Don Davis' talent with steel guitar opened doors to Nashville fame

Monday, December 15, 2008
By ROY HOFFMAN
Staff Reporter

When Alabama Music Hall of Famer Don Davis was a child in the late 1930s, a country music band played at his school in Satsuma. One of its members leaned over a flat keyboard that he plucked — a steel, or Hawaiian, guitar — and the boy was captivated by the metallic yet melodic sound.

"It made my hair stand on end," Davis says at his house in Gulf Shores. "I realized, 'I've got to do that.'"

Soon young Don found a musician to give him a couple of lessons, using a Spanish guitar turned flat. "After I got hot on it," he says, "my parents bought me an electric Hawaiian guitar for $39.95 from Sears-Roebuck. We'd just gotten electricity. There was an electric cord on the porch up to a light. I'd unplug that cord and plug in my amplifier. The cows would come and hear the racket. They kind of liked it."

Mobile Press-Register

Perfecting the art of steaks and oysters at Nix at The Wharf

Finding a good steak and baked oyster is fairly easy to do in Pleasure Island. But to find outstanding food staples like those is a bit more challenging. It's like the martini — any bartender can sling one, but it takes that special touch to stand out. Such is the case at Nix Steaks and Oysters, the new eatery and premier live entertainment venue on Main Street at The Wharf, and they're quickly earning a solid reputation for their superb steaks and baked oysters and other menu items.

The menu was the collaborative vision of Sherry Odom, director of operations at Nix, restaurant designer Karen Hameroff and Nix owner Nick Dorich. The menu is also reflective of Dorich's Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast background where he was in the nightclub and food business. Something Dorich wanted to do with Nix was successfully cater to the locals.

Pensacola News Journal