POP MUSIC : Bishop Rides a Musical Roller Coaster Into S.D.

When Stephen Bishop performs Saturday night at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa, it will be the expatriate San Diego singer-songwriter’s first hometown appearance in more than six years.

“I don’t know why I haven’t played here for so long,” Bishop said from his home in Los Angeles, where he has lived since 1969. “Things happen; you get caught up doing stuff, and I’m pretty set in Los Angeles right now.

“I’ve only been touring a little bit, here and there, off and on, for the last few years.”

Had Bishop’s comeback album, last fall’s “Bowling In Paris,” been a hit, things would be different, he said. He’d be touring as extensively as he did in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, his commercial heyday.

But the album, his first in nine years, flopped, and Bishop has since left Atlantic Records. His recording career is currently in limbo.

“The label just didn’t have a firm commitment to it (the album),” he said. “Heavy metal is their forte, and they didn’t really know what to do with me. I’m a pop songwriter, and doing what I do, more and more, has become a prehistoric thing, with everybody into rap or dance-pop or heavy metal.

“It’s a weird time for music right now, but I’m not the type of person with sour grapes--and besides, there are too many other things to be involved in.”

Indeed. Earlier this year, Bishop was invited by Phil Collins, who had produced much of “Bowling in Paris,” to contribute background vocals to one of the songs on his latest solo album, “But Seriously.”

“I did all the background vocals and double tracks on ‘Do You Remember,’ and then when he came into town a few weeks ago, he asked me to sing with him at the (Inglewood) Forum,” Bishop said. “That was fun. He introduced me as ‘one of the best songwriters in America.’ ”

Bishop also spent a lot of time building a recording studio in his Hollywood Hills home and went on a two-week tour of Japan.

And he’s been writing songs like crazy.

“I do want to make another record, but, more than anything else, I want to keep on writing,” Bishop said. “I just finished writing a song with Pete Rafelson for Paula Abdul, which we slaved over, and it looks good that Donna Summer might be doing one of my songs.

“I’m also doing this thing with ‘thirtysomething.’ They’re interested in me doing some stuff for the show. And I’ve also got some movies I’m interested in scoring. A lot of people are looking for songs, and that keeps me busy.”

Songwriting is not only what he likes to do best, it is where the money is. Bishop continues to receive royalty checks for his four self-penned Top 40 hits, 1977’s “Save It for a Rainy Day” and “On and On,” 1978’s “Everybody Needs Love,” and 1983’s “It Might Be You” (from the movie, “Tootsie”).

He made a lot of money from “Separate Lives,” the Oscar-nominated theme from the 1985 film, “White Nights,” that was recorded by Collins and Marilyn Martin. And he expects to make even more come October, when a live version of the song appears on Collins’ upcoming greatest hits album.

So even though he’s still scouting around for a new record deal, Bishop said, he’s not worried.

“I’ve been through this before,” he said. “It’s just the way it is; things roll around and go up and down. It’s a big musical roller coaster, and a lot of people have been on it.

“I’m just glad I’m still in the amusement park.”

LINER NOTES: The second annual Marlboro Music Military Tour, featuring Poco, .38 Special, and last year’s “talent roundup” winner, Angel Train, touches down Saturday afternoon at Camp Pendleton’s A.C. (Ace) Bowen Rodeo Grounds. The 10-date tour of military bases around the country ends two days later at Pearl Harbor. The show starts at 4 p.m. and tickets are $5 in advance, $8 the day of the show. . . .

Two quasi-celebs have been tapped to headline a pair of upcoming benefit concerts: Juice Newton at Saturday’s outdoor fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society on the Rancho Santa Fe Polo Grounds, and Rita Coolidge at the third annual “Bring On the Night” benefit for the AIDS Assistance Fund, Sept. 9 at Sea World’s City Streets. . . .

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for Boom Crash Opera’s Sept. 22 concert at Rio’s in Loma Portal. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: B.B. King, Thursday at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island; America, Thursday at the Bacchanal; the Moody Blues, Friday at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater; and Ronnie Montrose, Friday at the Bacchanal.