BEHAVE isn't just a command. It's a way of life, and it was the name of a ruthlessly contrarian magazine from former Leaving Trains bassist-singer Chris "Whitey" Sims. When the New Orleans native relocated to San Francisco after leaving the Trains in the early 1990s, he turned to exposing that city's Gentle People in a short-lived magazine stuffed with black-humored cartoons and sick artwork alongside helpful articles like "Thanks Pruneface," "Gentle Suicide Letter," "French Quarter Education," "Why I Hate M.A.S.H.," "The Rape of the Pleasure Centers," and "Artist George Grosz Didn't Give a Fuck."

Whitey Sims, a.k.a. "The Naked Guy," was bassist and co-lead singer on two Leaving Trains CDs in the early 1990s, LOSER ILLUSION PART ZERO and THE LUMP IN MY FOREHEAD, singing and writing most of the lyrics for such cheery ditties as "Bleach in the Fishtank," "1-900-World," "Fuck You, God (I'm Already Living in Hell)," "Bob Hope," "Women Are Evil" and "I'm O.K." Whitey has always been equally adept at pissing off humorless liberals and conservatives alike, and pushed things even further for a brief but chaotic spell leading the misanthropic, politically incorrect S.F. country-rock band The Southern Restoration Society. The SRS violently imploded years ago and Chris/Whitey has largely dropped out of sight, although he apparently still lives in San Francisco.

If you can find an issue of BEHAVE, grab it and clutch it greedily. One of the major contributors to the magazine was artist (and former Leaving Train) MoRon Donovan. As a guitarist, Aaron "MoRon" Donovan was under-documented while he was in the Leaving Trains, touring with the band near the end of the Whitey Sims era in the early '90s, but there are a couple notable traces of his impact during that period: He wrote the music to "1-900-World," and MoRon's insanely wiggly lead-guitar heat mirages elevate the studio version of the Trains' psychedelic epic "A Woman's Clouds." But MoRon Donovan is better known as an artist. He's studied in Mexico, has done several murals in Silver Lake, and used to run the late, great Delirium Tremens gallery in Echo Park (which was nearly burned down during a Southern Restoration Society set that got out of control). Some might remember that Aaron designed the hard-to-wear-in-public-places "Fuck You, God!" Leaving Trains t-shirt in the early 1990s. These nearby line drawings from BEHAVE are just a hint of MoRon D's emerging style.

Contact Aaron "Mo-Ron" Donovan at: notakebacks@hotmail.com

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