Sir Isaak

Kirk Baird

Friday, Aug. 9, 2002 | 3:19 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: August 11, 2002

Chris Isaak is cool.

The kind of cool women pine for and guys envy.

The 46-year-old singer-songwriter is also very funny. But not in the overly predictable here-comes-the-punchline way.

He's far too cool for that.

And a significant reason of the success of his TV series, "The Chris Isaak Show," in its second season on Showtime, is a product of that coolness.

While he was driving around Los Angeles, the Las Vegas Sun recently chatted with Isaak, who performs Saturday at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, about his school days, his preferred romantic music and, yes, a day in the life of the coolest guy around.

Las Vegas Sun: How were you as a student?

Chris Isaak: I was on the dean's honor list with a 4.0 for a while. I was student-body president in high school, and I excused myself from all the classes I didn't like. That's true. It's amazing, but they let a high school student-body president call meetings and write excuses. That was like giving a baseball player a bag of steroids. Every time we had a school meeting it was during my math class. Go figure.

Sun: Did you still pass all of those classes from which you excused yourself?

CI: Yeah, I did. I was a good student, I liked to study. I was big on books.

Sun: Who were your favorite authors?

CI: Mad magazine (laughs). Seriously, something like that. In high school it probably changed to something like Yukio Mishima or somebody. For some reason, I've always liked Japanese writers. I really got into it during high school and college.

Sun: Is that one of the reasons you spent a year in Japan after college?

CI: No, it was just an opportunity at a time in your life when you're looking for an opportunity. Every other chance that somebody said, "Hey, you wanna travel someplace and do something?" it was like, "And, you've got to carry a machine gun and wear olive drab." I was from a small town (Stockton, Calif.), I was broke and it was a chance for me to get out of town, and go and see something. Everybody else I knew who was travelling and seeing something was in the (military) service.

Sun: So, did leaving the United States for a year broaden your horizon?

CI: I think it did. It changed my perspective. Another thing that changed it for me was when I did a movie in Katmandu and in Nepal ... "Little Buddah." When I did that, I realized we don't have poor people in the United States. To some people, you're living in poverty here. But, once you've been over there, you can see the difference.

I read that the No. 1 physical problem if you're in poverty in the United States is obesity because of bad diet. When you go to Nepal or some place like that, people are starving, they don't have medicine. Simple things like that. When you come back you're really grateful, "U.S.A. Yeah, we got it goin' on."

Sun: If you were to join a branch of the military, which would you choose and why?

CI: Coast Guard. I'm a surfer and I think I might be of some help there, but I'd be no help anywhere else. At least I'd know the tides.

Sun: When did you first realize that you were going to be musician? Was it an ongoing process or an epiphany?

CI: I think I've always loved music tremendously. I didn't realize that my love of music was that far out of line with everybody else, but I guess gradually I did. You kind of go, "Man, I'm hooked on this stuff, isn't everybody?" And then you go, "Oh, I guess I'm a little more hooked than anyone." I could go to a party and there'd be a beautiful woman and there'd be a cool record, and I would go and put my head to the speaker. People would go, "What are you doing?" And I'd go, "Listen to this riff!" (laughs).

I think (music) was something that I just gradually realized I was really into it. As to whether I could make a living at it, that continues to be a debate today.

Sun: You seem to be a favorite of musicians -- to use the cliche: a "musician's musician." Do you feel that title applies to you?

CI: I hope not. I think that what I do musically, there's no prerequisite and, hopefully, not even the language is a barrier. If I was a chef, I'm not asking you to stretch your tastebuds. I'm going, "It's sweet, it goes down easy."

I like pretty music. I like music that's relaxing and soothing. Even when I rock, or I make the most rockin' records I make, I'm not trying to make the listener uneasy. My world view is a romantic world view, that's who I am. And that very much is the kind of picture I'm trying to paint. You don't have to be a musician to know anything about it. It's not some kind of sophisticated Dave Brubeck riff.

Sun: When you're on a romantic date, what CD do you play?

CI: Usually John Sousa, but I have a different kind of lovemaking. I love that march music, boy, that works for me. "Ba-badump-ba-ba-badump-badda-bump-a-badda-bump-a-badda-ah ... work with it baby!" (laughs).

It would probably be the Everly Brothers. They just sing so pretty, that it's relaxing and beautiful. I tell ya, most of the music I listen to is kind of romantic and nice ... a woman named Amalia Rodriguez. Just a beautiful voice. Dean Martin made a million great records ... Sinatra.

Sun: But your voice is almost in that classic crooner style of Sinatra and Martin.

CI: I certainly never went with the idea that I'd be a throwback or a retro or anything. That would be a lot less work than what I've tried to do. I've tried to write songs about my life and have used modern arrangements. I've used every kind of technology and modern sound, and tried to mix those in so I have something new. I never really wanted to settle for that (retro). I always wanted to try and write songs about now. If you listen to my music, it's not about going to the hop.

Sun: With all the new reality shows starring celebrities, how does "The Chris Isaak Show" compare?

CI: I think it's pretty real in that we try and base things on some kind of reality of what we do as a band. My band really plays themselves, my mom plays herself on the show. I think there are little bits of orange floating around in the drink so you know there was an orange there, as opposed to shows that (might be) shot with me standing in the kitchen mixing a salad, talking to a really funny, precocious kid that sounds like an adult Hollywood writer. I don't feel there are shows on TV that are like (mine). So, that either means they're way smarter or we're different.

Sun: My editor claims that you are the coolest guy on the planet.

CI: Actually, that's two of us who claim that now.

Sun: So, as the coolest guy on Earth, what's a typical day like for you?

CI: I get up in the morning and I've got to do the paper route. So I go down to the corner, and I've got to bag all the papers if it's wet weather and then I've got to make sure I deliver them to each house. And Mrs. Greerdon's house -- I've got to bring it upstairs, otherwise she complains. What a bitty. And then after the route it's back to my house for a bowl of porridge and songwriting ...

You know something? I thought just the other day, "You've got a TV show, you've got a record career, and I'm with my mom and she's giving me a haircut and telling me I've got to clean my house." I looked at her and thought, "Nothing's changed since I was 13."

Nobody, nobody gets by without taking out the garbage, nobody gets by without being told what to do. So, me, too.

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