Andy Sturdevant, writer, arts administrator and artist, and host of Works Progress’ monthly Salon Saloon. Photo courtesy of Works Progress

Salon Saloon is a monthly “live action arts magazine” put on by the interdisciplinary collaborative team at Works Progress and hosted by Springboard for the Arts staffer, artist and raconteur Andy Sturdevant. The show is “filmed before a live studio audience” on the fourth Tuesday of every month (they’re raising funds to edit and distribute the footage at some point) at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis; ordinarily, delightful as the show is, that fact would be enough to remove it from the purview of my St. Paul-centric arts posts here.

Photo courtesy of Works Progress

But not this week. This month’s Salon Saloon is dedicated to exploring the history, culture and character of St. Paul. They’ve enlisted a terrific slate of panelists to guide the way: historian Mary Lethert Wingerd (author of “Claiming the City: Politics, Faith and the Power of Place in St. Paul” and, recently, the Hognander Minnesota History Award-winning “North Country: The Making of Minnesota”); novelist and fifth generation St. Paulite John Reimringer (author of the 2011 Minnesota Book Award-winner, “Vestments”); artist Allen Brewer; real estate developer Peter Remes; and a special taped message from three-time James Beard-nominated chef Lenny Russo, owner of the Heartland Restaurant and Farm Direct Market in Lowertown.

Allen Brewer, “it’s a dick van dyke world,” typewriter carbon on found paper, 2011. Courtesy of the artist’s website

The evening promises a sing-along and live music by the Salon Saloon house band (Katie Condon, Jake Mohan and Claire Tiller) and an eclectic guided tour across St. Paul’s cultural byways, “through the narrow, cobblestoned streets of a great American city whose civic imagination is fired by fever dreams of hockey, beer, Catholicism, wealth, immigration, political power and Clown Lounges.”

At a recent Salon Saloon. Courtesy of Works Progress

 “Salon Saloon: The St. Paul Show” takes place Tuesday, February 26 from 7-8:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater at 810 West Lake Street in Minneapolis. Tickets are sold online or at the door on a sliding scale from $6 to $12 (pay what you can).  The show frequently sells out, so it’s highly recommend that you buy tickets in advance.