Art is highly subjective. When Andy Warhol painted pictures of the most mundane things he could find — soup cans — and displayed them as art, people went crazy. Some thought he was a genius who could find strands of art in anything. Others thought he was just a lazy artist pulling the wool over the public’s eye.
At the moment, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman is the modern version of Warhol: His oversized bath toy/art exhibit, Rubber Duck, has taken Taiwan by storm. Even before it landed in Kaohsiung last week, vendors in Taiwan were selling yellow duck burgers, yellow duck cakes and even yellow duck USB hubs. The yellow duck even caused controversy in Hong Kong and China when netizens Photoshopped the duck over a tank in a famous photo of the Tiananmen Square riots. Soon, all mentions of rubber duck were scrubbed from social media by Chinese Internet censors.
Bona fide nightlife enthusiast, Jason Hare (also known as DJ Pro Res), is launching his second boat party, Yacht Rock, in Kaohsiung this Saturday. And of course, Rubber Duck will be the main attraction.
Photo courtesy of Danny Chu
“I’m always looking to find new ways to add to already great nightlife here in Kaohsiung,” Hare said. “After seeing the boat Butterfly Princess for the first time, I knew I wanted to throw a party on it. I just happened to run into one of the owners playing darts at a local bar and we made it happen.”
Hare continued, “Yacht Rock party-goers will have a great opportunity to see Rubber Duck first hand. Part of the three-hour cruise around the Kaohsiung harbor will include a stop by the giant rubber duck for a prime photo op.”
Last month at the first Yacht Rock, Hare and his business partner Andy Rowe were happy about the full house, but not surprised. “The yacht has been renovated into a full-fledged night club with a large deck, a beautiful inside dance floor, two VIP rooms including one that is a KTV room with couches and stripper poles,” Hare said. “Once the party starts, this yacht literally rocks.”
Photo courtesy of Danny Chu
One of the highlights of last month’s party was when the Butterfly Princess got stopped by the police.
“It was just a friendly visit by the Kaohsiung police naval division who, like most people seeing the Yacht Rock boat pass by, were curious about what was going on,” Hare said. “Thankfully the police were just observing to make sure everything was safe and within the guidelines. We rocked on with no disruption or interference.”
The most important thing to know about Yacht Rock, though, is if the DJs will actually be playing some yacht rock, a term for the soft, late-1970s ballads sung by the likes of Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross and the rock duo Daryl Hall and John Oates.
“Our DJs, Apesh!t and Tom Bassman, play all genres of dance music, and aren’t afraid to drop a dope remix of I Can’t Go for That by Hall & Oates,” Hare said.
Yacht Rock tomorrow from 7:30pm to 11:30pm at the Butterfly Princess, 1 Dayong Rd, Kaohsiung City, (高雄市大勇路1號). Tickets are NT$500 and include two drinks.
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