Milwaukee's Holiday Parade had a lot more bands, TV and radio personalities, and "New York style" helium balloons but it didn't have the UW Marching Band.

Without knowing the details I assumed, correctly, that the entire UW band wouldn't be present. I also knew that they were talking about UW Madison's band and not somewhere like Whitewater. The contingent for the Waukesha parade yesterday consisted of about 25 trumpet players, one tuba player and two drummers. The active group of red-jacketed marchers were more Mardi Gras than precise in their steps. They shouted, danced, teased, high stepped and of course played loud and proud.

Each time UW played a snippet of "On Wisconsin" the applause was overwhelming, especially at the five points where a lot of people were concentrated. They brought a smile to everyone's face with their energy and antics. They were constantly moving so I didn't get any decent pictures. That, and it was so dark by the time they passed by.

It was 5:30 by the time the UW band passed by, too dark to see who sponsored their visit. Main Street isn't real well lit though it is better than some. It was dark but at least we didn't have to miss the Packer game!

So who did sponsor UW Marching Band's visit? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Curious what my neighbors were up to, I joined the large crowd at a barn on Northview last Saturday night to see if Laurel Walker was right; that there would be "power to the people."

Laurel wrote about these ambitious guys in the Nov. 1st Journal Sentinel. They were going to try something unusual and power a concert with riders on stationary bikes. A pedal jam. I don't know if I was more curious to hear what "a soulful mix of funk-a-fide rock with a spiritually positive message" sounded like or if I just needed to see the lights dim when the riders tired. Either way, I live just a mile away, so I went.

Impossible to read addresses at night, I drove until I found cars lining both sides of Northview, a little west of Meadowbrook Rd. Friendly neighbors let me park in their driveway and I approached the barn at the end of a tiki-lit, car-lined drive.

You'd think a large dairy barn could handle just about any crowd, especially one for a "funk-a-fide rock" concert, but the place was packed and I barely made it in the door. The music was decent and loud enough but the lighting was a little on the low side.

The former milking parlor under the concert's main floor was clean and uncrowded and set up with tables, food and a large video screen of the live concert upstairs. But my favorite part of the whole experience was watching the bikers. One gal was pedalling so vigorously I could swear she was dancing. Maybe she just started something -- the pedal dance.