Celebrity Spotting at Westminster

Celebrity spotting  always adds to Westminster’s fun. You never know who might be there, maybe Martha Stewart, Glenn Close, or Bill Cosby. Yesterday at the Dachshund ring I ran into one of New York’s local legends, the irrepressible Murray Weinstock Murray is a veteran of New York’s music scene, a commercial songwriter, and diehard Dachshund lover. His work is a longtime favorite in the Dachshund world,  beginning with his classic Dach Song.

Murray’s songwriting talents were showcased in sitcoms and commercials until he acquired his Dachshund Sparky. He turned his talents to writing the theme song for New York’s Dach Fest, the annual Dachshund celebration at Washington Square Park. This fatally catchy tune has since become a certified classic and the breed’s unofficial anthem

“After the Dach Song came out everyone wanted me to do more dog tunes so I started writing Tails of the City, songs from a dog’s point of view.” With guest performances by John Sebastian, Phoebe Snow, and Dr. John, this jazz and blues album expanded Murray’s fan base to dog lovers in every breed.

Since then, he has written 20 more dog inspired songs featured in Top Dog Tonite.  Murray calls it a musical follies done in collaboration with Leonard Peters. It previewed last Friday, the night of winter storm Nemo. But Murray’s fans are loyal and they turned out at The Actors Guild Hall for a working sing thru of Murray’s new material. 

The story takes place at the Top Dog Tonite talent show. The “talent” includes Chihuahua twins singing a Mexican Lounge Lizard number, “Freddie & Eddie”,  King Charles Cavalier, Grey Charles, belts out “I Got An Itch”,  and that crowd pleasing quintet The Five Dachshunds perform the  “Bow Wow Polka”.

If you think this sounds good, just wait until you see what’s going on backstage! Napoleon, the French Bulldog is trying to romance Lucia, the Basenji, who has her heart set on Gustave, the War Dog Mongrel. Handsome and exciting, but unfortunately not purebred ….Gustave makes this point in his ballad “What Breed Am I?”  The building drama of this tense love triangle leads up to the shows big stage number… I won’t reveal everything, but trust me; you will love it.

Murray will be back at Westminster today. So bring along your copy of Tails of the City and get it autographed. You might even get an impromptu rendition of some of his new material.

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Posted by Amyfernandez on Feb 12 2013. Filed under Around The Ring Galleries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.