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April 30, 2007

April Of The Penguin

In New York, we get used seeing celebrities at concerts. For a while there, it was hard to hit a rock show in NYC and not run into David Cross, Paul Rudd, or the cast of Law & Order: SVU. Nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of poseurs out there, but a lot of these guys are real fans. And who says being famous and liking cool music are mutually exclusive? As long as celebrities are using their personal connections and PR clout to support bands and enjoy music -- as opposed to, say, climbing onstage with J&M Chain -- we're cool with it.

But the thing about celebrity sightings is that they usually conform to type. Matthew McConaughey, hirsute and hippie-dancing at SXSW, for example, or Ron Jeremy rubbing elbows with Peaches (not sure if we'd want to rub anything against Peaches at this point, but hey, he's Ron Jeremy).

What, then, do we make of the curious case of Danny DeVito?

The diminutive comedic icon has been a fixture at Coachella for the last few of years (at least three to our knowledge), as ubiquitous as reunion-show hype and bone-melting heat. Louie DePalma as the mayor of Indio? What gives? On one hand, he is friends with both Mike Patton and Billy Ocean so you know he knows his stuff. On the other hand, he was born in 1944, making him technically old enough to have grandfathered an Arctic Monkey.

In this semi-coherent interview, DeVito explains his love for the festival (something about Perry Farrell, great people, and the Mojave Tent). His picks for this year included: Satellite Party, Of Montreal, Cornelius, Peeping Tom, and Björk. So, everyone, basically. Anybody have a DeVito sighting to report? We heard he was hanging out backstage with Winehouse (getting wasted on Limoncello and talking shit about the president, no doubt). And we also wanna know: what does Rhea Perlman think about all of this?

Posted at 11:24 AM
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18 Comments

Please stop hating on Scarlett Johansson. It's not her fault that she's outrageously hot, can act and sing, and manages to be an international superstar while still starring in indie-credible movies like Lost in Translation and in music videos for Bob Dylan AND Justin Timberlake. You just wish you could be that cool and sexy.

Posted by: D at 04/30/07 11:54 AM | Reply
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While I'm in general agreement with D, I don't know what any of that has to do with Danny DeVito.

Posted by: bobfrombob at 04/30/07 12:00 PM | Reply
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I agree ^^, but who are you her publicist?! We know who she and what MOVIES and guest-starring-roles-in-music-videos she has done. We don't need somekind background check to give her "Indie" cred.

Posted by: b.LOUD at 04/30/07 12:01 PM | Reply
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bobfrombob, did you miss the last line of this post's first paragraph?

Posted by: reading is fundamental at 04/30/07 12:03 PM | Reply
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Yeah, I saw that. A little shot at her in an article about DeVito - I didn't even think it was meant to be taken seriously. If you want to defend SJo, it would make way more sense to do so in the thread about her....

Posted by: bobfrombob at 04/30/07 12:36 PM | Reply
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as much as i love the scarjo and would love to make sweet, messy love to her- i agree with scott. celebs should just let the music be. the videos are a whole different thing... theyre just made for marketing reasons, so it might help to get a celebrity in there. unless its something like, say, "wicked wisdom" and HILARIOUS! leave it alone!

oh- and that is SO her publicist!

Posted by: yoohoo at 04/30/07 12:39 PM | Reply
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Yes, it was a joke. Who doesn't like Scarlett Johansson?! (I guess this is when everyone starts dissing Scarlett Johansson...)

Posted by: scott at 04/30/07 12:41 PM | Reply
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I saw Danny Devito at Phish's last concerts ever in Coventry, VT.

Posted by: That Guy at 04/30/07 12:52 PM | Reply
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I was backstage watching Wolfmother last year at Coachella ... it was fairly early on in the day on Day One. As Wolfmamma rocked, Mr. DeVito and I were doing a furious "white person" head bob dance. Being that I'm a 6 foot tall blonde woman and he's, well not, his head bob was about level with my baby maker. After the set ended he turned to me and said, "I'd like to wrap your long legs around my head..." and walked away. If that ain't rock and roll, I don't know what is. Rock on Danny. Rock on with your little self.

Posted by: scissors at 04/30/07 1:31 PM | Reply
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My friends and I were at Coachella this past weekend and we were watching Cornelius from the sidestage and ran into The Devito (this is actually my second sighting of him in the past year--ran into him at the Sufjan Stevens show at The Wiltern back in September). My friend goes up to him and tells him he's a big fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and shook his hand. He wasn't all that friendly, but then again I wouldn't be either if I had people coming up to me all the time citing the Penguin as one of my best work. Didn't think you could pack so much indie rock love into that little body of his.

Posted by: Andrea at 04/30/07 1:59 PM | Reply
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To ol' Mr. DeVito's defense - he's supported tons of up & coming comedians and writers. He was one of the first people to help out The State and produces Reno 911.

Posted by: David McCaffredy at 04/30/07 2:30 PM | Reply
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And don't forget that The Little D was key in the underground cable fave "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" - maybe the cool kids on the program turned him onto the rockness...

Did you read the Danny D has now put his name on a privet label limoncello? Yes!
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070430005707&newsLang=en

Posted by: Dfactor at 04/30/07 3:31 PM | Reply
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i once saw danny devito & rhea perlman at a beck concert in 1997 here in LA. got big cheers when they walked in front of our section of the theatre.

Posted by: smallwonderrobot at 04/30/07 4:07 PM | Reply
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I saw him recently at the Wiltern at the Sufjan Stevens concet

Posted by: david at 04/30/07 4:25 PM | Reply
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wasn't he name-checked in "Losing My Edge"?

Posted by: jim at 04/30/07 5:42 PM | Reply
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I moshed with Devito at the Cypress Hill Smokeout back in the day.

Posted by: dredre at 05/01/07 3:28 PM | Reply
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We were there. We see Danny everywhere. He hurts our kneecaps.

Posted by: KushCash at 05/02/07 12:16 AM | Reply
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danny probably introduced peeping tom, because he's a friend of mike pattons.

Posted by: patty guy at 05/02/07 11:31 PM | Reply
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