Recent Release Wasn’t the Kind Rocker Wanted

Greg Topper, top dog of Orange County’s rock oldies scene, is adjusting to life as a free agent, having finally lost his 13-year gig at the Atrium Hotel in Irvine.

Topper says it was management’s idea to end his long tenure playing three or four nights a week in the hotel’s Airporter Club. “The bar was so busy and packed and borderline rowdy that they were getting complaints from their hotel guests,” reports the piano-playing worshiper of Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. “They wanted to tone it down and let the wild man go, but it was a very nice separation.”

“I would never have left [voluntarily] because it’s so seductive” to play such a steady gig, said Topper, who, at 51, has been rocking in local clubs since 1968, when he was a student at Cal State Fullerton. “But it’s a blessing in disguise. It’s rock ‘n’ roll quicksand, the comfort zone I was in.”

Topper and his band, the Upsetters--drummer Tommy Ellis, bassist Brian Curtin, guitarist Tony Dean and sax player Dave Moody--ended their Airporter residency May 31, then emerged in late June at the Taste of Orange County festival at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. They will play a one-nighter tonight at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana. Topper also is booked at the Crazy Horse on Aug. 27 and envisions a once-a-month gig there.

“It works out great,” Topper said. “It keeps my Orange County fans happy and kind of keeps my hat in the ring” as he pursues hoped-for opportunities outside the county.

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Among those making calls on Topper’s behalf is James Fifield, one of the most powerful figures in the music business as chairman of the EMI Music conglomerate, home to Garth Brooks and Bonnie Raitt, among others. Fifield has been a fan and friend of Topper’s since he first caught the rocker’s act on an early-’70s business trip to Newport Beach.

Topper is also thinking of pursuing a record deal that would emphasize original songs he and his band have written. But his Crazy Horse shows will focus on cranking up the oldies, with an open floor in front of the stage because, as Topper puts it, “My music is so danceable, and people go nuts when they can’t dance.”

* Greg Topper and the Upsetters play tonight at the Crazy Horse Steak House, 1580 Brookhollow Drive, Santa Ana. 8 p.m. $5. (714) 549-1512.