E V E N T S
DREAMONS : SCORPIO
Music by : Joe Claussell & Paul Nickerson Date : October 24th 2026. Location : Cosmic Artts. 56 Bogart St. Broooklyn, NY
What about our stars has kept us enchanted for thousands of years? These lights, a glowing, moving lattice work which hovers and comforts through the darkness, have been studied and interpreted by all of Earth's cultures; they are our signposts of change, for the passage of time but also our faithful guide. They’re an eternal constant, shared by and uniting us all in their charted motion, containers of our collective dreams yet proof of our limitations in their beckoning, distant wink. Enemies and redeemers, worlds unto their own, unknowable however prevalent. They remind us of our divine, faultless placement within all that exists.
Our contemporary planet is a mysterious and lamented one—at odds with its past, with the sacredness of its inhabitants, unsure of the direction of its next steps. Did Kepler expunge the wonder from our world forever when he rationalized our cosmos? Did the Age of Enlightenment simply shift our fervor from the pasts’ modes of understanding to a new realm of facts and unarguable truth through inference and observation? Astrology, Zoroastrian cosmology, divination, magic… all taken from us, replaced by knowledge and science with capital K’s and S’s. Where, how, does the past meet the present?
Starting Saturday. October 24th, Joe Claussell and Paul Nickerson unite Cosmic Arts and Dope Jams yet again for an answer to our current cultural malaise and existential stagnation: DREAMONS. A new series inspired by their past PASSAGES collaboration, this event will focus on what can’t be expressed through traditional dance music. Gatherings will fall on the Saturdays of each month aligned with the changing signs of the zodiac—12 in all. Listeners will be asked to surrender to the changing tides of universal energy by bringing pillows, blankets, yoga mats, caidal tents or any other unwinding aid to soothe themselves into a state of calm to accompany the voyage over the course of 2 distinct 1.5 hour sets. Join us, the devout and the secular, amongst the light-pollution concealed New York City stars, for a night of sound and vibration to replenish the body and spirit.
HALLOWE’EN BALL
Music by : Paul Nickerson & friends. Date : October 31 2026. Location : Public Records. 233 Butler St. Brooklyn, NY
Given the all-consuming unreality of 2026 thus far, the respite that is Hallowe’en could not have come sooner. By now you may know the fellas here look forward to this day with the giddy anticipation of a couple of schoolgirls — Hallowe'en is New Year's on the Dope Jams calendar — ecstatic at the prospect of once again tossing aside any semblance of false reality, adorning the mask of absurdity affirmed, and convening the freaks for an all-out-intoxicated-free-for-all of massive hedonistic proportions that will be Dope Jams’ 17th Annual Costume Ball. Literally all of the store's energies, hopes, aspirations and exertions are stored in reserve for this one day. On this last honest holiday, we find ourselves discarding moderation, decency, respectability and all fundamental norms of social acceptance and indulging ourselves in the bizarre ritual of dress and play, impulse and consumption, self-deprecation and social degeneration that is Hallowe’en. This yearly rite of passage into the dark months is what keeps Dope Jams going the rest of the year round, precipitating an all out explosion of joyful debauchery that reminds us that the only serious endeavor left in the violent banality of our virtual prison is to shed the psychic costume, put down the iphone and forget about your responsibilities for one measly evening.
As with each year, everything has been put in order well in advance: the club is fully decorated with typical devotion, the treats mixed just right for maximal mental deterioration, and the haunted ghosts conjured to wreak their fiendish havoc for another extravaganza of excess. Dope Jams have scoured the infernal gamut of the dance music spectrum to serve up their spookiest, most spine-tingling salutation to the dark spirits of house music yet. Costumes are strongly encouraged, you will be met with considerable disdain if you dare set your foot on sacred ground without sufficiently daft attire. For the rest of you party people — downtrodden, jaded, angry, or just plain indifferent — make the choice: attend another mediocre Halloween bash at your friend's half-assedly adorned apartment or come to Public Records on October 31, 2026 and join us for our annual Dionysian jubilee!
OPEN-AIR FESTIVAL
Music by : Paul Nickerson & friends. Date : August 6th -8th 2027 Location : Locust Grove. 318 CR 22. Oak Hill, NY
Venture roughly 135 miles north of Manhattan and you’ll start to see space time recede into a more humane fantasy; urban sprawl’s famished tendrils shorten to an eventual welcomed whisp, botanical life’s summer shades enriched by divine angles of incidence and reflection. Along this journey you may come across Locust Grove, a haven within the Kaatskill hamlet of Oak Hill. While the lush property was once a creamery, today its home to a community of like-minded souls dedicated to the eternal arts of sound and movement: Dope Jams.
Running now on its 12th year, Dope Jams Open Air Festival has become an assured fixture for all types of music freaks, open-hearted bucolic scavengers, and seekers of the light. No bullshit, no empty gesturing, no unwarranted bravado. Over three days and two nights of music from a menagerie of misfits. A limited supply of on-site camping tickets will be available for purchase—please help keep our property clean for the enjoyment of others and our Earth. Food, spirits, beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase (no outside food unless camping).