TABLEROCK BREWPUB AND THE RECORD EXCHANGE PRESENT POSITIVELY BOB DYLAN’S 70TH BIRTHDAY BASH TUESDAY, MAY 24: LIVE MUSIC, FREE BEER, PRIZES!

TableRock Brewpub and The Record Exchange proudly present Positively Bob Dylan’s 70th Birthday Bash at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at The Record Exchange. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

Robert Allen Zimmerman, known to your record collection as Bob Dylan, turns 70 on May 24, and TableRock and The Record Exchange are hosting a celebration in his honor.

The festivities include:

• Live Dylan covers performed on The Record Exchange stage by Thomas Paul, Travis Ward, Bill Coffey, Steve Fulton, Catherine Merrick, Johnny Shoes, James Coberly Smith, ShipShape, Bernie Reilly, Chris Gutierrez, Randy Meenach and Dan Costello.

• Free craft beer courtesy of TableRock Brewpub (21 and older; ID required).

• Huge storewide sale on Dylan CDs, vinyl, DVDs and more.

• Dylan raffle prizes courtesy of Sundazed.

TALKDEMONIC IN-STORE WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 (6PM); OPENING FOR SOLD-OUT MODEST MOUSE SHOW ON MAY 26!

Talkdemonic will perform live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Downtown Boise) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 25. As always, this Record Exchange in-store performance is free and all ages.

NOTE: Talkdemonic is opening for the sold-out Modest Mouse show on Thursday, May 26, at the Knitting Factory. If you want a preview of the show, or if you didn’t get tickets and were bummed about missing Talkdemonic, come hear ’em live at the RX!

Prior to the in-store, Talkdemonic will be interviewed live on our fab new community-supported radio station, Radio Boise, at 3:30 p.m. (KRBX 89.9 FM)

ABOUT TALKDEMONIC:

Portland, Oregon, duo Kevin O’Connor and Lisa Molinaro create lush and evocative instrumental soundscapes under the name Talkdemonic (talkdemonic.com).

Formed in 2003, Talkdemonic began as Kevin’s pursuit for new frontiers in percussion and analog sound. Lisa joined Kevin shortly thereafter, further shaping Talkdemonic’s innovative style with her rich viola and cello arrangements. Talkdemonic released their 2004 darling début Mutiny Sunshine on Lucky Madison Records. In 2006, Kevin and Lisa went on to sign with Arena Rock Recording Co., releasing both Beat Romantic and Eyes At Half Mast and garnering critical attention for their ability to pioneer the marriage of strings with unyieldingly strong percussion and inescapable harmony.

At times impetuous yet palliative, Talkdemonic’s sound captures the universally intangible, what we wish we to say but cannot find words, a surge and a calm, instrumental modern music at its finest.

Talkdemonic finds themselves either touring the country or nesting in the Pacific Northwest, creating arresting music for the masses. Their fourth and perhaps most inventive album is scheduled for release in 2011.

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE MAY 9 SHOW MOVED TO VISUAL ARTS COLLECTIVE!

The Devil Makes Three‘s Boise show on Monday, May 9, has been moved from The Bouquet to Visual Arts Collective, 3638 Osage St., Garden City. Everything else is the same: 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m., show, $10 advance tickets/$12 at the door. Advance tickets are available at The Record Exchange (that’s us!), Egyptian Theatre box office and egyptiantheatre.net. 21 and older; beer and wine. Hillfolk Noir opens. If you already bought tickets or you’re planning on buying tickets, don’t freak out when you notice the tickets say “The Bouquet” on them — just bring ’em to the VaC and they’ll let you in no problem.

The Devil Makes Three quite possibly is the best band that you have never heard of. They have been constantly on tour, selling out dates across the country and in their neck of the woods on the West Coast, drawing nearly capacity crowds nightly. This is all word of mouth. For the past seven years, the Devil Makes Three has garnered fans the old school way, playing a city, making friends, conquering fans and moving on. When they hit the next town, venues are packed with folks that heard from a friend in a city that they’d been before.

Laced with elements of ragtime, country, folk and rockabilly, the critically praised, drummer-less trio — consisting of guitarist/frontman Pete Bernhard, stand-up bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean — brings forth a genuine approach to acoustic music that is deeply steeped in rhythm and alive with three-part harmonies, which is pleasingly dissimilar to most other bands in modern music.

The Devil Makes Three had the goal of being “an acoustic band but to play our shows like a rock show,” and in the process changed notions of what acoustic music could be. Mixing styles from the ragtime and country music of the ’20s and ’30s to the rock ‘n’ roll and punk music of their adolescence, The Devil Makes Three pushes the boundaries of acoustic music. Citing influences as varied as Steve Earle, the Reverend Gary Davis, Memphis Jug Band and Django Reinhardt, the band combines tight vocal harmonies with idiot-savant finger-style guitar to create an exciting and original sound. The end result is genuine blues music that thrives as much in a live setting as it does on record.

Fronted by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Travis Ward, Hillfolk Noir (petometz.com) has been described as a dark, country-tinged, swampy-swingin’, hillbilly-delta-blues-ragtime word machine. The band calls it Junkerdash, but no matter the descriptor, you’ll find Hillfolk Noir’s psychedelic swamp-shack rags equally spooky and toe-tapping. Hillfolk Noir released a pair of critically-acclaimed albums, Live at the Old Idaho Penitentiary and Skinny Mammy’s Revenge, in 2010.

THE BCT MUSIC SERIES PRESENTS TEDDY THOMPSON LIVE IN CONCERT SATURDAY, MAY 14 (W/ THOMAS PAUL)

The BCT Music Series is proud to present Teddy Thompson live in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at Boise Contemporary Theater, 854 Fulton St., Boise.

Tickets are $20 general reserved seating or $35 for VIP package, which includes premium seating and a free drink. Tickets are available through bctheater.org and the Boise Contemporary Theater box office. Thomas Paul opens (see below for more info).

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS FROM THE RECORD EXCHANGE! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND TO ENTER.

Teddy Thompson (teddythompson.com) is a native Englishman who has adopted New York City as his home; famously the son of singer-songwriters Richard and Linda Thompson, he emigrated to the states more than a decade ago, barely out of his teens, to embark on a career of his own.

Thompson began working on the material for Bella, his fourth album for Verve Forecast (Feb. 8, 2011), after he returned from his last tour. Recorded in New York City and produced by David Kahne (Regina Spektor, Paul McCartney, The Strokes), Bella combines lean rock and roll with lush string arrangements on material that is both disarmingly catchy and often startlingly frank.

Since 2008’s A Piece Of What You Need, which London’s The Guardian called “one of the year’s best,” this has become something of a Thompson trademark, teasing the listener with immediately addictive melodies then pulling the rug out from under them with unsparingly confessional or darkly amusing lyrics.

Thompson agrees: “I felt, as I’ve developed some kind of style, that what I had to offer, that what came naturally, was my sense of humor, my sensibility. It’s very English, very sarcastic, self-deprecating. In one way, that’s just how my songs come out; in another way, that’s my favorite style: a pretty melody with a twist.”

Praise for Teddy Thompson and Bella:

“He’s a craftsman who echoes the folk rock of his parents and the melancholy pop of Crowded House. On Bella, he channels Roy Orbison heartbreak, Lou Christie falsetto, and Righteous Brothers drama with stirring results.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Bella is a flat-out stunner, the work of a completely original songwriter and performer, and one of the young year’s most startlingly eclectic and thoroughly fascinating albums.” — American Songwriter

“Thompson’s fifth album is a winningly charming affair, showcasing his rich voice.” — BBC Music

Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Thomas Paul (thomaspaulmusic.com) is adept at a wide variety of musical styles ranging from rock to country to jazz to funk. An in-demand session player, instructor and engaging solo artist, Paul recently released his “intriguing” (Idaho Statesman) second album, Goodbye, Waterloo.

COOL SURPRISE IN THE HEAD AND THE HEART TOUR PHOTO SCRAPBOOK (AVAILABLE AT TUESDAY’S IN-STORE)

The Record Exchange just received a shipment of The Head and the Heart tour photo scrapbooks for Tuesday’s in-store, and imagine our surprise when we turned to the last page and saw a photo of the band in Downtown Boise — with The Record Exchange in the background to boot!

How cool is that?

You can hear The Head and the Heart live at the RX on Tuesday (6 p.m.) during Sub Pop Day at The Record Exchange, which just might have to become an annual holiday.