New York Dolls star David Johansen performs as Buster Poindexter in Petaluma

David Johansen, famed as the front man for the early ’70s cult band the New York Dolls, is a recognizable name and face on his own, but when he sweeps his long hair up into a pompadour, he becomes another guy entirely - tuxedo-clad, martini-sipping Buster Poindexter.

Johansen contends that Poindexter is not truly his alter-ego - “It’s just a nickname, really” - but Buster’s videos, including the classic “Hot Hot Hot,” make it clear that Buster is his own man.?Johansen, 67, will bring Buster back to life June 2 at Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre, singing pretty much whatever he feels like singing, which was the motive behind his creation of the Buster persona back in the early ’80s.

Most of the Poindexter performances in recent years have been in New York, where Johansen still lives, following a long reunion with the New York Dolls in the early 2000s.

“When we came back and gave it a rest, I just started singing as Buster with a different approach than I had formerly. It’s more like a jazz combo, and we do a cabaret act in smaller theaters, nightclubs and hotels around the New York area. I’ve been doing it for about three years in this new incarnation,” Johansen said.

Although Johansen certainly has done his share of touring and recording (including two albums as Buster) that’s not really his priority right now.

“We rarely venture forth, but this trip to California is just for fun,” he said. “We’re going out to play at a friend’s party, so we decided to play a couple gigs in San Francisco and Petaluma.”

Johansen allows that Buster “may have matured” but it’s the material he performs while occupying his alternate identity sings that matters most now.

“It’s just really about music,” he said. “Any kind of music that there is, pretty much. If I like a song, I sing it. That’s the point. If I go and sing as David, I am expected to sing songs that are associated with me. But as Buster, I can sing absolutely anything I want at any given moment. That’s the beauty of it for me as an artist.”

But surely, audiences demand to hear “Hot Hot Hot” every time?

“Not really. Sometimes we’ll do it, because it’s appropriate, and sometimes we’ll forget to do it. For truth in advertising, the act is not really like the Buster records that we made many years ago. It’s kind of a new approach. It’s not like anything else.”

Beyond his next couple of performances as Buster, Johansen said he couldn’t really predict what he’ll do next.

“I never really have planned anything. It’s not like I have some kind of five-year plan. I do a lot of stuff - painting and things like that. I do some acting on occasion,” Johansen said.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.