all day: Leisure

The Contemporary Crafts Market in Santa Monica will feature wares of more than 250 artists including decorative, functional and wearable art, home furnishings, jewelry and glassware.

* Contemporary Crafts Market, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Also Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. $6; children 12 and under are free. (310) 285-3655.

all day: Movies

John Goodman and Billy Crystal give voice to a couple of working stiffs who happen to punch the clock at “Monsters, Inc.,” the corporate headquarters for things that go bump in the night. James Coburn, Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Tilly also lend their voices to the newest animated comedy from the creators of the “Toy Story” movies.

* “Monsters, Inc.,” rated G, opens Friday in general release.

8:30 pm: Pop Music

If Bob Dylan’s recent resurgence has sharpened your taste for the craft of songwriting, John Prine is a must. The most enduring member of the singer-songwriter class that emerged in the early ‘70s, the Chicago native juggles satire and sentiment like no one around.

* John Prine, Sun Theatre, 2200 Katella Ave., Anaheim, 8:30 p.m. $37.50 to $47.50. (714) 712-2700.

8 pm: Dance

Although filled with macabre skull images and other reminders of human mortality, Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead celebrates life and the need to live it fully while we can. Award-winning choreographer Gema Sandoval pays homage to that tradition in her new suite for Danza Floricanto/USA: “Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead.” In vignettes that evoke the color and social commentary of the holiday, Sandoval shows the Grim Reaper, Mexican style, by depicting “La Catrina,” a death figure created by political cartoonist Jose Guadalupe Posada. The program also include dances from the regions of Colima and Jalisco, along with “Los Concheros,” a piece based on Aztec ritual. (More Day of the Dead events, Page 55.)

* Danza Floricanto/USA, Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance. 8 p.m. $12 (children) to $22. (800) 832-ARTS.

1 pm: Music

Veteran pianist Alicia de Larrocha returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic spotlight in three performances this weekend, playing Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” and two short pieces by Granados--”The Maiden and the Nightingale” and “El Pelele.” Philharmonic associate conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya assists Larrocha and also conducts Osvaldo Golijov’s “Last Round” and the Suite from Prokofiev’s “Cinderella.”

* L.A. Philharmonic, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A., 1 p.m. $12-$78. Also, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. (323) 850-2000.

8 pm: Jazz

Guitarist George Benson had already firmly established his mainstream jazz bona fides when “This Masquerade,” his take on a Leon Russell song from his 1976 album, “Breezin’,” became the first record in history to reach No. 1 on the jazz, pop and R&B; charts. The singer-guitarist performs twice at Cerritos.

* George Benson, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $55 to $65. (800) 300-4345.

7:45 pm: Theater

On a farm in South Wales, two brothers are drawn into the past by a mysterious woman, long hidden secrets threaten to surface, and Arthur Conan Doyle appears in search of the spirit of his dead son in the world premiere of Lucinda Coxon’s play “Nostalgia.”

* “Nostalgia,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, Tuesdays-Fridays 7:45 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 and 7:45 p.m. Ends Dec. 2. $27-$51. (714) 708-5555.

Freebies

* Pianist and former Frank Zappa sidekick Don Preston leads his trio at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 5:30 p.m. (323) 857-6000.

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* Zeynep Ucbasaran is soloist In Mozart’s D Minor Piano Concerto with the Rio Hondo Symphony, Wayne Reinecke conducting, at First Family Church, 8434 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier, at 8 p.m. Also on the program: Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, “Tragic,” and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn. (562) 947-5907.