AROUND TOWN

Paul Auster | Thurs., Feb. 10

Paul Auster reads at BAMcafé, and the tab includes dinner, dessert and a chat with The Heidi Chronicles' playwright Wendy Wasserstein. The National Book Foundation continues its "Eat, Drink and Be Literary" series with the man whose The Book of Illusions and The Invention of Solitude have set a penetrating standard for prose in our day. Auster's screenplay for Wayne Wang's Smoke got plenty of attention for the writer whose favorite book's Don Quixote, who plies his craft with a fountain pen and an Olympia manual, and who used to be married to the great translator Lydia Davis.

Auster's latest, Brooklyn Follies, is due out at year's end; he's on home turf in the nation's fourth-largest city, so the buzz has it that the only tix are on eBay or Craig's List (if that's the case, catch Auster in the French poetry roundup next month at the New School). NBF events at BAMcafe start with a buffet of Chef Carlos Baca's devising, Pine Ridge wines and first-come communal seating, all accompanied at Auster's reading by Carl Riehl's piano and accordion. Auster takes the mic at 8, interviews with Wasserstein, then signs books in the aftermath. The series continues in March with Easy Rawlins' inventor Walter Mosley, Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies) in April, with National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates in May and 2004's Pulitzer winner Edward P. Jones wrapping things up in June.

BAMcafe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave. (betw. St. Felix & Ashland Pl.), 718-636-4100; 6:30 buffet, reading at 8, $38.

-Alan Lockwood

Vanessa Williams Benefit Concert | Fri., Feb. 11

Vanessa Williams: "How am I supposed to generate some buzz for my new album after so much time out of the spotlight? Do you think I'll be able to cash in on all my viewers who see the good I do during my late-night acne medication infomercials?"

Publicist: "Are you high? Nobody watches your fucking infomercials. Hawking patent-pending zit cream doesn't make you the champion of some needy cause! This ain't tsunami relief we're talking about."

Together: "Hey?"

It's been a rough year for Vanessa Williams. First, Rick Fox, her jehri-curled, former Laker husband filed for divorce after five years of marriage. Then, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, all but eliminating any chance of the two teaming back up for a sequel to the 1996 witness-protection thriller, Eraser. Fortunately, Williams took her recent tribulations, made lemonade and went back to the lab to record a new album.

Rather than putting out another careless hit like "Save the Best for Last," which needlessly perpetuated the fallacy that "sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon," she's decided to play it safe this time, only doing other artists' songs on her latest release entitled Everlasting Love. The album, and tonight's concert, will both feature Williams' renditions of her favorite Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers and Jackson 5 tracks. All proceeds from the fundraiser are going to help the children of the tsunami disaster, and it is a very kind gesture. No one's saying it isn't, and no one really thinks this former Miss America, who once appeared in Penthouse, is only after publicity.

Just kidding, Vanessa. I'll be there early.

Carnegie Hall, 154 W. 57th St. (7th Ave.), 212-247-7800, 8, $35-$200.

-Dan Migdal

Rockefeller Drug Laws & Harlem: A Talk

Thurs., Feb. 10

Manhattan D.A. Bob Morgenthau, currently in a heated race against former judge Leslie "25 to Life" Snyder, makes a special appearance tonight to discuss the fight against the Rockefeller Drug Laws with state senators David Paterson and Eric Schneiderman and author, activist and painter Anthony Papa. Political comedian Randy Credico will also be on hand to perform a reading as George W. Bush. Bring your comments and concerns; leave the dime bag at home.

Hue-Man Bookstore & Café, 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (betw. 124th & 125th Sts.), 212-665-7400; 6, free.

-Alexander Zaitchik

TurntablISM

Mon., Feb. 14

You see those two wheels of steel and felt up there? Put a record on one of them. Any record. Now put another record on the other one. Good. Make sure they're both spinning clockwise. Now start pushing buttons and moving that switch in the middle back and forth. Easy does it. Now, put one of the earphones over one ear and lower your chin down toward your sternum. Look concerned. Slowly bob your head. Congratulations, you're a dj. Fun, right? Too bad-that's a cane around your neck. Time to sit back down and give the next person a chance.

RiFiFi, 332 E. 11th St. (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), 212-677-1027; 10, free. Sign up at booking@cinemaclassics.com

-Alexander Zaitchik