Most bands set up merchandise tables at their shows and wait for the crowds to come to them.
At Monday's Smashing Pumpkins show at Rams Head Live, openers Kill Hannah and Bad City went to the crowds.
The bands dispatched two young women with push-up bras, mile-high pumps and bleached blonde hair into the audience with handfuls of the bands' CDs.
The girls would walk up to people during the Smashing Pumpkins' set and ask them if they wanted to buy a CD for $5.
Having missed both openers, I didn't bite on their offer. But I realized just how smart of a strategy it was ...
I'm willing to wager those bands sold twice as many CDs as they normally would have if they'd just camped out behind a merch table. Even more importantly, got the names "Kill Hannah" and "Bad City" into the heads of the folks in the club.
Near the end of the Pumpkins' set, I felt someone squeeze my behind. A little freaked out, I turned to my left, where a guy had just walked up. I eyed him strangely, but he didn't pay me the time of day. Then I looked to my right, and there were the CD chicks, talking to some dude. I can't prove it, but I'm sure it was them.
I still didn't buy a CD.
(Baltimore Sun photo by Josh Sisk)