It's all in the family

A few people must have read my last post about cast members from The Wire being at the HBO Shop and found out about today's event because the line was much longer and the crowd was much whiter (j/k!). While waiting on line a black guy walked by and said: "Why are you all waiting on line to see some TV characters who sell drugs? Just come up to my hood and you can see it live! We shoot each other too." The little girls in front of us (Berger père, mère et moi) said that they too had drugs in their neighborhood.

Once we got inside and got over the panic of realizing that the posters were all sold out, we got two of the last three Wire books, and set out to get them signed by Omar (Michael K. Williams), Carver (Seth Gilliam), and Marlo (Jamie Hector). I convinced my mom to ask Omar to sign "It's all in the game," but HBO said no personalization. So when she asked, he said "No" and she was crushed...until he flashed that big smile and changed his mind, bringing much joy to our little enclave of fandom. Next, my dad told Omar that he was "the best gay, black stick up artist on television," to which Omar replied that he was the ONLY one. Finally, I snuck in and got Omar to sign "Man's gotta have a code" and all was well in the world.

My dad congratulated Carver on making rank, I told him that I loved his story arc and then I was face to face with Marlo for first time since January. As he was signing my book, he looked over my shoulder and said: "Is that your father?" To which I replied: "Yeah, is it that obvious?" Marlo finished: "The resemblance is there no doubt."