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Intergalactic star
Like Jose Hernandez, Chris Isaak has some space experience
By Tony Sauro
Record Staff writer
September 03, 2009 12:01 AM
Chris Isaak actually was the first son of Stockton to undergo astronaut training.
Say what?
In reality, the rock musician and TV entertainer's experience wasn't even remotely as rigorous or serious as the preparations Jose Hernandez, his fellow University of the Pacific graduate, has experienced.
Hernandez, 47, a genuine space voyager, took a NASA rocket ride Friday to the International Space Station, where the French Camp-born astronaut is conducting experiments.
"Tell him any time he's near a show we're doing, we're getting him and his buddies in," an obviously excited Isaak said during a Tuesday phone conversation from a tour stop in Jacksonville, Ore. "Man, that's great. I'll be online in just a little bit checking him out."
Isaak, 53, who's more of an ocean guy (surfer), portrayed a doomed astronaut in "From the Earth to the Moon," a 1998 HBO television series.
His feet are anchored firmly on Earth now, though. He returns for a second year to Ironstone Amphitheatre at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys on Sunday night.
Brian Setzer, the 50-year-old guitar player and singer who helped form the Stray Cats, opens with his Nashvillains band.
It's been a pivotal year for Isaak, the Stagg High School and Delta College graduate who launched his 13th album ("Mr. Lucky") in a 24-year recording career, hosted his second cable-TV series ("The Chris Isaak Hour" on the Bio Channel) and is in the midst of a successful U.S. tour that next heads to Australia, where his new album has gone gold.
He's just as stoked about Hernandez and has no pretenses about the courage and fortitude demanded by a real astronaut's life and challenges.
"I think l'm a guy who knows his ability," said Isaak, who portrayed astronaut Edward H. White II during the 12-part HBO series. "Like Clint Eastwood once said: 'A man's gotta know his limitations.' My limitation is I'm much better being the guy who's in the back seat."
Isaak, a gregarious personality and old-school entertainer who puts on a genuine show with his Silvertone band, underwent actual astronaut training and did lots of research for his role as White, who perished with Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee in a pre-launch fire on Jan. 27, 1967, aboard Apollo 1.
"Actually, in talking to the real astronauts, there's a lot of intense pressure and training needed," said Isaak. "From a distance, it all looks like fun. You know, with pens floating around and things. But every day, every little thing you do is really important.
"When you get on stage, the worst thing you could do would be hit the wrong chord."
Isaak rarely has done that with his audiences.
He does wear a 60-pound costume of tiny mirrors during his encores. That's a pale reflection on what he remembers from his HBO "astronaut" days. He had to stuff his 6-foot-1 frame into a bulky space suit and similarly claustrophobic living environment.
"I remember we had the exact space vehicle," Isaak said of his film experience in a vintage '60s Apollo command module. "Sitting in the thing, I wondered why they had a mirror. That was so if they were looking for a dial or something right behind them, they couldn't turn their head around and see. They used the mirror.
"They're just jammed into a seat surrounded by knobs. You know, their comfort was not high on the list. I doubt he (Hernandez) is having a very comfortable trip. But he's got a lot of people rooting for him."
Isaak, still a Valley boy at heart, is one of them - especially when it comes to his often-maligned hometown.
"It's kind of neat having somebody from Stockton who's not a joke or source of disparagement," said Isaak, who lives in San Francisco's Sunset District but still visits home and his Stockton family often. "It's pretty awesome having something positive out there. Too many times I read about Stockton, you know, having the most homes foreclosed, though I don't think we're No. 1 anymore.
"When anybody brings up anything now, I'll bring up that guy up in space. I have nothing but respect for him."
Hernandez, a Franklin High School graduate who grew up in a San Joaquin County migrant farmworker family, is one of NASA's few bilingual (Spanish-English) astronauts.
Times certainly have changed for the better.
Isaak recalled being amazed that astronauts gained some relief from the now-politically incorrect '60s space character created by the late comedian Jose Jimenez (Bill Dana).
"At one point, I talked to (astronaut) Deke Slayton," said Isaak, who grew up singing and being influenced by traditional Mexican music. "I said, 'I keep seeing Jose Jimenez pictures (in their training quarters).' With the astronauts, it was all so serious that Deke said the comedy records lightened things up with he and his friends."
Administrators at NASA do that each morning, playing selections from the astronauts' personal play lists. Hernandez was awakened to Gloria Estefan's "Mi Tierra (My Land)" on Monday.
What would Isaak sing for him?
" 'Big Wide Wonderful World,' " he said, referring to the final song on "Mr. Lucky." "He should know. He can see it."
Sample lyric:
"It's a big wide wonderful world/I've just been given/It's a big wide wonderful world/Yeah, that we live in."
Any other advice from one "astronaut" to another?
"Be safe and don't drink too much of that Tang at one time," said Isaak with a very respectful chuckle.
Contact Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro@recordnet.com.
Chris Isaak
With: Brian Setzer & the Nashvillains
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ironstone Vineyards, 1894 Six Mile Road, Murphys
Admission: $45-$225 (lawn tickets are two for the price of one)
Information: (209) 728-1251 or ironstonevineyards.com