The New Standards may have moved their annual Holiday Show from the Fitzgerald Theater across the river to downtown Minneapolis for a two-night stand at the State Theatre (Dec. 7 and 8, the latter of which I attended), but there was still plenty of St. Paul charm mixed into the variety show. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman led a quartet of bagpipes through a mesmerizing prelude and accompaniment of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," and Coleman's arts and cultural director Joe Spencer tap-danced his way through a cover of OutKast's "Hey Ya" with a small male dance troupe.

"When we left our home in St. Paul where we started this show many years ago, as part of our penance for leaving St. Paul, the mayor, Chris Coleman, has decided to come wearing a skirt and play the bagpipes for us."

With that introduction from the New Standards' Chan Poling, Mayor Coleman indeed appeared on the stage of the State Theatre in Minneapolis to play bagpipes on the New Standards' cover of the Pogues' holiday classic "Fairytale of New York." For the performance, part of the New Standards' 2013 holiday show, Janey Winterbauer sang the part performed by the late Kirsty MacColl in the 1987 original.

You can listen to the entire 2013 New Standards Holiday Show above, or hear it on air Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) at 8 p.m. and Christmas Day (Dec. 25) at 8 a.m. while you celebrate the holiday.

View the rest of Steve Cohen's photos from the the 2013 New Standards Holiday Show.