To Do Today: Patti Smith, The Baggios, and the Washington National Opera

Since she burst onto New York’s punk scene all those years ago with her pioneering 1975 album Horses, Patti Smith has been a restless artistic force—releasing 11 studio albums, sharing a bounty of poetry collections, and publishing multiple memoirs, including her award-winning 2010 book Just Kids about her relationship with artist and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Read more >>> Patti Smith reads at 7 p.m. at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. $30. (202) 408-3100. sixthandi.org. (Dean Essner)

EAT THIS

Try eight bourbon cocktails priced at $8 each tonight at The Royal. The bar is celebrating National Bourbon Heritage Month and Dram & Grain’s Benny Hurwitz will be guest bartending. Attendees will be able to sample a limited-edition bourbon from Kentucky’s Willett Distillery. Also on the menu: $3 cans of beer from Atlas Brew Works and roasted chicken and vegetarian tamales for $10. The party runs from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The Royal, 501 Florida Ave. NW, (202) 332-7777, theroyaldc.com. (Laura Hayes)

OH AND ALSO

Brazilian blues-rock duo The Baggios take to the Black Cat stage. 7:30 p.m. at 1811 14th St. NW. $10.

New Yorker and The New York Review of Books contributor Daniel Mendelsohn reads from his new moving memoir, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, at Politics & Prose. 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free.

The Washington National Opera puts on a performance of timeless classic Aida at the Kennedy Center. 7 p.m. at 2700 F St. NW. $45-$300.

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