Boulevard visitors seem to like what they see. “He’s good. I grew up on Janis and Jimi and Jim Morrison,” says Destiny Mitchell, a 21-year-old waitress and student from San Francisco. Among the passersby who have stopped to listen is Leon Hendrix, Jimi’s younger brother. According to Aquarius, Leon Hendrix now jams with his new group, the Anthony Aquarius Mystery.

Aquarius figures he knows each of the tunes Hendrix performed. “I’ve probably played Hey Joe more times than Hendrix ever did,” he says. He doesn’t dwell on Hendrix’s death from an accidental drug overdose in 1970 at age 27, Aquarius said. Or on Janis Joplin’s at 27. Or on the Doors’ Jim Morrison’s at 27. When asked his age, Aquarius says, with a grin, that he’s 27. And that may be where the similarity between him and Hendrix ends, he says—acknowledging that his boulevard act is for show.

“It’s really not me that people are looking at when I’m out here,” he concedes. He knows that those who are unfamiliar with Jimi Hendrix will pay no attention to Anthony Aquarius.