“Green Onions” and a Gran Torino

Of my mom’s twelve siblings, my Aunt Annette is the one I most closely resemble. She falls near the middle in that extensive line of Ammons aunts and uncles. If her personality was a word—no matter the word—it would leap off the page. Her ’fro always made her look like a chocolate Tootsie Pop, and her steaze (as well as her shit-talking) remains quintessentially her own. Some of my most formative musical moments happened while riding in the backseat of her 1974 Gran Torino, a turquoise dragon on wheels—in hindsight, simply a helluva car.