This weekend on a shoestring

Wednesday, Jan. 23

 • From an article in this week’s Xpress, “Ryan Oslance, best known as the explosive percussionist for Ahleuchatistas, is bidding farewell to Asheville and heading west for California. But the prolific musician (who performs with at least half a dozen other bands) won’t go quietly. To celebrate his departure and the mark he leaves on Asheville’s music scene, Apothecary is hosting Ozzfest, a three-day sendoff with some of Oslance’s favorite local performers. The celebration begins on Wednesday, Jan. 23 with “an eight-person supergroup” featuring Oslance and a host of his collaborators (along with experimental Brooklyn quartet VaVatican, Knoxville’s White Gregg and more). The sendoff continues Thursday, Jan. 24 with local indie-pop outfit Melon Sugar, members of the Jon Stickley Trio and an improvisational ensemble, culminating on Friday, Jan. 25 with a performance by Ahleuchatistas, Baby Rattlesnakes and more. That show also kicks off the band’s sprawling North American tour with experimental rock duo Buke and Gase.” 39 S. Market St. All shows begin at 9 p.m. $5.

Thursday, Jan. 24

• “Peter Goldsmith is a three-time Emmy award winning TV producer, playwright and filmmaker,” begins an event page for his upcoming presentation at The New York Studio for Stage and Screen in Asheville. “He has made TV and film across the globe and has created theaters and theatre pieces since the early 1970s. Mr Goldsmith is/has been committed to a communal theatre, to be used as a harbinger to the creation of social justice both locally and nationally: To teaching theaters to act as a unified whole, with writers writing for actors and actors creating for directors and directors building structures for playwrights … He is interested in manipulating the forms of traditional theatre, while staying true to the original core values … interested in experimenting with language and space, in the acting techniques of the phenomenologists, and into creating a theatre aware of, and comfortable with all new media.” Goldsmith hosts a free arts and entertainment talk at 2002 Riverside Drive, Studio 42-O. Register here.

• According to its bio, “RBTS WIN‘s music is many-faceted, both dark and ephemeral, tough and tender, scary and comforting. It’s a fantastic study of electronica, pop, rock, chillwave and trip-hop that transcends all of those elements and surfaces in a new place. Lush, rhythmic, star-lit, cool and expansive, it manages to both suck the air from the room and breathe into space.” The band plays The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave., with Cloudeater and Molly Parti. 9 p.m. $10 in advance.

Friday, Jan. 25

• Art and animal lovers can indulge both interests this weekend as the Asheville Humane Society hosts Art for Animals, “a collection of works by local artists who have generously donated their talent to benefit homeless animals.” On display in the organization’s Education Room and Adoption Center through Saturday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free.

• “Hub City Press is a nonprofit independent press in Spartanburg, S.C., that publishes well-crafted, high-quality works by new and established authors, with an emphasis on the Southern experience,” according to its website. “We are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the South Carolina Arts Commission and others.” Continues a Malaprop’s event page, “Meet Hub City Press authors as they read from and sign their new books: Tommy Hays and John Land, contributors to Literary Dogs and Their South Carolina Writers; and Helen Scott Correll, author and artist of Middlewood Journal: Drawing Inspiration From Nature.” 55 Haywood St. 7 p.m. Free.

Saturday, Jan. 26

• The Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy hosts “Hike the Hunger Games,” a 6-mile trip to Bridal Veil Falls, one of many WNC locations featured in the film. Free. Info, carpool location and registration available here.

• “The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods,” according to a synopsis on the film’s website. Learn more as Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St., hosts a screening of the film, followed by a Q&A with nutrition expert Amy Lanou. 2 p.m. Free.

• The Historic Johnson Farm Fiber Expo will feature demonstrations by the Heritage Weavers and a variety of fiber artists at 3346 Haywood Road in Hendersonville. Free to attend.

• Asheville Community Theatre hosts Mike Reiss, writer and producer for The Simpsons and co-creator of The Critic, for a premiere reading of his new comedy Rubble. 35 E. Walnut St. Free, but registration required: 254-1320.

Sunday, Jan. 27

• This one’s not for the faint of heart (or those averse to the cold): Meet fellow cyclists and enjoy the clear night skies during the first full moon pedal party of the new year. Riders are encouraged to dress in costume and bring lights, music and friends. Meets at the traffic circle in the River Arts District at 9 p.m. Free to attend.