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BobSheets V.I.P. 169 Posts |
Whenever I select a new or old trick to perform I try to pick one that I enjoy performing as much as the audience likes watching. I want to see that look in their eyes at the magical moment when they are in free fall and have no idea where they are. If I can get everyone else to see that moment then I have done what I always wanted to do since I was ten years old. Magic.
The things I learned from the greatest bar magician, Heba Haba Al, was the inspirational tonic that I needed to make me the performer I always wanted to be. I learned that Bar Magic should be direct, repeatable, and easy to describe afterwards. That’s what you want. People talking about what they saw after it’s all over. If you can turn the performance into an event that everyone talks about, those people will come back and drag their friends to see you. Thinking about Heba and his influence in the bar routines I have performed since 1971 every line or joke I do has a nostalgic memory attached to it. Heba Haba Al, Al Andrucci, was the funniest man I have ever met. I worked every night with him for eighteen months and thought he was hysterical. Could you imagine people following Al around for thirty or forty years just to see the bunnies. The bunnies! How many times could you watch the bunnies? Two or three times? Maybe. Some of the people that came in to the Pickle Barrel on Howard Street in Chicago had seen the bunnies THOUSANDS of times and laughed like it was there first time. You may have seen him do the trick 5 minutes ago but you would watch it one more time just to see the look on that lady’s face. I’ll tell you how many times I would watch Al do the bunnies. As many times as he wanted to do it. Al made me feel like IU did the first time a saw a magic trick. Amazed. Like he was working without a net. Anything could happen at any moment. Al’s gone now but still laugh out loud at some of his antics. Imagine you’ve just seen the bunnies ten minutes earlier and Al is about to make you watch it again as he begins to perform it for someone else. Looking over his shoulder and yelling across the bar, “Watch this. Remember when I did that to you Alice?” Al would turn to you and say, “She loved it”, and then yell back over his shoulder “Didn’t you Alice? You loved it!” He’d turn his back to you, “Look at her, she loved it.” Then he’d yell back at Alice again, “You loved it didn’t you Alice?” Al would then face you and shrug and say, “See I told you she love it. ” Then he would continue and just before the climax he would motion to everyone, as great as any Maestro, “Watcher her face!” And we all would. The bunnies exploded out of her hand and just as the pandemonium was dying down Al would yell back one more time, “Remember that Alice” Yeah, you remember.” She will never forget it and neither will I! Good time for any and all to post your Heba story here. I'll be back. bob. |
raywitko Special user western Pa 527 Posts |
Bob,
Just stopping in to say hi. Long time no hear... Ray
Sometimes it seems there are more than one of me.
Tabman USA magicdmv email me at [email]fursclass@magicdmv.com[/email] |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
I have no STORY but can't tell you how much I enjoyed the times I saw him work. Nobody ever came close to his way... he was as good as it gets.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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EddieGoldstein New user 8 Posts |
I saw Heba Haba Al only once, in his bar in Chicago. He cracked me up.
When someone would order a beer, he'd ask what kind they wanted. No matter what brand they asked for, he'd pull an Old Style Beer from the cooler, take a magic marker, and write that brand name on the label. At another point, he started hassling one of the customers about how many peanuts they were eating. He began to get all of the peanut bowls from the whole bar and dumped them into the bowl in front of the customer. "Ya want more peanuts?" Finally, he reached under the bar, pulled out the whole bag of peanuts and dumped them into the bowl, spilling them all over the bar. "You want peanuts? Here!!!" |
Terry Veckey Regular user Medford, Or. U.S.A. 140 Posts |
Hellllooooo Bob.
How's it feel to be one of the old legends o' magic? I gotta share this Heba story with y'all. It's cool that you asked for a Heba story as I just signed up here last week. This took place on the last night at Chicago's "New York Lounge" in 1985. Everybody was there and I mean everybody. I even left my gig at "Victors" early to be there. There was a vhs camera set up on a big old tripod with a big set of real bright lights, just awful. But we all did a bit and it was really neat. Everyone wanted to and did something behind the bar at the NYL that night. Partial list. Wakeman, Malone, Weimer, Mike Pappas, Nick Pappas Skeets, Al James, me and many others I'm so sorry I can't list them all right now. But wait where's Heba Haba? Well he's running around selling drinks you know, tending bar. "We want Heba! We want Heba Haba!" Al pokes his head in front of the camera and says "Leave me alone! Someones gotta make a buck around here!" The chant goes on "We want Heba! We want Heba Haba!" (Now, there was a bit that Al and Skeets would pull on each other. It didn't matter which one was doing what. But, in the middle of some card tricks the other would come over with a bar towel. He would then buff the others head and explain that it would cut down the glare that was blinding the customers.) Meanwhile, while the chanting was going on Al comes over to Al James and I. Heba hands Al James a bar towel and says "When I ask her to pick a card you come over and buff my head. Tell 'em it's to bright for the camera." Al James says " Heh heh, I can't do that Al. Man this is your night go have fun." Heba says "C'mon Al, it's a funny bit. You know it, they'll love it, c'mon." Al James says "Heh heh. Oh, okay. Heh heh." Heba Haba Al then steps into the spotlight behind the bar. The crowd "Heba! Heba! Heba!" Heba Haba then proceeds to milk it for all it's worth. He does every stall you can think of. Asks if anyone needs a drink, wipes the bar down, tries to sell another drink, leaves to get his close-up pad, comes back and puts it on the bar, comes over to Al James and I to get his deck of cards. Al J. had been making like stutter steps toward the bar not sure when to do the bit. Heba whispers "When I have her pick a card,you come in." Heba goes back to the bar with his cards. He picks up his pad and wipes the bar again. OMG it went on more than this. Finally he asks the gals at the bar their names and says "Here, take a card!" Al James was right there on cue and starts to buff Hebas head. Heba Haba starts waving his arms around and yelling "Hey, what the h*** you doin'?" Al james is in shock and stammering "Well, well, the glare from the lights off your head..." Heba Haba was still going off "THAT'S NOT RIGHT! THAT'S NOT RIGHT! JEEZ AL, I DIDN'T MESS WITH YOU WHEN YOU WERE UP HERE! I DON"T NEED THIS! I GOTTA WORK! SOMEBODY ELSE GET UP HERE!" Then he stormed off across the room leaving Al James standing there with Nick Pappas standing there staring at him. He gave Nick the towel and came back over to me and helped me get up off the floor. Then Al James says to me " Heh heh, I think he set me up, heh heh." I fell down again. Heba Haba is at the far end of the bar "GO AHEAD! SOMEONE ELSE GET UP THERE AND SHOW OFF!" Like right. Who's gonna follow that? I think Skeets did. Well, didn't mean to be so long. I hope to see you all sometime. (Are you hiring?) Teary (ahem, I mean) Terry Veckey
-The Lesser Known-
<BR>Terry Veckey <BR>-"There is no place for laughter in magic." B.Martin- |
Mick Ayres Special user Hilton Head Island 998 Posts |
I never met Heba Haba Al and have only seen videos of him behind the bar...but I did catch him at a convention or two. Come to think of it, he looked a lot like Bob Sheets.
Best, Mick
THE FIVE OBLIGATIONS OF CONJURING: Study. Practice. Script. Rehearse. Perform. Drop one and you're done.
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BobSheets V.I.P. 169 Posts |
TERRY,
I would love to see you on one of my trips to Chicago. Great story and that what so Heba. If he wanted the spotlight, he took it. If he wanted you to work, you did. If you didn't want to work and he wanted you to, you did. This was his playground we were all just guests. You can go as long as you want. I know you have more.Bring it. bob. |
Terry Veckey Regular user Medford, Or. U.S.A. 140 Posts |
Thanks Bob.
I'm no longer in Chicago. I'm way out west, up in Medford, Or. Between Portland and Sacramento, Cal. Hope to catch up sometime though. Cheers! Terry V.
-The Lesser Known-
<BR>Terry Veckey <BR>-"There is no place for laughter in magic." B.Martin- |
rockwall Special user 762 Posts |
Medford??? What's to do there? Or are you entertaining the Ashland crowd next door? My sister lives there. If you're doing shows anywhere I'll stop by when I'm up to visit.
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Terry Veckey Regular user Medford, Or. U.S.A. 140 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-02-18 18:43, rockwall wrote: I'm here on witness prot... oops, not supposed to say that. Most nights I'm annoying I mean amusing folks at a joint called "The Four Daughters" It's an Irish Pub/Restaurant in Medford. Stop in and say hi. Send your sis and her friends.
-The Lesser Known-
<BR>Terry Veckey <BR>-"There is no place for laughter in magic." B.Martin- |
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
I would like to jump in here and say that it was Terry Veckey that introduced me to Hebba Habba Al and Hebba got me with the card under the drink several times. In-between producing the card under the drink the phone rang - Nick pushed Hebba to answer it - Hebba did and said - yes - then - yes scraped - a pause and then said OK and then hung up the phone - and then paused and turned to Nick as if annoyed by the interruption of the ringing phone and having to answer it to deliver a personal message to Nick.
Hebba said - Nick that was the laundry and they wanted to know if you want your underwear washed or scraped - so I told them scraped. Terry and I were on the floor with laughter - and then Hebba hit me again with another shot of card under the drink. Terry was right in saying that Hebba Habba Al was "the" master doing this trick and a master at working the bar. However I think that Terry Veckey is the master at working the room - when performing magic - at least that is my memory of one of the good old days in the New York Lounge. Just my opinion.
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The February 2009 entrée: Bob Sheets » » Heba Haba Al. Let the party begin » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) |
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