us.

We are grateful for him. Let’s give him what we can, so he can do the same for his sons.

Love from Charley's brothers,

Andrew, Carlos and Chris