Des and David's set

Kate and Mike's set

September Song Maxwell Anderson; Kurt Weill
Pirate Jenny Bertolt Brecht tr Marc Blitzstein; Weill
The Song of Surabaya Johnny Brecht; Weill
Alabama Song Bertolt; Weill
Wasteground and Weeds K Westbrook; M Westbrook
Un aveugle chant pour sa ville Abdulah Sidran; K & M Westbrook
Love or Infatuation Sam Coslow; Friedrich Hollaender
You've Got That Look Frank Loesser; Hollaender
You Leave Me Breathless Ralph Freed; Hollander
The Moon's Our Home Coslow; Hollaender
The Boys in the Backroom Loesser; Hollaender

Kate Westbrook, Mike Westbrook
and Des de Moor, David Harrod

I was hoping for something a little bit special to close off almost ten years of Pirate Jenny's at the Vortex in Stoke Newington, and I wasn't disappointed, with a good turnout from an especially warm and enthusiastic audience even by Pirate Jenny's standards, and some great performances.

I thought it was only fair to extend my own set into an hour-long opening half, with the excellent collaboration of pianist David Harrod, the second most frequent performer at Pirate Jenny's after myself.

The set featured songs covering the years PJ's has been running at the Vortex -- including 'Avocado' which was premiered at the first Pirate Jenny's; the first performance of 'Imaginary Friends' from the forthcoming Testing Times set; 'Chansonette' to celebrate PJ's association with the late, great Agnes Bernelle (still my favourite ever performer at the club); Brel's 'Marieke' from the Ne me quitte pas album that brought so many English chansonniers together; 'The Bewlay Brothers' from the Darkness and Disgrace show; and 'La chanson' as a tribute to the recently deceased Claude Nougaro.

Kate Westbrook and Mike Westbrook were the star guests at the very first Pirate Jenny's back in December 1994 -- indeed, without them the club might not have happened in quite the way it did, since it was Kate agreeing to appear that spurred me on to organise it.

Kate and Mike are not only outstandingly talented and true artistic originals, but they're also extremely decent and pleasant people and it was a delight to have them perform on our closing night at Stoke Newington. Their material drew from their "cabaret" work: a Kurt Weill medley, two originals (including the stunning 'Un aveugle chant pour sa ville') and their medley of Friedrich Hollaender's Hollywood tunes to close off, all in inimitable style.

I couldn't resist having the last word with a short postscript, or at least leaving the last word to Bertolt Brecht, from whom I stole the name of the club: an a capella rendition of the reprise of the Mack the Knife song in the film version of the Threepenny Opera:

"Und so kommt zum guten Ende
Alles unter einen Hut.
Ist das nötige Geld vorhanden
Ist das Ende meistens gut.

"Denn die einen sind im Dunkeln
Und die andern sind im Licht.
Und man siehet die im Lichte
Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht."

All photos on this page are by Paul Jackson, whom I'd like to thank for documenting the occassion so effectively.