To Do: Four Tet, Joan Didion, or — Surprise! — Hurricane Benefit
• Brits Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) and Jamie Lidell perform at Bowery Ballroom tonight. Flavorpill claims "you won't see a better 'laptop' show this decade." We dare not argue with such clairvoyant gusto. [flavorpill]
• Joan Didion's newest work, The Year of Magical Thinking, chronicles her attempt to deal with the sudden death of her husband (novelist John Gregory Dunne) while her only daughter lays in a coma. We generally prefer not to shatter our fragile and highly skewed perception of reality with actual perspective, so we re not touching it. But we've read it's good. Union Square Barnes and Noble, 7pm. [TONY]
• The benevolent folks at Bookforum throw "A Night of New Orleans" at Cooper Union's Great Hall, featuring readings by Robert Stone, Donna Tartt, Roy Blount, Jr. and others. Better late than never, we suppose. [Bookforum]