Best things to do this week in Los Angeles and Southern California: December 9 - 12

If you think your family holidays are a thing of legend, you’ll love hearing tales of gatherings past with Moth Story Slam. Enjoy winners Pablo Marz and Cora Lopez Lee and humorists and writers Lauri Fraser, Pattie Fitzgerald, Boyce Miller, Brent Beerman, Johanna Stein, and Pilar Alessandra at the JAM Creative Jingle Tales & Tunes benefit event at the Colony Theatre. The show also features music from USA Songwriting Competition writer Abby Posner. Proceeds go to the Family Service Agency of Burbank.

This Wednesday, the Los Angeles Public Library’s Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the building’s opening, as well as the life and legacy of its namesake, Miriam Matthews.

As part of the celebration, the library is putting together a full day of programming to honor Matthews, who was the city’s first Black librarian and a tireless advocate for the arts and against censorship. — Kevin Tidmarsh

Jazz great Marcus Miller kicks off four nights at Catalina Jazz Club on Thursday. Miller has collaborated with everyone over the past four decades, from his years playing with the Saturday Night Live band to recording with bold-faced names like Miles Davis, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and Herbie Hancock. The Grammy winner and multi-instrumentalist will blow your mind. Plus, you never know who might sit in.

Unrehearsed, drunken Shakespeare with a Hanukkah theme? Spin that dreidel! Theater collab Riot of the Tipsy Bacchanals is taking over Three Clubs for a show that picks famous scenes and turns them on their heads.

Nearly a full mile of holiday lights and immersive scenes wind through the annual Holiday Road extravaganza at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas. The innovative space also uses projection mapping, hosts live carolers nightly and has a winter market for crafts. Photo ops abound and holiday drinks are on the bar menu at this fun night out for the whole family.

Quirky songwriter, punk influencer, and guitarist Jonathan Richman has done it all, from fronting influential band The Modern Lovers to his kids classic 1977 recording of "The Wheels on the Bus" to his work with the Farrelly brothers in There’s Something About Mary and Fever Pitch. Richman plays the Lodge Room with Tommy Larkins on drums.

Whether or not you are religious, the immersive experience of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is sure to astound you. The event encompasses four rooms and takes visitors through a large-format projection experience, interactive spaces, a stop-motion animation piece, and unique photo opportunities. Celebrating Mexican identity in the U.S., the show also features original music composed for the experience.

First off, general admission to MOCA is now free, so there’s no better opportunity to see one of L.A.’s premiere museums. Combine that with a free, timed ticket to The Broad across the street, and that’s a lot of art in a day for very little money — especially if you take the Metro there. Newly opened at MOCA is a show that puts the focus on real people, featuring more than 40 artists whose work across different media uses photorealism to tell a story about the social history of art. Ordinary People includes work by Chuck Close, Amy Sherald (who, if you get up to the Bay Area this holiday season, has a big solo show at SFMOMA), and next gen artists like Vincent Valdez and Christine Tien Wang.

You probably know by now that I have a thing for rock documentaries. Brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald were only 11 and 15 when they started the iconic band Redd Kross and rocked their way through L.A. in the '80s, including run-ins with David Bowie, David Cassidy, Francis Ford Coppola — and a kidnapping. This new documentary chronicles their wild ride and screens twice this week. The showing on Wednesday at Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica will be followed by a Q&A with the band and music journalist Lyndsey Parker.

Experience over 70 vendors of all kinds, more than 10 food trucks and kiosks, and photos with Santa (and the Grinch!) at the Downey Night Market. Plus, kids' activities and carnival games.

Enjoy plant-based tacos at Gracias Madre’s regular Taco Tuesday night while playing a few rounds of Millennial Lotería – a modern spin on the classic bingo-style game with the game’s creator, Mike Alfaro.