noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - noiZe Magazine Issue 57 August 2008 - Index

Promoter
SPotlight:
Franco Beneduce:
San Francisco’s
magnitude man
by Steve Kleine
For anyone who has attended the (in)famous Folsom Street Fair, the Saturday
night Magnitude Party stands out as one of the highlights of a crowded party
weekend. For Franco Beneduce, the man behind this multifaceted affair, the secret
of its success is simple: He gives a party that he would want to attend.
It all started with a handshake on
the dance floor of Club Universe in
San Francisco 13 years ago. Franco
Beneduce, an event planner, had
recently relocated from New York
City when he ran into Jito Garcia,
who wanted to start producing
large-scale dance events. Jito knew
how to get people to the event but
lacked the producing experience
that Franco brought to the table.
Out of that initial collaboration
came forth the now infamous
AfterShock after-hours parties. After
that triumph, they set their sights on
a Saturday night party the week of
the city’s biggest gayola weekend,
Folsom Street Fair. Thus the
Magnitude party was hatched.
To understand Magnitude and Franco
(who runs it without Jito these days), one
must understand the Folsom Street Fair,
the massive charity event that last year
donated over $350,000 to local Bay Area
organizations—a figure that rises each
year. Magnitude has been one of the
major reasons for the steady increase.
With 400,000 attendees from around the
globe, the fair is the largest leather
event in the world and the third-largest
exposition in California behind the Rose
Bowl Parade and San Francisco Pride.
Folsom Street, however, goes way
beyond what most people view as a
leather event. “Folsom gives people the
ultimate freedom of sexual self-expression,”
Beneduce explains. “That is why
Magnitude could only happen in San
Francisco.”
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Healthy Am I! Happy Am I! holy Am I!