Photo by DoctorJ.Bass

NOISE: The Philadelphia two-piece band Reading Rainbow recently doubled in size and changed its name to something a lot less likely to spark a copyright infringement case. (Not that Commander LaForge seems like the litigious type.) Anyway, now with four members, the more rock-oriented—and re-branded—Bleeding Rainbow plays tonight at DC9 (1940 Ninth Street NW) with Motion Lines. Tickets $10.

POPERY: With the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, there’s a lot of papal talk this week. Why do we have men of the cloth anyway? Who put these guys in charge? Garry Wills, a Pulitzer-winning author who spent five years of his life studying in a Jesuit seminary, reads from his latest book Why Priests?: A Failed Tradition tonight at Politics & Prose (5015 Connecticut Avenue NW) at 7 p.m.

PARTY RIDE: Maybe you were too tipsy to ride your bike around on Mardi Gras, but you can always have a two-wheeled celebration a day later. D.C. Bike Party hosts its annual Mardi Gras Ride at 7:30 p.m., launching from Dupont Circle. The route leads to LeDroit Park, then up to Pleasant Plains, and back down through Columbia Heights, and finally to Foggy Bottom.