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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