Still Standing - A Living Legend

P Diddy and Mase said it best “Can’t nobody take my pride, can't nobody hold me down". This is the case for Mr. Nathan Avon Barksdale. Now I know when you hear that name a bell goes off in your head and you think of The HBO hit series "The Wire". Most people don't even know that these characters are in fact real. Avon Barksdale is now ready to tell the real, raw, and uncut story about his life.

Coming in March will be the release on DVD of The Avon Barksdale Story – “Legends of The Unwired”. Avon sits down with the man who played him on the show Wood Harris to tell his side of the story and set the record straight. I got a chance to sit with Mr. Barksdale and his manager Chaz Williams (a great man with another interesting story) and talk about the upcoming release of this DVD. Just from sitting with him I can say when you watch this movie you will be in for one hell of a ride. For those who don’t know; the Barksdale Organization was one of the most powerful in Baltimore in the 80's. Barksdale said that "hunger fueled him” and that "he didn't want to be poor anymore". Although this was the case, Barksdale has more sides to him than just what you see on The Wire. This is a man who has been through hell and back, stared it straight in the face, and has beaten the odds.

This award winning docudrama gives you the most intimate details straight from the source that even David Simon can't fabricate. I'm not sure how you guys feel, but is it only strange to me that The Wire creator David Simon wrote for the Baltimore Sun newspaper back in the day and reported on Avon numerous times? Is it also a coincidence that the co-writer Ed Burns was a Baltimore Police Officer around the same time Avon was ruling the streets? But yet they both say that it's a fictional story. Hmmmm? Just some food for thought. So anyone who is a fan of The Wire and even those who are not yet, look for this DVD coming in March about the real Avon Barksdale: A great man who has throughout it all never lost his heart and strength.

Photos by Lewis Dickerson for NYCmuzik.com