Avon is a War fan

This is a short interview that I had with an unsuspecting Blake Leyh, on his website Ten Thousand Things. Blake Leyh is the music supervisor for the HBO program The Wire, and most people who have seen it agree that it is the show of all shows. This back and forth began a while back when I had left a comment on his blog, and he responded like so.

DM: I have a question for you, Blake. What’s up with the scene at the very end of the episode Hot Shots? Where is the music coming from? Avon’s Cell? And why Cisco Kid?

Blake Leyh: Dronkmunk - I haven’t seen that episode in a long time, but I remember the music being sourced to Avon’s cell, although we cheated a little bit with how loud it was played and how it changed dynamically as we move in the hallway, giving it a slightly unrealistic but dramatic build towards the end. Thom Zimny the editor picked that track and we all liked it for no special reason. Not every single track has to have the weight of theory behind it, sometimes they just play. We used another track from War (Me & Baby Brother) playing in the SUV that picks Avon up when he is released from jail early in Season 3, so I guess Avon is a War fan.

DM: Ok, so have you all decided what kind of music Marlo listens to? I don’t think he has ever played music in his truck. I mean, even Chris likes to "lean wit it"! Is Marlo so inhuman that he has no musical taste?

BL: Marlo? Marlo doesn’t care about trifling things like music. If Chris puts some music on while they drive around, fine. What do you think he would listen to?

BL: One spot of dangerous ground in music supervision is caricaturing people, turning them into stereotypes. Maybe Marlo has a thing for Abba, or Frank Sinatra? He wouldn’t listen to it in public, but at home, after hours? In season 1 I tried to have Daniels listening to Ali Farka Toure in the privacy of the detail office, but it was shot down and replaced with Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine”, which was, in fact, a better choice.

I would like to thank Blake for providing these answers. They may look like crumbs but to a wire addict like me ("I'm the Bubbles of this shit!") they play more like satisfying morsels. I would also like to thank Blake in advance for letting me steal this from his site too.