What: Becoming one with the inner Goth

Where: The Castle in Ybor

Must-Do? Says Who? The Senator and his loving constituents

Casualties: $21 for ‘red-headed sluts’ (a specialty shot, that is); some other amount for something else, I can’t quite think what

Notable Quotable: “What do you do for a living?”

We paused after the Cajun Café extravaganza to digest a bit and hop in the pool—we'd been up since 8 and knew our night was only beginning, and a half-hour of R&R was crucial. Arriving in Ybor, we met Melanie (the birthday girl), Lyndsay, London and Misha outside the Castle and headed to the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. to fortify ourselves on pints of Old Elephant Foot IPA, Iron Rat Stout, One Night Stand Pale Ale, and (the kicker) Moosekiller Barley-Wine Style Ale.

The Castle, a parade of pleather & super glue coiffures, a zombie dance hall that bounces every night to the tunes of Megadump and Sister Machine Gun, home to such cultural milestones as the "Vamps & Vixens Ball," purveyors of the infamous "Communion Shot"—well, we just didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.

The place was hopping by the time we arrived. A $6 cover seemed steep, but we were a bit anesthetized at that point and we slid through without complaint. As we arrived on the second floor of the dungeon-themed club, our hearts leapt—it was the man himself—the Senator was there in all his glory.

This article appears in Aug 8-14, 2007.