Not sure if this has been said here before. Anyways, I was listening to the radio not too long ago and someone who had once worked with the Stones was on. In addition to many other things, he said that the night before a show when they would arrive in a town and go to the bar, Mic would go around making sure everyone was having a good time. Not just people with the band, but everyone at the bar. He would just walk up, similar to how the owner or manager would and just say something like "Hey, We havin' a good time over here?" and then usually ask if anyone needed another drink.

Tried this and can say from personal experience that it works for starting conversations and getting #s.