CBGB, the bowery bar where Patti Smith returned to her first series of concerts since she tumbled from a Tampa stage last January 23rd, is best known as the focal point for New York's rock underworld. It's also a bit of a dump--hot, smoky and fetid.

For the people who packed the joint to capacity every night of Smith's nine-day stint in early June, though, the sheer unpleasantness of the place is part of its attraction. It breeds the us-against-the-world, fraternity-of-the-damned undercurrent...