This study explores New York City's underground rock ethos at the legendary, now defunct rock club CBGB & OMFUG (Country Bluegrass Blues & Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers). The traditional confidence (or 'con') game model is employed to examine the processes by which the CBGB event was accomplished. I argue that the club's allure was fundamentally attached to its claims of authenticity, and that the traditional con game model is an underused resource for contesting such claims. By observing the interplay among the club owner, boosters, musicians, support personnel, and patrons, I develop a theory of active cultural production as a kind of collective strategy employed by multiple actors, all in search of authenticity as a commodity to be produced and consumed. While making note of their important differences, the study demonstrates ways in which the production of live music shares many formal properties with that of confidence games.