Filmmaker and gadfly Michael Moore, whose provocative features, Fahrenheit 911 and Bowling for Columbine, demonstrated that documentaries can still draw at the box office, kicks off UB’s 2007-2008 Distinguished Speakers series this weekend. Moore’s most recent film, Sicko, is filling theaters nationwide and sparking a national debate on how to solve America’s health insurance crisis. This critique of America’s for-profit healthcare system, which leaves roughly 50 million uncovered and many millions more under-covered, is vintage Moore, as we travel to Cuba with several debilitated Ground Zero rescue workers. There they finally receive the medical care they’ve been denied at home—not at Gitmo, where enemy combatants get state-of-the-art treatment, but at a Cuban clinic, free of charge. For this bit of guerilla theater, and his attack on the pharmaceutical industry, Moore has again been pilloried by the vested, corporate interests. In response, he urges fans to “take a Republican to Sicko” to build support for universal healthcare in general, and for the US National Health Insurance Act (HR676) in particular. Whether Democrat or Republican, you’ll find Moore, one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” provocative and humorous, especially in person.

Twenty years ago, author Bill McKibben issued a warning to the world in the form of his first book, The End of Nature: the world’s population was grown so big in numbers and in appetites that we were altering everything around us. Since then, the world’s population has grown from 5 billion to 6.6 billion (a 33 percent increase), and the process he was talking about—global warming—has increased in pace. But McKibben’s core message hasn’t changed: we must live more lightly on this Earth by downsizing our lifestyles, building community and investing in local economies. One of McKibben’s favorite lines in recent interviews is “We order takeout from 2,000 miles away every night of the year.” And that’s in reference to the average distance that each bite of food in America travels. Look at the stickers on the produce you buy at the grocery store; I’ve noticed asparagus and plumbs from Peru—a distance of over 3,000 miles—both of which grow here in the US (plumbs grow in WNY). Even the California produce that accounts for the majority of our winter supply travels 2,000 miles. The point is that all of this food comes (figuratively) bathed in the crude oil that was burned to get it here and contributed to global warming. His latest book, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, frames these points in an effort to deconstruct our flawed growth economy and promote local-scale enterprise. Perhaps in an effort to more efficiently use fossil fuels, McKibben has booked two speaking appearances this week in the Queen City.

If great pop songs come a dime a dozen, how come nobody’s buying ‘em anymore? No, we’re not talking about “Umbrella” or “Lovestoned” (those songs will cost you at least 99 cents), we’re talking about the kind of pop songs recorded by the Buzzcocks, the Undertones and T.Rex a few lifetimes ago. We’re talking about the kind of two-and-a half minute singles that made heartbreak and longing a virtue rather than a vice. We’re talking about those songs that married such lyrical pathos with an instantly recognizable guitar hook and anthemic chorus. Ok, we’re through talking! Instead of jaw wagging, let’s meet the Actual Facts, a Brooklyn-via Essex, England band that just so happens to embody all of those kick-ass musical ethics of old. A quick sampling of the band’s eponymous debut CD reflects a group steeped in the traditions of power pop, glam and garage rock and not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves. Still, this ain’t no tribute act, folks. In actual fact (ugh, you knew one pun was coming eventually, didn’t you?), these lads deliver enough pop songwriting smarts and tags to be pretty influential in their own right. Local support at the show comes from the Stay Outs and Mark Norris & the Backpeddlers.

Formed in Los Angleles in 2000, Qui began as a two piece punk-metal-jazz noise band that, in-between local performances and national tours, gained a small yet dedicated following. Although the band earned critical acclaim for their debut recording, Baby Kisses, it wasn’t until 2006 that Qui began to be one of the best underground names to drop. It was just last year that the duo acquired the menacing vocals and alcoholic showmanship of David Yow, the former frontman of Texas punks Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Not only one of the best bands to come out of the 1990s, the Jesus Lizard is one of the greatest live bands that ever existed. Forcing Yow out of semi-retirement was the best thing Qui could do, as he adds another plane to their already twisted outlook to music. Signed to Mike Patton’s Ipecac label earlier this year, Qui recently released their second full length (and the first with Yow), Love’s Miracle, an album filled with jagged rythyms, chaotic noise and maniacal vocals. Although some people would say they swim somewhere between Yow’s previous bands and a pissed off version of the Melvins, Qui delivers a noise completely their own. Sonorous Gale and Mannequin Stupor will open the show.