Most Friday afternoons I meet with a client in Town Square at one of the locales featuring free wireless, including Cosi, the Rockville Library, and First Watch, among others. Last Friday we met at Austin Grill for a change and were impressed with the helpful staff, who pointed out the best table for reception from Ricochet, the City's free wireless service in Town Square, didn't mind that we were just snacking, and kept us supplied with beer and chips. So, nerd that I am, I have to report that the wireless connection there is one of the best in Rockville -- strong signal and fast upload and download speeds (we drag a lot of files around during these meetings so that's important).

On a less nerdy note, I returned in the evening with P to hear one of two musicians who I've listened to a lot online but never seen live: Nelly's Echo (or rather, Nelson and his band, Nelly's Echo). And of course I brought my videocamera just in case it was ok to tape. One of the good things about Austin Grill is that they don't crank the sound up so high that you can't talk to the people you came with, which I really appreciate, but it also means the recording has a lot of ambient noise. My favorite of the evening was Killing Me Softly, but the recording/slideshow I posted here is a bit of "Just a Dream", which you can hear a much better recording of here. Thank you to Steve, manager of Austin Grill, and to Nelson --who must surely be one of the few musicians who goes around and meets the people in the audience, even us oldsters-- for letting me tape. For those who still don't know, Austin Grill has live music almost every night of the week -- you can hear samples of a lot of it at the calendar page (click any music note) and at Austin Grill's myspace page.