An interview with porn actor and frequent fetish traveller Ale Tedesco about his favourite fetish destinations and parties.
MasterMarc: Hi Ale. Great to have you back with us. As porn actor, performer and host you’re travelling a lot from one gay hotspot to the next. During the last few years you have seen a lot of cities, fetish clubs and parties. Which city would you say is in your eyes the most kinky city and can you tell us why?
Ale Tedesco: Hi MasterMarc alwaya a pleasure in giving you my opinion. You are right, I’m travelling a lot all over the world for business as well as for pleasure. Just to give you an example of my travel plans, since the beginning of the year I have been to Florida and California, on a gay cruise in Polynesia, in Jamaica, in Japan, Tel Aviv, Indonesia as well as in many cities in Europe.
Each city has for me its own flavor, and when it comes to people I can tell you that even in the most remote areas you can engage with vety kinky people, just look around and … here you are. When it comes to the “organized scene” Europe is, in my opinion, by far the most developed area in terms of fetish clubs or parties.
It’s a pity that cities like San Francisco, for example, that in the past were extremely tolerant and developed towards all kind of fetishes, seem now to leg far behind cities like Berlin or Antwerp.
It’s difficult for me to select one city as when certain events are organized (like the Fetish week in Gran Canaria in October, the Leather pride in Antwerp in February or the leather Easter in Berlin) these cities become really the capitals of Fetish.
Particularly two places are for me special: Gran Canaria where certain clubs (like the Bunker) are a fetish magnet all the year round and particularly during the events that are organized on a regular basis on this beautiful island: Sea, Sun and Sleazy. At Bunker they always organize great parties like Recon, Daddy, Into the Tank.
The other special place for me is Antwerp during the Leather pride, an event that is growing year after year and offers a good and unique mix of parties, discussions and occasions for socialising, knowing people and playing kinky sex.
I have also a place where I always like going and it’s great fun with a lot of fetish. This is the HardOn party held every month in London. On too of this there are of course clubs in many cities that are a “fetish safe heaven” like the Boots in Antwerp or the Eagle in Amsterdam.
So there is no excuse nowadays for not attending these parties or clubs, plenty of occasions to meet and playing. Guys, it’s time to wake up, refrain in wasting time on hook-up apps, go out and meet real men.
MasterMarc: I see you get a lot of frequent flyer miles. 🙂 Of course the clubs and events are important. But let us talk about the fetish guys. Do you notice any differences between the continents, countries and cities?
Ale Tedesco: Interesting question. Personally I never like to generalize about people, by saying Italians are … instead Americans are … whereas Dutch are … although, I have to say that there are some common behavioural habits that you can recognize among people and that are probably linked to the level of exposure to the Fetish scene.
I can easily say that a party in America usually starts and often ends with socializing, parties in Northern Europe are generally harder and more naughty than in Southern Europe, but often the difference is made by the crowds.
Unfortunately, I have to say that the most boring fetish scene is in my native country: Italy, possibly followed by France.
You are asking me for a generalization and as I said at the beginning, I hate doing this as you have a lot of sleazy guys in all countries … just look for them. But let’s talk about people in terms of common behaviors.
There is a large group of itinering fetish guys of very different nationalities that you can bet you will always meet in those large parties over Europe: Dutch, Spanish, German, English, … all well motivated to party and very similar in the way they behave. These are the “Fetish ignitors” … pigs that are always engaged in initiating any sleazy activity. If you have these people in a party you can be sure that there will be a lot of action.
Then you have the “Fetish novices“. You see in this group a lot of Americans that cross the Atlantic for the very first time and they are embarassed and curious for the first 30 minutes they get in a party, like a baby in a candy shop, and then they are the last that are going out of the club.
Then you have a lot of “Fetish cinderellas” going around the clubs all night long, looking for the Prince, always criticising other people’s behavior and then going home horny and trying to hook you up on an app. But why haven’t you tried to contact me while we were face to face?
Another interesting group are the “I’m too sexy for this party” guys, please look at me, but don’t touch me.
I am of course exagerating about these behaviors as, thanks god, the majority of people that are attending these parties, clubs or events are truly interested in meeting and playing discovering their “darker side” of sex.
Can you bet in which group I belong to?
MasterMarc: Hehe, I’m not sure. Probably a novice or a cindarella? Ok, I think all know, that you are the opposit of it. 🙂 Last but not least can you give us your Top 5 in the categories: Fetish City, Fetish Club and Fetish Events?
Ale Tedesco: This is a very difficult question and I will try to be politically correct. As you know there is, strangely enough, quite some competition among several clubs as often it happens that they do not even coordinate their calendars, making the life of us “Happy fetish travelers” difficult to pick up the party we wanna attend. Being and working in this industry I cannot and don’t wanna tell you what is the best club, also because I believe that there are many clubs or events that deserve being in this list and very often each of them have great parties.
After having made this disclaimer, I can now tell you what parties or events any real committed fetish man should have stamped in his sleazy passport. I will list you here below what I consider these “must see” events, not in terms of importance, but as they appear during a calendar year:
- Leather Pride Belgium/Darklands in Antwerp in February
- Leather Easter Berlin in March/April
- Fetish week London in July
- Dore Alley San Francisco in July
- Folsom Berlin in September
- Fetish Week Gran Canaria in October
- Leather Pride Amsterdam in October
I am sure that not everybody will buy into this list, but as it happens with movies, songs or restaurants, each of us have different parameters to make his own compilation, depending on your personal experience, expectations, wishes or simply the people you have met. Personally, out of my list, I always attend the Leather Pride in Antwerp and the Fetish week in Gran Canaria. This year I will also go to the Leather Pride in Amsterdam.
I hope I will meet you somewhere in one of these events and I’ll be happy to hear your experiences. Cum and share them with me.
Ale Tedesco
Italy
Spain