Cary
LEWIS BLACK
BARNES & NOBLE–One of the most commanding comedians in the business and a guy who put in work–eight years at the West Bank Cafownstairs Theatre Bar, for starters–to get to the stage of Carnegie Hall last September, Lewis Black yells and impales. He combines a wicked rhetorical approach full of one-off imprecations and bowdlerized content with a cut-and-dry logic, slamming everything from airport security to Nalgene bottles in about an hour. He’ll be reading (or screaming) from his new book, Nothing’s Sacred, at 7 p.m., followed by a signing. Bring earplugs. —Grayson Currin
CASABLANCA
KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE–One of the great American film classics, Casablanca is one of those movies you can watch over and over again. A melodramatic love story set in World War II, the plot involves the intrigue of murder, the drama of terror and the danger of flight. And one can’t forget the dynamic love story of misplaced passion and lost love played out by two of Hollywood’s hottest stars of the time, Bogart and Bergman. Even if you’ve seen it before, it’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen and underneath the stars. The movie screens at 8 p.m. Bring $3 for the tickets and extra cash for alcohol or snacks. Kids 12 and under are free. —Kathy Justice
Durham
THE CITY IS A RISING TIDE
THE REGULATOR BOOKSHOP–Rebecca Lee, winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction and associate professor of creative writing at UNC-Wilmington, reads from her debut novel, The City is a Rising Tide, at 7 p.m. Poignantly set in a hopeful, almost edenic pre-9/11 New York that now seems impossibly far away, The City is a Rising Tide is an elegiac meditation on the inevitability of loss and the longing for home. It would be really depressing, actually, if the book weren’t so funny. —Gerry Canavan
