Isaak loving life on the road

"American Idol" -- always looking for a new judge -- reached out to Chris Isaak. But he said: Thanks, but no thanks.

"They called me and asked me if I wanted to do something with that. I always like being on TV," he says. "But I'd much rather be doing what I'm doing -- traveling town to town with my band."

The singer of "Wicked Game" and "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" plays at 9 p.m. Saturday at Mandalay Bay Beach ($40). He says touring is the "center of my life."

"We got flashy outfits. I've got a 20-foot-tall inflatable pinup girl onstage. I wear a 35-pound mirrored suit. I've got a piano that comes out and catches fire. We talk to the audience. We do everything we can to make a fun time," he says.

The top-tier stage performer has done many "wild shows" in front of "wild women" in Vegas, he says.

But he's also been exposed to suburban Vegas life at ... the house of Wayne Newton, who once asked him, "Chris, you want to go with me when I feed the penguins?"

"I thought, 'Is this a metaphor for something?' " Isaak jokes.

"All these penguins came out from this little pool area. Little tiny penguins started following Wayne around. These penguins live in the heat! He's feeding them fish. And they're following him around like Daddy."

Isaac almost died while surfing once. He's upset with Congress. And he just recorded 35 Sun Records classics. For more on that, read the rest of our interview on my blog.

GOLD-PLATED FERRARI?

Tonight, Neon Trees performs at the Red Rock Resort pool, and the bass player in the Utah band, Branden Campbell, knows the neighborhood. He grew up here and went to Bonanza High School.

Neon Trees are Mormons, although their songs are not religious. Their ubiquitous hit "Animal" was even in Vegas tourism ads.

They are clean-cut Trees. Their tour contract (their rider) used to require a cheese pizza. Their tour bus is packed with peanut butter and pita chips.

Campbell says other rockers demand different bottles of alcohol for different days of the week.

He muses: "We should say, 'We want chunky peanut butter. But if it's Wednesday, we get creamy peanut butter!' "

Campbell says the band has cut a new song with superstar DJ Kaskade, who's also Mormon (and who DJs Saturday at club Marquee).

He's not sure when it'll be released, only that it's "stellar."

I told him there's a photo going around the Web purported to be of Kaskade's gold-plated Ferrari.

"What?" Campbell exclaims. "Maybe that's a picture he took at Yanni's house. This is no joke. Yanni invited him to his Miami compound" to party in Yanni's personal discotheque.

"I'm gonna ask him about it (the Ferrari) -- and then laugh at him."

They play at 9 p.m. ($30). There's no opening act.

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Contact him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.