A Chris Isaak Christmas

Proving once again that he's one of the greatest rock stars of all time, Chris Isaak has been visiting wounded American heroes at Walter Reed.

When Chris Isaak was in Baltimore last year filming John Waters's "A Dirty Shame," he spent some of his downtime in Washington at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, visiting servicemen and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. A few hundred of them will be at the 9:30 club Friday afternoon for a sound check and party, "having pizza and hearing me droning on and on," Isaak said recently from a California stop on a special tour coinciding with his first seasonal album, "Chris Isaak Christmas." Isaak and his band, Silvertone, perform at the 9:30 club Friday and at Baltimore's new Rams Head Live on Tuesday.

"On weekends I'd steal away and come over to Walter Reed," recounts Isaak, adding, "I had one of my flashy show suits that I wear on stage. I figured that way if you're laying in bed and don't know who the hell I am, you realize, okay, he must be an entertainer!"

The article also says that Chris has done USO tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Korea. I met him a couple of years ago at a concert, where he did something I've never seen any other major artist do before: he sat at a table and signed autographs for everyone who waited in line. I got my picture taken with him and everything. He's a genuinely nice guy, and I'm not surprised at all that he's doing this for our wounded men and women.

I'm also excited because, in reading the article, I've found out that he has a new Christmas album, an upcoming greatest hits album, and will be working on a follow-up to his last album. Knowing that there's more Chris Isaak music on the way (even if the Christmas album sounds as if it will be mostly secular stuff) is about the best Christmas gift a guy can get.