Midway neighborhood. Photo courtesy of Paul Dickinson

I know what I’m doing this Saturday afternoon: “Punk Poet” Paul Dickinson (founder of the Riot Act Reading series) is hosting “Midway on My Mind,”  an idiosyncratic cultural tour of St. Paul’s University Avenue. A native of the Hamline-Midway area, Dickinson will regale the group with stories from his own history with the neighborhood, while guiding folks on a walking tour along this “central corridor” thoroughfare. The group will make two pit stops for drinks and discussion over the course of their meanderings, at the Turf Club and Tracks Bar. Along the way, they’ll also check in at Midtown Sound, the old Porky’s drive-in lot and beloved surplus-everything store, Ax-Man.

Tracks Bar on University Avenue. Photo courtesy of Irrigate

The event description reads, in part:

As tour participants explore the neighborhood with Paul, they’ll encounter stories that don’t necessarily have physical markers, such as the ways that gentrification has obscured old haunts and rerouted car culture on University. The tour will also touch on key characters and locations in the development of today’s Saint Paul music scene and how University Avenue, a transportation hub and thoroughfare for many en route to another destination, has shaped the people who live and work here.

The tour, sponsored by Irrigate (a Knight Arts grantee), will also include “supporting historical input from Aleah Vinick, a longtime public programs specialist at the Minnesota Historical Society.”

Paul Dickinson. Photo via the artist’s Facebook page

Dickinson’s a terrific storyteller – whip-smart, erudite and irreverent; he’s also a gold mine of arcane local music lore and offbeat cultural miscellany. Seriously, this is gonna be great fun.

Paul Dickinson’s “Midway on My Mind,” (a.k.a. “Saint Paul: Poetic and Informative Guided Tour of University Avenue”) will be Saturday afternoon, June 22. If you’d like to come along, meet at 2 p.m. in front of Carleton Artist Lofts, 2285 University Avenue, St. Paul. Expect the tour to last a couple of hours. You can find more details on Facebook.