Grimes Poznikov

Grimes Poznikov, the street performer known as The Automatic Human Jukebox, who became one of the city ' s most popular tourist attractions before he was sidelined by mental illness, has died. He was 59.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Poznikov sat in a painted refrigerator box and played songs for cash at San Francisco ' s Fisherman ' s Wharf. His act was so popular he was booked on national television shows and featured in news articles and travel guides.

But by the late 1980s, schizophrenia had made him so erratic he could no longer perform, which forced him onto the streets. He was discovered dead, from alcohol poisoning, Oct. 27 on a sidewalk near a San Francisco freeway, according to his sister, Jenny Predpelski of Overland Park, Kan.

" He was brilliant, but always missing a few cards in his deck, " Predpelski said. " From the time he could talk, he could play any instrument from piano to trumpet and drums, and he was a very bright student. "

Born in Neodesha, Kan., Mr. Poznikov studied psychology at Cornell College in Iowa and taught elementary school in Chicago before he began taking his musical act to anti-war protests around the country.

The self-styled hippie became a street performer in San Francisco, where tourists could request songs that he ' d perform on trumpet, kazoo or one of several other instruments he kept in the painted box.

His survivors include his sister and two brothers.