From the Inside Out

Local

As our luxury coach speeds up Interstate 87, Pablo Santos remembers sitting on a bus in shackles. There were guards, and bars on the windows, and he was not allowed to speak.

Brooklyn No More

Express

In the 1980s, when I was a kid, the section of Court Street where it meets Atlantic Avenue was broken-down and unhappy and full of crazy old men stumbling out of bars and nothing shined and you could get a plate of yellow rice with a half-chicken on the rotisserie for three dollars with a forty of St. Ides for a dollar more. I have a real nostalgie de la boue for it, which is unhealthy and self-deluding and I admit this freely.

Brian O’ Doherty with Phong Bui

Art

On the occasion of his retrospective, Beyond the White Cube at Grey Art Gallery, which will be on view till July 14th, the artist Brian O’Doherty—also known as Patrick Ireland—came to visit the Rail’s Headquarters to discuss his life and work.

Robert Ryman with Phong Bui

Art

After his last show, No Title Required, at Pace Gallery uptown, painter Robert Ryman welcomed Rail Publisher Phong Bui to his West Village studio to talk about his recent paintings and other related work.

Letter from Iran

Art

Having recently traveled to Iran to jury an “international” sculpture symposium, it was difficult to match what I saw and felt with the kinds of reports being generated by the corporate “entertainment” media back home.

Make a Better NYC

Now seems like the right time to imagine a better New York City. Everybody’s doing it. Bloomberg has his PlaNYC. It’s time for Rail readers to create their own blueprint, too.

How I Got Here, I Can't Recall

Music

“The sixties crowd is always trying to monopolize how good the music was,” says Leif Solem. “It’s just not the case. There’s a lot of shit going on all the time. It doesn’t stop.”

More Freedom and More Shocking

Film

Director Kazuo Hara is known for raw, transgressive documentaries that boldly attack the repressive mores of Japan.

A New Spin on an Old Tradition

Local

Coming to the rescue at a laundromat near you is the Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose reading series, which runs about once a month at various laundromats across the city.