Forget all you've read recently about Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey, the Minnesota bloodsucker running for governor. Vampires, witches and Pagans are usually smart, serious folks who prefer their publicity, like their clothing, muted.

That's what's made Patrick Rodgers and his locally run enterprise, the decade-old Dancing Ferret Entertainment Group, so important and successful. In no time during its tenure has he made a joke of its loving crowds—not at its Dracula's Ball and not at the city's far-flung fetishy events where he and his minion make themselves a presence. Rather, the fanged, leather-clad entrepreneur who books industrial/goth tours and EBM-electro DJs along the East Coast and maintains shops online (Digital Ferret) and on Fifth Street keeps a low profile.

Even when he wants the publicity.

The press ignored DF's 10-year anniversary in 2005. "But that's pretty much the story from all the print media in Philly, period," says Rodgers wistfully. "Kind of a bummer, but to be honest, the kids keep on coming, and that's the bottom line." Which means y'all can't sleep (and neither can Rodgers' constituents) on this week's 10th anniversary celebration of Nocturne, his every-Wednesday party that, without interruption, may be the longest-running weekly event in the city.

It's also a party that focused on the goth-electro-new wave sound long before kitschier promoters and DJs happened onto it. Nocturne's Knobhead spins alterna-'80s, EBM and industrial/metal; Kathy Fadigan DJs Top 40 '80s, goth classics and synthpop/electroclash; and Jon Gill hits the lords of acid that fill Shampoo with old goths and new Electroeclectica. And it's an all-ages event. "Nocturne has a reputation for being a laid-back place that isn't like the usual club experience, and therefore doesn't feel like 'being at work' for people in the service industries or have that obnoxious open shirts/gold chain thing to disenchant them."

With 50 percent of the label's sales taking place outside the U.S. market, DF has international focus even though Nocturne is grounded in Philadelphia. "The label is accessible to anyone on the planet, so it's an ongoing mission to reach as many people as possible through as many different and creative methods as we can devise," Rodgers says, noting the company's soundtrack work, online revenue and Cruxshadows band.

Nocturne thrives on its quality of people, not quantity. Even though its numbers have gone up yearly, Rodgers says he prefers to see "controlled, incremental growth through word of mouth and targeted promotion." He wants to know the members of his extended family, the community that has evolved after a decade. "There are people who started coming to Nocturne in 1996 when they were teenagers who now own houses, are married and have kids. In fact, there are a number of folks who are married to people they met at Nocturne." As a supportive community, Nocturne's guests have seen each other through births, deaths, marriages, divorces, assignment to combat duty overseas, new business ventures and national tragedies. "Just like any family."

Nocturne's 10-Year Anniversary, Wed., Feb. 1, 9 p.m.-2 a.m., $7, Shampoo, Willow Street between seventh and eighth sts., 215-922-7500, www.shampooonline.com.