That night in New Orleans a half-dozen FBI agents circulated through the crowd that had turned out for Daniel and Charles’s early performance. Howl was located in the warehouse district, off Julia Street. Usually it featured musical acts, and, even tonight, zydeco and the blues reverberated from the mortar and redbrick walls. A few tourists tried to bring ‘to-geaux’ cups from Bourbon Street into Howl. They were denied admission/or life. The used Cressidas and Colts and a few sports-utility vehicles in the parking lot were a tip-off to the presence ofTulane and Loyola college students packed inside. Smoke lay thick over the noisy and restless crowd. Several in the audience looked under-age and the club had been cited for serving minors. The owners found it easier to buy off the New Orleans police than to effectively regulate the club. Suddenly, everything went quiet. A single voice punctuated the silence, ‘Holy shit! Look at this.’
A male tiger had walked out onto the stage, which was covered in layers of black velvet.
There was no leash on the cat. No trainer or handler was anywhere in sight. The usually raucous audience remained silent. The big cat lazily raised his head and roared. A girl in a hot pink tank top screamed in the pit seating area. The cat roared again. A second white tiger walked out and stood beside the first. It glared down at the crowd. The pit audience was situated directly in front of the stage. Men and women seated there scrambled away, grabbing their beer bottles.
Another unmistakable tiger roar now came from the back of the club, behind the audience. Everyone froze. How many cats were on the loose? Where were they? The crowd was silent now. What the hell was going on?
The blinding lights onstage made peripheral space a dark void. Any retreat to either side of the room was suddenly a gamble. There was a shift of the stage lights - left to right then right to left. The lights were powerful, almost blinding. They created the visual illusion that the entire stage had moved.
The crowd’s gasp was audible. Panic was in the air.
